# Can a dove and a pigeon be housed together?



## NewtoDoves94 (May 8, 2013)

Hey this is my first time posting and I'm not sure if this is the right place for this but I've never had doves or pigeons before and really need advice .
I have a dove that I have raised from 5 days old (a friend of my mom gave her to me because the mother was not caring for her and she didn't have the time to hand raise her) and is now almost 2 months old and I am still struggling to wean her( I think its a female)fully on to seeds ( she pecks at them and will eat a few but drops most of them). I had heard that seeing another dove eating might help with the weaning process and that doves do better with a companion but I couldn't find another dove so I ended up buying the closest species I could Find: a pigeon . I thought that they were about the same size but now having them next to each other realize that the male pigeon is about twice her size. I should probably mention that the pigeon was being sold because he is blind in one eye. He is also about 4 years old and doesn't for the most part seem aggressive towards the little dove. He did peck at her once but didn't injure her. 
My question is will it be ok to house these two together in a large enough cage (they are kept indoors) even though they have this size difference? will they be able to get used to each other and possibly even be friends


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## dove_white (Jun 9, 2010)

Never been in the situation my self but I would be more concerned over a dove being housed with a cockatiel then a pigeon.


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## NewtoDoves94 (May 8, 2013)

Trying to keep the pigeon and the dove together didn't work out, but the dove is eating on his/her own now. the pigeon, who I named Einstein, tried to attack the much smaller dove, now named Baltimore, so I moved the pigeon out into an extra chicken cage and got him a mate, which he is getting along very well with. I found someone who breeds ringneck doves near where I live so I got a female dove as a companion for my dove (which I think might be a mourning dove), but that dove was being aggressive towards my young dove so I took her back and got a ringneck dove that was about the same age as the dove that I have.


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## Jay3 (May 4, 2008)

For one thing, you don't just put them in the same cage together. You need to put them in cages beside each other for a while, so they can get used to each other. 
Are you sure of the sex of your bird? And of the new bird?


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## spirit wings (Mar 29, 2008)

mourning doves are wild birds, ring necks are not, but they can be companions . even if the wild one should not be a pet. Im not sure why people think they are pets.


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## NewtoDoves94 (May 8, 2013)

In response to spirit wing: I do realize that mourning doves are wild and not domesticated. when I was given the dove it was so young that I didn't know the species and was not given any background information on its species or where it came from other than she/he was a dove, the nest had been destroyed and the parents had abandoned it. She/he is now much too tame to release, loves being held, has no fear of cats or dogs and has actually tried to land on and follow around my dog several times, much to the dogs dismay  

In response to Jay3 I did put them in separate cages for a few days first before I put them together. I have no Idea if the mourning dove is male or female. I have never herd her/him coo or bow, but it does have two patches of iridescent patches of feathers on it's neck.
I think that the ring neck dove is male because I have seen him coo and bow at the mourning dove.
If they are both male would they still get along? They seem to be getting along pretty well at the moment even sitting next to each other on the same perch, but I have seen the ring neck peck at the mourning dove a few times, but has never pulled out any feathers or injured the mourning dove. If they did get into a fight, would they try to seriously injure each other, or would they eventually work out a pecking order? If they are a male and a female would they form a bonded pair? Also I am keeping them in a very large indoor rabbit cage that I added perches, bird toys and a nest to and I frequently let them out to stretch their wings, Is this good enough or do they need time outdoors in a flight cage? 
Any other information on mourning and ring neck dove Behavior that any of you can provide would be useful.


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## Animals for less (Jul 16, 2013)

Yes you can house them together. Only issue I see would be if u pur a wild bird in with a domesticated one u run higher risk of disease. But they will be fine as far as getting along.

Www.animalsforless.com


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## Charis (Feb 11, 2007)

I had a dove rescue that I caged in the same room my pigeons free fly. While changing the cage, the dove escaped. I couldn't catch him and thought I'd leave him till after dark. I checked about 30 minutes later and he had been pecked severely by a male pigeon. He did survive but it was touch and go for a few days. Now, I wouldn't even cage a dove in the same room with pigeons.


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## spirit wings (Mar 29, 2008)

NewtoDoves94 said:


> In response to spirit wing: I do realize that mourning doves are wild and not domesticated. when I was given the dove it was so young that I didn't know the species and was not given any background information on its species or where it came from other than she/he was a dove, the nest had been destroyed and the parents had abandoned it. She/he is now much too tame to release, loves being held, has no fear of cats or dogs and has actually tried to land on and follow around my dog several times, much to the dogs dismay
> 
> In response to Jay3 I did put them in separate cages for a few days first before I put them together. I have no Idea if the mourning dove is male or female. I have never herd her/him coo or bow, but it does have two patches of iridescent patches of feathers on it's neck.
> I think that the ring neck dove is male because I have seen him coo and bow at the mourning dove.
> ...


I know he is tame now that is the problem . rehabbers are trained to know this, that is why they feed it with minimal handling. I think a ring neck dove would be a suitable mate for a mourning dove, but it sounds like you already got one. they can form a bond or they may fight you just have to wait and see. the ring neck if a cock bird may try to drive the wild dove to the nest to lay eggs that behaviour is him pecking at her or it looks like basically annoying her so she does. or he is just being bossy.


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## PrettyNeatParakeet (10 mo ago)

I have a similar question. I have two doves right now. If I got two pigeons and housed them separately from the doves but put the cages near each other so they could see each other, would I be able to let my doves and pigeons out of the cages at the same time or would I have to keep the separated at all times? I would always supervise their interactions and never leave them alone together. I just wanted to ask before I actually bought or adopted pigeons. Thank you for any responses!


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## Doves Witness (Apr 23, 2016)

I don't know the answer for your situation, but I have a couple of observations. I visit with a flock of feral pigeons every day. They routinely have other birds around them: starlings, grackles, sparrows, crows, and sea gulls. Aside from the sneaky violence of the seagulls, the pigeons don't seem to mind the presence of the other birds at all -- even when they are all eating seeds together. There is no effort by the pigeons to drive away the other birds, larger or smaller. It may be that they are relaxed around them because they aren't confined outside (just guessing), and they don't nest where I share seeds with them, so no birds are "too close" to any other bird's nest.

After reading some of the posts in this topic, I am now wondering if the situation might be different between pigeons and doves _specifically_. A couple of times a year there are groups of mourning doves who pass through this neighborhood. I sometimes see them sitting on the rooftops across from my windows. I had noticed that even when other pigeons are visible some distance away on the same roof, the mourning doves and feral pigeons never hang-out together.










^ I did find a video the other day, from which I took the screenshot above of a dove, a cuckoo, and pigeons together, but it was a very short video and I have no idea how the housing arrangements worked-out. The video was completely non-violent though.


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## bailey29 (6 mo ago)

It is possible to live together, but if there is a conflict, the smaller bird will be injured or even killed


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