Experiences with dove to pigeon pairing?

[cochinGurl]

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Hello, I have a male highflying pigeon named Dale whos wife was killed by a hawk sevral months ago. He then paired with his daughter, and I broke this up. I dont have any single females that arnt related to him, so i am keeping him inside untill i find him a mate. (he is hand tame so indoor life seems not to bother him to much. I made him a pigeon diaper and he walks around freely alot of the time.) i have had no luck in finding a pigeon girlfriend for him in my area. However my local pet store has some ring neck doves, and im thinking of trying to pair him with one of these.

QUESTION/relevent info:
I have read that pigeons and doves can be paired together peacefully and even produce offspring (that are usually sterile). heres a page with a few pics of homers x ring necks. http://www.messybeast.com/genetics/hybrid-birds.htm (its near the bottem of the page) I was wondering if any one has had expirience with dove-pigeon pairings. thanks!

 

[Hokum Coco]

I heard of this pairing also doves and pigeons. I also heard of pigeons killing doves. I have no experience in this. I would advise caution in this adventure. Good Luck CochinGurl.

 

[bigrob83]

sorry but it wont work... you would think two docile birds could learn to live with each other
but no, the pigeon will be bigger and will bully the dove.

 

[Hokum Coco]

I checked into Dove and Pigeon Hybrids. In most cases it seems to be a male dove and female pigeon.

Here are some images of the result of the pairing.

Check out the Link: https://www.google.ca/search?q=pige...g&biw=1440&bih=773&sei=tEOCUffgNOb-4AO_lIHgCg

It would not be a natural pairing in my estimation. It would also create and imbalance in a flock situation and pecking order. In short you would be producing freaks that would have a hard time fitting in.

The only plus is they would be sterile which would be a plus for some owners.
Good luck in what ever you decide CochinGurl.

 

[Mary Of Exeter]

Yes, pigeons and doves can and will mate up if they have no other option. Most hybrids are produced in individual breeding cages so they have no choice but to breed together or just not mate up at all. It usually takes some time and testing out different birds. It's easier if you have a small breed of pigeon closer to the size of a dove, like a roller, figurita, italian owl, portuguese tumbler, etc. But breeds as large as homers have worked out in both sexes. The offspring between pigeons and ringneck doves are sterile so usually the only people who ever try it are those who just want to see what the offspring look like or those who are studying their genetics. Some pigeons and doves are naturally aggressive and wouldn't be a good match. Each individual bird is different. So it's a trial and error process.

 

[samkitty21]

I have a girl dove which have had for 6 year & last year I got a boy pigeon they love each other best of mates she lays eggs but breaks them.

 

[loftkeeper]

first thing do they have a good nest with nesting material such has hay pine needles shaveings can they walk in nest without jumping into it are the eggs hard shelled like a hen eggs how many eggs do they lay a dove or pigeon lay just two eggs a time if hen is old maybe give human calcium tablet to help stronger egg shell do you feed grit and grain or pellets

 

[jak2002003]

I keep both ring neck doves and fancy pigeons.

I advise strongly you do not put a ring neck dove with an adult pigeon.

Doves are much smaller and delicate with very fragile bones.

Your male will injure the dove and even may kill it. Even if you pigeon 'likes' the dove and tries to mate with it, it would get injured by the rough mating behaviour of the pigeon.

If you just want company for the male pigeon and don't want him to breed why not pair him up with another male pigeon? Or even a female and simply replace any eggs produced with fake ones?

Even back with the other pigeons it won't matter about him pairing up with related birds. Many fanciers do this as normal part of breeding their birds. If you are worried just replace eggs laid, or use that pair to foster squabs from other pairs nests.

 

[Doc1239]

While shopping for lumber recently I noticed an injured Pigeon. He/she couldn't fly and I was pretty certain it was only a matter of time before the bird starved or was run over. I live in the mountains about 75 miles from where I found "Galileo" and we have lots of doves but no pigeons. Anyway, I decided to bring him/her home and try to nurture the bird back to health. I put him into one of my extra bird cages and kept him in the garage for about a month with food and clean water.

Every week or so I would take him out to see how well we was recovering his ability to fly. He was gradually getting better but I kept him caged until I could no longer catch and re-cage him. Once that occurred I simple kept an eye on him and made sure food and water was available. Although I built him/her a bird house, he preferred to rest in our big pinon tree just outside my chicken coop. He was there every night and I noticed (probably due to the availability of free food) that our local doves began accepting him into their flock.

He now runs with the doves, they remain local and I can keep an eye on him from a short distance since he's not afraid of me. He's wild so wasn't fond of being handled but he is not afraid of me.

Moral of this story, I managed to save him/her from certain death in a hope he'd heal with time and have a functional life. He has done well and seems happy with his new life out of the city dangers and into the peace of our mountains. His new dove friends accept him/her as one of their flock and since he's the only pigeon and although somewhat bigger, he doesn't seem to intimidate the rest of the flock. Now it's all up to the good lord and mother nature. I simply helped give him/her a fighting chance for survival.

 

[biophiliac]

While shopping for lumber recently I noticed an injured Pigeon. He/she couldn't fly and I was pretty certain it was only a matter of time before the bird starved or was run over. I live in the mountains about 75 miles from where I found "Galileo" and we have lots of doves but no pigeons. Anyway, I decided to bring him/her home and try to nurture the bird back to health. I put him into one of my extra bird cages and kept him in the garage for about a month with food and clean water.

Every week or so I would take him out to see how well we was recovering his ability to fly. He was gradually getting better but I kept him caged until I could no longer catch and re-cage him. Once that occurred I simple kept an eye on him and made sure food and water was available. Although I built him/her a bird house, he preferred to rest in our big pinon tree just outside my chicken coop. He was there every night and I noticed (probably due to the availability of free food) that our local doves began accepting him into their flock.

He now runs with the doves, they remain local and I can keep an eye on him from a short distance since he's not afraid of me. He's wild so wasn't fond of being handled but he is not afraid of me.

Moral of this story, I managed to save him/her from certain death in a hope he'd heal with time and have a functional life. He has done well and seems happy with his new life out of the city dangers and into the peace of our mountains. His new dove friends accept him/her as one of their flock and since he's the only pigeon and although somewhat bigger, he doesn't seem to intimidate the rest of the flock. Now it's all up to the good lord and mother nature. I simply helped give him/her a fighting chance for survival.

I love to hear stories like this! Good on you for helping this bird. I live across the street from a lumberyard home to a healthy flock of feral pigeons. They roost up n the rafters of the large open sheds where the lumber is stored. If your bird decides he really needs a mate, the 75 mile flight back would not be a problem for him. If its a hen she just may stay.