Getting Two Parlor Pigeons

[Magnolia7330]

I may be getting two parlor pigeons sometime this year. Would it be best to get 2 females or a male and female pair? I don't plan on breeding them-maybe in the future, but I'm too new right now. I've never had pigeons before. Any advice is helpful. Also, what do you do with the eggs? Just toss them out or feed them to the pigeons or chickens? I have four chickens.

 

[Chick2chicken]

If you don't want them to multiply, don't get a male and a female. I am pretty sure you can eat pigeon eggs but I's check on that.

 

[JackBaker]

Pigeons naturally want to pair and can become quite sad if not allowed to do this, they are flock birds and although they are also territorial do enjoy the company of other pigeons. If it was me I would get a male and a female pair. You do not need to hatch the eggs and can buy false eggs for them to incubate once the real eggs are removed. They will sit on these until they realise they will not hatch and then they will get ready to lay gain, which you then just need to remove the real eggs and replace them with the fake ones again. Male and females pairing is more natural for them. That being said pigeons and doves as a species are incredibly bisexual. Two females will more than happily pair together I have found without any hesitation if a male is not present. Males will also pair together but it is not as common as two females. This would eliminate the possibility of them ever breeding if you forget to remove the eggs, which unfortunately happens to me at least once a year . Not that i'm complaining tho . I normally feed their eggs to my zebra finches who love them, so chickens is probably a good idea too as I'm sure they would eat them if you smashed them up. It's a shame to waste the calcium from the shell.