Fighting pigeons

[nxd10]

I have three homing doves that have been together since hatching (last January). They all flock together when flying. All are females.

Two tend to snuggle together, the third is the odd 'duck'. The loner and one of the pair have always fought, but they are becoming more aggressive with one another. Twice now, one of the birds has drawn some pretty serious blood. The first time it was on the neck (pulling feathers and causing bleeding). The second time it is two fairly serious scabs/wounds closer to the leg. I noticed the latter when the injured bird refused to fly, I think because she is just stiff.

She is my best flyer and had always been the most eager to be out and about. When they fly together, she is also clearly the leader.

Lately she has been very reluctant to fly. Yesterday was the worst. I opened the cage and two took off. The last one just looked at me. I dumped her from the box, and she stood on the asphalt and just stared around. Then she ran under the car to hide. Even when I started the engine.

Finally, I scooted her out from under the car, I tried to pick her up, but she took off. The other two birds were circling for her and I saw them flying off together.

I will obviously not be flying her until she's fully healed - it's clear she's sore. I would have driven her home yesterday if she had let me pick her up.

Any suggestions? The serious fighting has been fairly new. And what I don't understand is that the injured bird is the most aggressive. I am pretty sure it is another pigeon that is attacking her, not the hens.

I was thinking about getting another dove but I don't know if this will make things better or worse.

 

[larrylofts]

Sounds To Me That The Hens Are Doing The Deed . Pigeons Do Fight But Most Of The Time The Loser Moves Away From The Victor. Unless There Is No Room For Them To Get Away Pen Is To Small. Have Never And Will Not Keep Chickens And Pigeons Togather Just Common Sense

 

[deerman]

Quote:

 

[rancher hicks]

My older brothers used to keep and race Homers. I'll ask him when I speak to him. He's older now but kept them since he was a teenager. He's Seventy two now and lives in NC.

Rancher

 

[Sumatra503]

Sounds like you have a mated pair and an extra pigeon. The extra is possibly a male and is fighting with the male of the mated pair. Since a pair of pigeons will be territorial in preparation for mating they will often attack any other bird that comes near.

It will be best to separate the loner from the other two to avoid future fighting. Finding the loner a mate will make them much happier, but you will need to determine the sex of the extra bird.

 

[nxd10]

First, no I'm pretty sure it's pigeon-pigeon contact. I see the damage after the feeders, etc. hit the floor - which happens when they fight. They wrap wings around each other and the one just will not let up. I have set up separate feeding stations around the pen (8' x 8' x 8' with a henhouse and a separate rabbit hutch off it) because the one was driving the other bird off the food.

I've seen the pigeons harass and attack the hens, but never the hens harass the pigeons.

Second, originally I thought it was a mated pair and another male. However, the 'mated' pair was always laying four eggs that were infertile, with one bird doing all the sitting. Some clever person on this listserv suggested I had 3 females (the third bird lays too). I'm pretty sure they're correct. They also don't bond as a normal male:female pair do.

 

[Mary Of Exeter]

Even if they are all hens, they will still pair up. You need to get the other one a mate soon as possible and it's probably best if you separate the single one. How many nest boxes and perches do you have?

When pigeons fight, they peck at each other's head and wing slap each other. They can get in bloody messes but it's usually on the face, back of the head, and neck. The wounds closer to the legs sound like the chickens got a hold of it.

 

[nxd10]

You could be right. Most of the wounds are around the face and neck. And yes, bloody sometimes, which surprised me. I just had the one around the lower body. It's possible it was a hen for that one. That particular dove had been nesting in the hen house and is very aggressive at driving the hens off of 'her' box.

Poor baby.

I think I'll get one or more males.

In regard to perching areas . . .

I have an 8' long shelf along the back of the enclosed 8' x 8' x 8' area, plus many feet of regular dowel perching, which the birds sometimes used. The roof curves down over the shelf to keep off rain/snow/wind and, when it's cold, the singleton often snuggles into the corner there. There are also two enclosed, deep boxes with flat bottoms that provide protection from the weather. One of their three feeding stations is a flat bottomed, covered feeder that the birds also like to hang out on.

The two 'paired' birds tend to hang out in a rabbit hutch with a shelf on it that opens into the large pen. They can see out, but are very protected.

They also wander around on the ground, the hay bale, and also the stacked, topped buckets I keep their food in.

The pen is open, but has a roof along the top 1/3 plus the entire back. It is right next to a very dense 10' hedge that keeps off the wind. And the birds have many places to shelter from the wind. The birds usually seem warm and happy, although we had a nasty storm a few weeks back and I brought them inside. They were dry and out of the wind, but it was just damp and nasty out.

 

[rancher hicks]

I want to unsubscribe to this thread but things are messed up and I didn't see the need for the change.