Ruud Streefkerk

The Columbidae or of the family of pigeons, consists of medium-sized, compact built birds with a full, round chest  and small head. Unlike other birds, they can absorb water with their beak. A dove broods about sixteen to twenty days in a simple, somewhat messy nest. When the young hatch, they are blind and covered with a thin down. The first days they are fed with 'pigeon milk'. This is a milky substance produced in the crop of both female and male pigeons. A few days before the eggs hatch, the inner layer of the crop of the pigeon is thickening. This is caused by the same hormone that stimulates the milk production in mammals. Eventually this layer comes loose and is released as a milky substance, which contains more fat and protein than cow's milk and is picked out of the crop by the young birds. After 3 to 6 days the eyes of the young open, after 11 days their feathers begin to grow and after 25 days they can fly. Men kept pigeons of old as poultry or carrier-pigeon.