Can't get them to breed!!!!!

[Hokum Coco]

Quote: Things are back to normal and the squabs are doing fine!

 

[jak2002003]

Things are back to normal and the squabs are doing fine!

That good news.

I had to give up in the end. I put the female with the male in the males cage, and after some chasing they settled down OK. The rest of the day was fine. But this morning the poor male pigeon is really beat up, his head is covered in blood!!!

I let them all out to fly together and the female has re joined her female mate and they are doing laps of joy around the house.

I will just have to accepts that I won't get any king pigeon chicks.

 

[Hokum Coco]

I think if you got rid of one female complete and let the remaining 2 birds house together in an open style aviary rather than at close quarters things in time would turn around for you. I can not give you a time line.

What is probably a stupid question. Are you sure your new bird is a male??? In a perfect world I would think a male pigeon could dominate a hen.

Have you ever noticed any advances or courtship displays on his part when they are out flying free???

Check out the link:

How does your male act in company of the feral pigeon you have??

 

[jak2002003]

He is a male for sure. He has much bigger body, head, feet, and the wattle over his beak is very big. He has never had an egg, or allowed another pigeon to mate with him.

But he is useless and such a wimp. He allows every other pigeon - male or female - to bully him. He gives in to them all without a fight.

I though he might be sick, but he seems very healthy. He is not interested in the other pigeons at all and he is always doing the opposite to what they are doing - like if they are all having a bath he is sleeping on my house roof. If they are flying about, he will be having a bath. Ahhh. I have never had such an anti social pigeon!

He was for sale on his own. I suspect his last owner wanted rid of him for these reasons. He has had nearly 2 months to settle in and he has not changed.

Now I have to keep him in his own cage - because even in the flight he gets beaten up. I have bathed his head - it looks nasty, and his eye has swollen up today too. Poor thing. I don't know what I am going to do with him in the long run.

 

[larrylofts]

what i should have said was when breeding rabbits you should put the doe in the bucks pen so the doe is not think the male is there in her territory and becomes defense same with the pigeons if the hen seems to be the problem of protecting her space

 

[jak2002003]

what i should have said was when breeding rabbits you should put the doe in the bucks pen so the doe is not think the male is there in her territory and becomes defense same with the pigeons if the hen seems to be the problem of protecting her space

thats what i did. I kept him in his own breeding box that he has lived in since I got him 2 months ago. I put the female in there after she was on her own in a new cage for a week. He did not challenge her at all and he immediately started jumping and flapping about to get away from her, even through she was just interested in the food!

He is so scared of everything, even me. I keep zebra doves too, and they are tiny.... he is even scared of them and won't walk past them to his box. The little zebra dove male calls at him and fans his tail and the huge king pigeon runs off or flies away in fright!

I do feel sorry for him.

Does anyone know if his feathers will grown back on top of his head? He is bald now after the female attacked him. Also do I need to wash the dry blood off or just leave it to heal on its own?

 

[Hokum Coco]

The little zebra dove male calls at him and fans his tail and the huge king pigeon runs off or flies away in fright!

This display by your male zebra dove (which has an innate sense of gender) makes me think your so called male king pigeon may in fact be a female. Do not feel bad if it comes to pass I made that mistake more times than I care to admit.

As far as the bald head the feathers will grow back. I would wash her scalp clean with a warm salt water solution and maybe put a bit of polysporin on her to guard against infection.

Good luck Jak2002003!

 

[jak2002003]

This display by your male zebra dove (which has an innate sense of gender) makes me think your so called male king pigeon may in fact be a female. Do not feel bad if it comes to pass I made that mistake more times than I care to admit.

As far as the bald head the feathers will grow back. I would wash her scalp clean with a warm salt water solution and maybe put a bit of polysporin on her to guard against infection.

Good luck Jak2002003!

Thank you, you are very helpful to me! I have washed his / her scalp with salt water and cotton wool. Looks a lot cleaner. He still has skin left over his head so that is good. Poor thing looks really ugly now!

If he does turn out to be a female I will be very unlucky. At the moment I have 5 females and only 1 male! Even my rescue feral is a female.

If really looks like a male - its the biggest pigeon I have and a huge head and wattles. I will wait and see if it will lay an egg or not. If it turns out to be female I will have to re home her.

I am trying to start up a pigeon 'farm' as I want to eat and sell the squabs. I am finding it impossible to get hold of more king pigeons and it has taken me over one year so far to find these 3. I don't want them all to be females!!!!!!!!

I want to breed up about 10 pairs and then use their young as food. I like to eat organic and free range meat. At the moment I eat my own chickens , ducks and fresh water fish. They all have a lovely life here. I have a good friend who is a neighbour and he raises wild boar, so I also get free range pig.

I hate factory farmed animals and also inhumane slaughter. I wish I was totally self sufficient! I grow most of my own veg, fruit also, and even rent my own rice fields, which I make sure the farmer does not use any chemicals on.

 

[Hokum Coco]

The rule of thumb is like you describe the larger birds are usually male. Then when that is working for you 9 times out of ten. Life throws you a curve. I for some reason am in almost the same state as you are. I am also over run with hens as well. To date I only have 4 confirmed males out of 16 birds. I in addition have 8 confirmed hens. The balance 4 birds (still very young) I am not sure what they are yet.

 

[laughingdog]

my one mix hen which is also huge and developed very late, sounds just like your "cock" king. its nose cere was completely developed and everything but no eggs or interest in other birds when they would get in season when a group would reach maturity. she now makes eggs the size of small chicken eggs. maybe you should just eat her, i hate to say, or try only putting it with a female at a time when you let it out and see if they eventually connect after week or month of only letting them out together and with no others. is it possible it is a mix? as a lot of pigeons mature at diferant rates and mixes seem to be crap shoot as to when they will blossom. case in point my three month old parlors are already courting and nesting.. id heard of this, but never believed it till im seeing it with my own eyes from ones ive raised and recorded everything from! meat pigeons and homers/show homers/racers especially, are very close in breeds, maybe try it with one of those then just breed cocks back till you can find what you want, and not have wasted your money?