intersexed pigeon?

[cochinGurl]

you may have read my privious post "strange pairing" when i was curious about the implications of an accidental father-son pair.i was sure it was this because I am 100% sure of the fathers gender because of his privious pairing. i "knew" the son is male because he first of all, comes from a sexlinked line, where brown is male. second, he displays all the normal male behaiviors. dragging his tale on the ground puffing up his chest and warbling when courting or showing off. he even does that cute little circle dance while he sings. he and dale are very bonded now, and have been prepairing their nest with great inthusiasm for the last two weeks or so, and have been taking turns sitting on it for the last few days. i didnt check for an egg because i was SO sure that they are both male. today when i took all my birds out of the loft to fly them from a few blocks away,i took the son off the nest there was a little tiny egg! i was verry supprised...could corleon be intersexed/hemaphrididic or affected by 5-alpha-reductase-dificiency? thanks!

 

[Hokum Coco]

Could be exactly what ever you just said; Or FEMALE!!

In my experience laying an egg is 100% proof of a female bird! No matter what size of egg. Do not feel bad; Been there done that as the saying goes...

 

[laughingdog]

ive had mine do that many times displaying all male charictaristics, but somehow i and the other sense and they treat it as female. generally if not starved, when feeding females will be allowed to push to front, and females will usually unless around nest mostly only fight fierce with other females, and likewise males same way. color generally can fool you even from thought sex linked pairs.. pigeons carry interesting genetics in that a egg can develop showing only hen's genetic material, any combination of both, the cocks, or just random. i forget the right and sciency way to put it, but you can look up on pigeon talk or other sources to know and learn about ( i have it somewere in my bookmarks), but interesting as breeding pigeons is like playing craps to me in a way. so you may have gotten sex links in past, but genetics as well as other variables may have just thrown you a lucky curve ball. you may want to toss the first few rounds of eggs out if they are small and/or deformed, as a lot have had wasted time and energy on young undeveloped hens and eggs that just stressed parents and ended up in bad eggs or weak babies from them.

I have a hen, an oriental roller/american fantail, i think, as was supposed to be roller, but breeder had fantails also and this one got for free with first pigeons when got back into good now down here, and she has fantail and other charectoristics also, that was a late bloomer and she tried and stressed so hard to take care of eggs, but they never turned out good till she was two to two and a half years old now, and took year year and half to have any interest in pairing at all as would nestle down by herself or with other female friend (was a late bloomer as well by a year) but no bonding other than as close friends that took the highest perches or one together and watched quizically as other adults went crazy, but is seeming fine now and suddenly surprised me with two perfect and huge eggs this fall, but i use as an excellent foster mother anyway.

 

[cochinGurl]

thanks so much for replying both of you! and yea, i will definetly be looking into the genetics of how sexlinking works.

 

[sourland]

"Color generally can fool you" - well said by laughingdog.

 

[laughingdog]

remember most of all white is a white wash over color, rather than considered an actual color, also ive had same problems with a light grey (not sure what would be called), ashing mixing with dun, so on and so on. supposedly you can look at the wing barring, but mostly tail barring, but ive seen it be enough to fool others, and i cant say myself that ive mastered it at all, but just gotten to know my own birds ive had for years, good enough to try and make decent guesses, but then some colors have completely changed as theyve aged. my fantail mix hen, for instance, for years she had complete wild blue bar pattern and color covering whole tail, but recently it has turned ashing and redish, white, and other various shades and colors to the feathers..

 

[larrylofts]

white is a bird that shows no feather color pigmentation but has a color not visible you have to test mate it to find out what color it hides example bred white fantails to red saddle fantails produced blue checks and white sometimes are washed out grizzles example west of englands whites are red ash grizzles based they where bred by breeding grizzle to grizzle multi generations

 

[Hokum Coco]

I have one pair of snow white homing pigeons and every time they produce I get one solid white bird and pied of spin the wheel. Most times it is brown between the wings..
Here is one result.


However it will sometimes be dark grey between the wings.
Oh and spin the wheel again as to what sex either of them are going to be.


Here is another; this one has even more brown than usual (not the same parents however)
.