Yes. Pigeons and doves feed their young on crop milk, a thick, yellowish food made from cells that slough off the lining of the parents’ crop. Unlike mammals, both the male and the female produce it. Squabs live on crop milk alone for the first few days, then get a mix of crop milk and softened seed.
What is crop milk?
It is not a liquid like mammal milk. It looks more like soft cheese or custard. The crop lining thickens during incubation, and near hatching the cells fill with fat and protein and are shed into the crop. The parent brings them up to feed the squab. A 2023 review describes it as high in protein and fat.
What controls it?
The hormone prolactin, which also controls milk in mammals. Prolactin levels rise in both parents in the second half of incubation, and the crop lining grows soon after, so they are ready to feed when the eggs hatch. Prolactin also drives parental behaviour such as eating more and sitting on the nest.
How long do pigeons feed crop milk?
Crop milk makes up the diet for about the first week. After that, parents feed regurgitated seed along with crop milk. Young pigeons are fully feathered and learning to fly at around 30 to 37 days.
What to feed an orphaned squab
You cannot make crop milk at home. Rescues use a commercial hand-rearing formula for very young squabs and move on to soaked seed. Do not use cow’s milk or bread. See how to take care of a baby pigeon.
Sources
- Chemical composition of pigeon crop milk and factors affecting its production: a review (PMC) (opens in new tab)
- Pigeon during the breeding cycle: crop milk formation (PMC) (opens in new tab)
- Horseman and Buntin: Regulation of pigeon cropmilk secretion and parental behaviors by prolactin (Annual Review of Nutrition) (opens in new tab)
- BioKIDS (University of Michigan): Rock dove (opens in new tab)
- CCAC guidelines: Pigeons (Columba livia)
Last updated 24 October 2026 · Baby Pigeons