Rowan & Olive....quite the saga! Upon retrospect....Olive was playing hard to get & he won her over!
He won her over in a very unconventional way for a male pigeon though, that probably wouldn't work well with homer hens or if he had competing males around. Very little of the showing off or driving behavior they normally do. His driving consisted of about 15 seconds of cooing and spinning and then he vigorously preened her neck while she was already sitting in her nest. Then he sat down with her... and that seemed to be it. He didn't do anymore to impress her but was really into preening her and being preened. Olive still seems to be the more dominant bird of the pair. Before she accepted him, she'd beat him around a bit if he was in her nest or in her way when she wanted to eat and he never defended himself.
I bet that he was at the bottom of the social hierarchy in the loft he came from, and being small and with such a meek personality, I imagine it was difficult for him to compete with other homer cocks to win a mate. But here, with just one very laid back little hen pigeon to woo, and nobody to fight with he seems to be thriving. And he is very easygoing and low energy, possibly more than even Olive. Does not seem like he misses flying long distances whatsoever. I never even see him pace the wire like he wants out. He seems very settled down and content, like he has everything he needs right there.
Basically, I think I have the pigeon version of Ferdinand the bull. I don't think Rowan wanted to be a racing pigeon or a homing pigeon (and given where he ended up he was probably not good at either). He just wanted to take things at a leisurely pace and smell the flowers.
If his gentle temperament is genetic, and if they are given the human socialization Rowan didn't get, their kids should have excellent personalities as pet birds.
And they're going to have a huge boost of hybrid vigor from this cross. Owls are pretty line-bred, but homers are super diverse, so they should be really healthy too.
Are you for sure keeping Mr. Rose then?
) and are older. My youngest pairs are the ones that have given me the most offspring. Maybe this spring will be the year!
