One of my pigeons flew away, but he has a mate. Will he come back?

[degunuts]

Title says it all! This cock mated with his hen, and then a few hours later flew away. Do you think he'll come back? I had another cock fly away but then come back four days later, however I don't think he was paired at all, whereas this one is. I'd hate to have to scuttle the hen's eggs!

 

[backyard pigeons]

What breed? How long have you had him? Has he flown before, at your house or someone elses? Has he been outside in a cage? What type of weather are your expirencing now? These are all factors. I hope this helps!

 

[biophiliac]

You have some time- they usually don't start sitting on the eggs til the hen lays a second egg. I hope he comes back for you!

 

[degunuts]

What breed? How long have you had him? Has he flown before, at your house or someone elses? Has he been outside in a cage? What type of weather are your expirencing now? These are all factors. I hope this helps!

Well, I don’t know the exact breed except that he’s a homing/racing pigeon. I’ve had him about a bit over a week and a half. He’s never flown before, and while he hasn’t been outside in a cage Except for a few times, the part of the loft he spent most of his time in had a large mesh window he liked to look out of. The weather is pretty nice, a bit warm today but not hot at all. Thanks!

 

[degunuts]

You have some time- they usually don't start sitting on the eggs til the hen lays a second egg. I hope he comes back for you!

Yeah, that’s my hope. They just mated on Sunday do I think I’ve got about a week or more for him to come back.

 

[backyard pigeons]

How old is he? I'm guessing he will come back, if he doesn't, he might be at the previous owners house.

racing homers are a breed of pigeon. A very awesome one!

 

[degunuts]

I'd say around 4-6 months, closer to 4. He's a young bird, but he's able to breed, so not too young.

 

[degunuts]

Just a little follow up: in case he doesn't come back, can I put a different cock in with the hen so he can be a sort of adoptive dad? Or do they have to be paired?

 

[Peskypigeon]

Just a little follow up: in case he doesn't come back, can I put a different cock in with the hen so he can be a sort of adoptive dad? Or do they have to be paired?

They’d have to mate, the new cock may fight the hen, chicks, or the hen may fight him (Most likely all of the above). If he’s so young the eggs may not be fertle, but unless he were to remate while he’s away, it’s likely he’ll come back.

 

[purslanegarden]

It's not just that he flew away and may not want to come back, it's also that he might have wanted to come back but met with an untimely end, since there are many predators of pigeons.

My suggestion is like others have said before -- don't let out any birds that you can't afford to lose. This includes during a vital time like nesting or taking care of babies.

However, having said that, I have had a pigeon that took up to 3 days to return, on two different occasions. One was a particularly bad stormy day, and the other pigeons came in from the storm but he didn't. I thought for sure he was a goner what with having to be outside exposed to the bad weather but he came back home a few days later. My guess is that he really did just go try to find a place to be safe and had to home back from wherever he managed to hole up.

Another time was when my couple of birds got scared off by some bird predator. Most of them returned by the evening but one bird was not there. I thought he didn't make it and got taken but he came back after a few days. I like to think that perhaps he was the one that the predator was chasing and he lost his way for a few days as he led the predator on a wild pigeon chase, but he did make it back as well.

So it could still take a few days for the bird to get home, don't lose hope yet!