Discovery Brings Us One Step Closer To "Milking" Pigeons

Are you tired of boring old milk in your cereal? Is the half and half in your coffee leaving you flat? If so, the recent discovery of the gene responsible for pigeon crop "lactation" might be the good news you've been waiting for. While mammals are the only animals that produce true milk, a number of birds produce a nutritious, liquid "crop milk" for their chicks. From the article: "The idea of drinking pigeon milk may bring a shudder to every sane and rational person in the world, but it's actually quite nutritious. Although it's high in fat, to help the young squabs develop fast, it's also packed full of antioxidants and immune-system-boosting proteins."

Comments

But...

[fragfoo]

Pigeons are infested with diseases and like to live in the middle of their own crap and other filthiness. Oh wait, so do cows! :(

I raise doves

[squidflakes]

Doves and pigeons are very closely related and some of the few birds that produce crop milk.

Very specifically, crop milk is the sloughed lining of the interior of the crop. Pigeons and doves will stop eating a few days before they lay and fill their crops with seeds, insects, and sometimes fruits or berries. They will keep these foods items in the crop, grinding them over and over with the gizzard while the skin cells lining the inside of the crop get irritated and engorge with fluid. Once the chicks start feeding, which is very soon after hatching, the cells detach, burst, and mix with the well ground food items.

The resulting mix smells horrible and is my least favorite part of dealing with my birds.

So, yeah. Cooing Farms Crop Milk will never find a place in my refrigerator.