An insight into pigeon behavior?

[beckysuzp]

I have two adult pigeons, rollers. Their first set of babies are about 2 months old and they just hatched another egg 2 days ago. I did have them all together, was going to seperate them when the eggs were laid but didn't b/c the young ones were helping sit on the eggs. Now I've just separated them tonight b/c when I went to feed them the daddy had pecked the heck outa the young boy's head, the back of it, made him completely raw and bloody. I feel so bad. So I took both the youngsters out of the cage and put them in a temporary one till we get another built. If anyone with some experience with pigeons could explain to me why this happened, I'd really appreciate it. The cage they're in is homemade, about 18" by 4' by 2' tall, with a nesting box attached (2'Hx2'Wx18"D). Maybe they just don't have enough room (which was why I was going to separate them in the first place). And a related question: Can they live happily with the chickens, free-flying in the coop, maybe if they had a dedicated nesting box that was up high with an entrance the chickens couldn't fit through? Thanks for letting me pick your brains!! lol

 

[beckysuzp]

Any ideas?

 

[Wolf-Kim]

I don't know about the behavior of scalping in pigeons.

I do know that chickens will eat any pigeons or their young that they can.. So I would keep the nests and young out of the chicken coop. Someone recently had a problem with the chickens eating fledgings.

-Kim

 

[Kev]

Male pigeons are naturally very jealous of their mates and very terrorital of their nest area. What happened was the father started to look at the youngster as "another male" and tried to drive him away, however with the cage so small, he was unable to escape so he kept pecking trying to drive him away.. not understanding that he literally could not get away.

In a large aviary, males will be "ferocious" against any other bird other than his mate landing on his nest shelf. He will rush and peck/slap as long as the bird is still on "his shelf". Once the bird leaves, it usually ends. But if the trespasser tried to fight back, the owner can be so irate when he finally drives the trepasser away, he can chase him around the whole aviary, if it is large enough it is okay he can keep running around and he will eventually quit. That's just not possible in a small cage/tiny aviary. He may have viewed the kid staying in the area as an "serious challenge" and got this irate to the point of almost killing him.

Kim has good point, it is true that chickens will eat any pigeon eggs or young squabs within reach. Once they are flying and moving well, they are reasonably safe in there.

Personally, I wouldn't for another reason.. pigeons are simply SO messy.. pooping literally over everything(thast would include chickens below them) and making so much dust.

 

[chickenzoo]

I have a large flight avairy and have one section at the end were i have a few silkies, but all the rest is ornamental pheasents,chuckers,cordex, trumpter pigeons, fantails, etc. They all seem to get along, the silkies are sectioned off at the end by a low piece of fencing so everyone can jump in or out as they choose except the silkies. The silkies will be moved as soon as they finish hatching, but have been good to everyone. One of my cordex tried to take on one of my silkie males, but my male just walked off. They don't even bother the pigeons and often sit with them in the pigeon house, a.k.a old chicken town house. I would be worried about them with larger or aggressive chickens.

 

[beckysuzp]

Well, here's what I did. First I tried putting them in a make-shift cage in the shed next to the chicken coop. They got out.... took a few hours to persuade them out of the darn tree! lol So tried putting them in with the chickens. Very unhappy pigeons! And very peck-happy chickens. So didn't leave them there. They are, as we speak, in the house in an old bird cage next to my cockatiels. They're happy enough, eating and very calm now, but the cage isn't big enough and certainly isn't permanent. DH will be making them a new cage in the next couple days. The back of Todd's head is finally scabbed over and nice and dry, so that should heal fine. I let them out in the living room for a little while tonight, they're still young enough that they can't tell from the air what they can land on and what they can't, it's kind of amusing to watch!

Thanks for the input. BTW can anyone of you pigeon fanciers recommend a good website or book on pigeons? Training, breeding, etc? Thanks a bunch.

 

[chickenzoo]

there is a Pigeon Talk forums. sometimes they are helpful.