However, some grains are better than others and some should be avoided altogether. Dried field peas make an excellent staple food and pigeons will do nearly anything to get them. They will usually pick all the peas out of a mix before eating anything else, and they sure do well on them too. Peas are high in protein and promote strong muscles, bones and plumage. Probably the second favourite grain to a pigeon is corn.
Corn is an excellent winter feed as it is readily stored in the pigeon's body as fat.
For this reason however, corn should be fed wisely and never more than thirty per cent of the diet, particularly if your pigeons have limited access to flying areas. Pigeons like sorghum because it is a small round grain, which is easy to eat. Wheat is a common grain found in pigeon mixes, but the birds tend to not like the soft white kinds of wheat, but prefer the darker red wheats which are much harder. If barley is available, this can be added to the mix also, but the four grains, peas, corn, sorghum and wheat will keep pigeons happy forever. Of course, an alternative to a grain mix is to feed your birds on pigeon pellets.