Pigeon I thought was male now sitting on an egg?

[Kleonaptra]

2 days ago, Mike disappeared into a nesting box. Ive been checking on him frequently as he was recently ill. Today I noticed hes sitting on an egg. I really thought he was male, but Ive started to think Donna, the pigeon I got to be his mate, is male too.



Here they are together. Isha is the indian fantail female, far left. Next is common pigeon male, Mr Pige, then Donna, then Mike. Mike is the offspring of Isha and Pige


Another pic. Mr pige in the foreground - hes they grey with spots, Mike has no spots.

Ive noticed little breeding but these behaviours - Isha constantly engages Mr Pige in bonding behaviour, feeding preening and mating. Mr pige goes after both donna and Mike and Ive seen him both chasing and doing mating dances for both of them. Isha stays away from them unless she's chasing them away from her man. Mike chases after Isha, and over the last few days was doing some mating dance behaviour toward Donna but only through the wall of the nesting box. If he can actually see her, hes not interested. Donna constantly goies after Mr Pige.

Whos male and female, though its bending my mind, is not most important. Whats worrying me is Mike has no one acting as his partner. He hasn't come out of the nesting box all day and no one is feeding him or looking after him, hes sitting these eggs all alone. Pige and Isha are always feeding each other, even though they havnt had eggs since last year. When Mike claimed the second box, Donna claimed the first one. Now pige and Isha have no where to live!

Any ideas on whats going on, and how to fix it, would be much appreciated.

 

[Hokum Coco]

Any ideas on whats going on, and how to fix it, would be much appreciated.

I would change Mike name to Michale
Welcome to the club.
You are not a true pigeon fancier in my opinion until you made that mistake.
One rule of thumb that I have yet to see proven wrong "If it lays an egg it is FEMALE."

 

[Kleonaptra]

Ah but, just because the bird is sitting on it, does that mean that is the bird that laid it?

Mike and I had that discussion this afternoon, Mike, Mikayla, Mimi? Whatever you'd like to be called. I saw....It? Mimi come out and have a little food and water so that's all good. I initially named this one male because he did the loveliest mating dances for me. By that I mean, cooing, head bobbing and puffing out chest.

Ok, to add to the weird. Lets see if you can figure this one out mate, I was really hoping you would chime in here because your advice is always so helpful to me.

This afternoon I sat and watched. Mimi stayed in the nesting box and not seen at all, but occasionally started up cooing. Every now and then some nesting material and downy feathers would fall from cracks in the wood. When Mr Pige saw this, he would charge across the floor and start doing a mating dance to the pile of bedding. Then jump into it, plop down, and do FEMALE motions - laying down, wiggling wings and making a 'wump wump' instead of coo. When Isha saw this, she would charge over, start feeding him, dance around him, then throw herself down making the 'wump' sound. Mr Pige would mount her, when Donna saw this, she would charge over and interrupt them. Both Isha and Pige would chase her off....And all would start over again.

I had mr pige for years and wasn't sure of his sex until we got Isha. Then eggs started appearing and we saw him mounting her, so I am pretty sure of those two.

I have seen Donna do both the male and the female dances. I have also seen Donna nest building. Donna is only interested in Mr Pige and is constantly trying to get his attention. I believe he would be with her as a mate now if Isha wasn't so persistant in keeping him, she is really working hard to keep his attention. I find it so funny everyone told me pigeons mate for life, and I was worried about Isha being the trouble bird, when it was my husband who said "I think your friends on the forum should try telling Mr Pige pigeons mate for life" and he ended up being right....Mr Pige constantly forgets his 'wife' and tries to mate anything that moves.

My feeling is, I have 3 females in with one male. Donna has claimed nesting box one. Mike has claimed nesting box two. Isha really wanted a box but couldn't get Mr Pige into one so they roost on the perch.

In case anyone was wondering, Mr Pige is short for 'indigenous Pigeonos'....Its my little joke because he's a rescued feral bird. I get in trouble for rescuing ferals and my argument is, they were born here, weren't they?

 

[Rick1951]

I had a male old German owl that had three hens at the same time and all three laid eggs in the same best bowl.they have been separated now,lol

 

[Kleonaptra]

Ive renamed Mike Myka. Just when I start to freak out she's not had food or water, she pops out. Ive put some food and water on the shelf so she doesnt have to go far. Im still concerned about her doing this all by herself.

I thought Isha had laid an egg - she spent all day sitting in the fallen nesting material under Myka. That would wreck havoc on any genetic diversity in the flock! Luckily, no egg from her. Donna is fiercely trying to get Mr piges attention. How do I fix this, get 2 more males?

 

[Hokum Coco]

Ah but, just because the bird is sitting on it, does that mean that is the bird that laid it?
If it is of any help it is my experience ♀ sit on eggs during the night.

 

[loftkeeper]

mike sounds like a male that has claimed a nest when this happens leave things alone no need to change water and feed stations they will eat and drink when they need to mother nature has done this for along time

 

[Kleonaptra]

Thankyou Loftkeeper....But I am now even more confused! When I first put all 4 birds in, the 2 greys would not go near the nesting boxes. Both Isha and Donna - obviously used to coop living - tried to encourage them into the boxes but no go. All 4 birds ended up roosting on the perch in front of the shelf. Usually, Mike would sit alone on the end of the perch, Mr pige would sit bang in the middle with a white lady on either side of him keeping him warm.

Mike was ill and taken out for about 3 days. When he went back in he went straight for nest box 2. No other bird had been near it as far as I could tell. Donna was quite obviously making a claim to nest box 1. I noticed lots of vigorous chasing and head bobbing, but the only mating Ive seen is Isha and Pige. Then Mike disappeared and 2 days later I noticed eggs under her.

We had a really bad storm the other day and Isha gave a fair try of getting Mike out of the box, determined to have it for herself. Mike won. Isha nests on the floor under this box but I think her egg laying days are over.

Mr pige is starting to get really stressed out, Isha is constantly wanting to mate and Donna is trying to steal him away. Poor big girl, everyone seems to think she is a freak giant and is afraid of her!

I was making plans to put in some more boxes and get a couple more boys, but thinking Mike may be a boy on eggs, I should wait? I really just want them all paired up and happy, and NO ONE is happy!

 

[Hokum Coco]

Thankyou Loftkeeper....But I am now even more confused!

Here are a few basics that may help your situation.
The best way to determine the sex of a pigeon is to ask another pigeon.
In a perfect world the ♂ pigeon on the right is usually more iridescent and larger than the ♀ pigeon on the left.



That being said no matter which method you choose to sex a pigeon mistakes are sometimes made. I usually can tell the gender of a pigeon just by looking at it (but I have been know to make mistakes too.)

On that note:
If you place your pigeon in the company of a know gender pigeon one can usually tell the gender of the pigeon in question by the reaction taken by the know gender.

(Too many references to gender in tha sentence but I think you can follow).

Check out the link the pigeon bowing and circling is ♂ the bird walking is ♀:

 

[loftkeeper]

now that there are eggs go out dureing the day and see who on the nest then after dark check again males set dureing the day hens at night