Bully cock bird--what should I do?

[LamarshFish]

Last week I had one squeaker fledge the nest bowl, and within one day it got scalped. I took it out of the loft, cleaned the wound, and put it in a hospital cage to heal. It healed very nicely, and the bird is doing very well, and grew strong. I tried to reintroduce it to the loft, and one of my cock birds (the one I suspected did this in the first place since it is the only cock bird without a mate, and seems to have become the dominant cock bird of my loft at the moment) immediately began driving the healed squeaker, and went right back to trying to scalp it again, right before my eyes. So, I took the squeaker back out.

What should I do? Should I try separating the bully cock bird for a few days and let the squeaker settle back to the loft? Another reason I'd like to consider putting this bully cock bird in time out is because I have two other squeakers that will fledge their nest within the next few days and I don't want to deal with more scalped birds.

This is the problem with having an open, one section loft and not being able to seclude your breeders.

 

[thinkyesi]

When we have cocks that act like that we cull them. They are usless birds. We've noticed sometimes that even their babies have bad attitudes too.
We had one cock actually kill 9 babies in one day! He tasted very yummy haha
If you do not feel comfortable culling him, just seperate him and sell him. Hes gonna end up hurting another bird or even kill it. Birds like that never change.

 

[laughingdog]

Those males can and usually do start attacking weaker hens other cocks and young, but I usually pair them with aggressive hens (I have an abundance at the moment), and they are better fliers that oddly do the best when predators attack. I'd separate but not cull especially if he is user a year, and let his hormones settle, but if you find an aggressive female, let her nest for a week to month then introduce male.

 

[Hokum Coco]

When we have cocks that act like that we cull them.

I never had to resort to that yet.

With a large loft it is the most easiest and expedient way to alleviate the problem.

I have handled it by just isolating the problem and things just seemed to mellow out over time when the squeakers were old enough to stand up for them selves or stay out of harms way.
Where my loft has grown in population I do not know what will happen in the future as space becomes more at a premium.

 

[laughingdog]

Sadly why people have separate lofts for young birds, unpaired or broken up pairs of same sex adults (though mine pair anyway..), breeders-separate pairs if not all same quality or your going for specific standard or quality (because pigeons have primary mates for life but they do sneak away and mate especially if find better quality birds). He maybe a bully but he probably will be your strongest fastest flier and best homer, so you could be calling a bird that's just culling out weaker genes, the same as they do in more natural racer loft setups that win, but then you have to take out the weaker birds and "cut/cull" them from group of Gene pool, using as fosters, keeping as pets, eating, or selling/giving away for these purposes. I keep mine separate as fosters and pets. In rollers generally the worst rollers pair together and leave your best rollers to pair or be odd birds out opposite of racers, because advanced rolling Gene seen as a flaw naturally.. as racing Gene extremely specialized like natural athletes vs those who need extreme conditioning. I just got an injured colored racer from buddy that was runty from his and breeder before, so when he released it for first time it didn't get back before apparently crashing into a pole or something smashing it's wing and shoulder up (I fixed all but shattered shoulder socket), and gave vitamins and layer feed and it's getting great quick like it's been pumping iron, as was nothing but bones apparently feeding on bread and wjwh ever on month long journey where it walked back to his house through town and all the obstacles one can guess. The genes in these birds are incredible, but can make the strongest a lil aggressive if they want the best resources more for themselves, as he is already stronger at half the size of my roller cocks and smaller adult racer pair, and can wrestle and toss any other bird out of his crate I have him in after days.

 

[LamarshFish]

when we have cocks that act like that we cull them.

I never had to resort to that yet.

I'd separate but not cull especially if he is user a year, and let his hormones settle

Thanks for the input guys.

Culling may be the safest route, but I don't think I can bring myself to do that for a few reasons. First, I have a degree of attachment to this bird. His parents laid their first clutch at the end of last December, when temps were below zero, and this bird was set, hatched and raised in sub zero temps, against all odds. His clutch mate died. I named him FROST. He is an excellent homer, has STUNNING looks, and displays incredible displays of intelligence above and beyond most other pigeons. One of his siblings (not a clutch mate) I have racing in a racer's loft who I am splitting the winnings with (he trains and races them, we split winnings if my birds win, I have 3 birds with him racing), and he is telling me this one bird (Frost's brother) is phenomenal, and has been consistently dropping in the top 10, and just the other day came in second on a 50 mile toss.

So, I can't bring myself to cull him for those reasons. I have decided to separate him for the next few months until breeding subsides and youngsters have a chance to grow a bit stronger. I made this decision because I caught him trying to peck at eggs this morning, which also led me to believe he may have been responsible for some young squabs' deaths in my loft a few months ago.

He is the bird in my profile pic, but I'm pasting a larger image below so you can see what I mean by him having (at least in my opinion) stunning looks. He is from the Janssen line.

 

[sourland]

I'd remove him from the loft until I could provide him with a mate. Being paired and having a mate and young to worry about may correct this behavior. (I would cull him, but fully understand your reasons for not doing so.) In general my homer cocks were far more squab aggressive than my roller cocks. Some seemed to regard the entire loft floor as theirs; whereas, roller cocks would feed any/all squabs on the floor.

 

[LamarshFish]

I'd remove him from the loft until I could provide him with a mate. Being paired and having a mate and young to worry about may correct this behavior. (I would cull him, but fully understand your reasons for not doing so.) In general my homer cocks were far more squab aggressive than my roller cocks. Some seemed to regard the entire loft floor as theirs; whereas, roller cocks would feed any/all squabs on the floor.

I also thought about getting him a mate, thinking it could very well calm things down, but I do not currently have a mature hen for him. I have been speaking to a few racers putting out feelers whether they would lend me a hen for a few months, let him pair up, raise some squabs for the remainder of the breeding season, and then give the hen back. I have one gentleman who sounds like he may help with that. We will see!

 

[sourland]

I also thought about getting him a mate, thinking it could very well calm things down, but I do not currently have a mature hen for him. I have been speaking to a few racers putting out feelers whether they would lend me a hen for a few months, let him pair up, raise some squabs for the remainder of the breeding season, and then give the hen back. I have one gentleman who sounds like he may help with that. We will see!

Understand that this conceivably might make his behavior even worse, but given your attachment it seems worth a try. There is also the possibility that if this is a genetically inherited characteristic on his part his sons might be just as bad.

 

[LamarshFish]

Understand that this conceivably might make his behavior even worse, but given your attachment it seems worth a try. There is also the possibility that if this is a genetically inherited characteristic on his part his sons might be just as bad.

Agreed. I have kept all these things in mind. I just want to exhaust all options before having to cull him.