# Anger management for doves?



## amoonswirl (Nov 14, 2006)

This winter I took in a ringneck dove who was raised as a pet. No idea how old he is, or anything about his past except that he was "surrendered" by the lady who owned him before.

Now that the weather has warmed up, I'd like to put him in the aviary with my other doves. I have been introducing him to the setting gradually, but it isn't really working.

When he's around any other birds, he gets totally worked up and aggressive. I even tried putting him in a cage next to the aviary for a few hours at a time, but he will not settle. He spends the whole time trying to get out of the cage and attack the other birds. 

Does anyone have ideas on how to help socialize him? Or is it a lost cause?

He is even aggressive toward me sometimes when I let him have his flight time in the house. He'll attack my hands & feet, and I have to be careful not to let him near my face. Never seen such behaviour in a dove before. Any advice (or commiseration) would be appreciated.


----------



## spirit wings (Mar 29, 2008)

sounds like he is frustrated, is there just one hen you can pair him with and keep him seperated with just her? or a few hens that he can be paired up with? little male doves can be real pushy, even with their mates.. sometimes so much so they have to be lone birds as they will hurt even their mates.. but I think if he finds one and they are kept just as a pair with a nesting basket, he will calm down and help with sittng the eggs and making house.


----------



## EgypSwiftLady (Jan 14, 2008)

Wow that sounds like one tough dove! 

How long have you been trying to introduce him to the other doves?

Have you tried putting his cage in the flight with the other doves?

I have never had a dove attack me, not even when I pull eggs. 

If you've tried introducing him for a good length of time and it hasn't worked I'd say the guy should be kept alone. Even though doves are sweet they can & will fight each other to kill the other.


----------



## Skyeking (Jan 17, 2003)

He sounds like quite a character?

How much time did you allow him with the other birds? Can you allow him longer time out and keep an eye out at the same time? (to keep him from killing other birds)

It may take time for him to make the adjustment with the other birds, and a hen or two to help occupy his time might help.

I might even try having him drink a little chamomile tea before his time in the aviary, it will calm him down. It is not recommended to be used on regular basis, but once in awhile is fine.


----------



## amoonswirl (Nov 14, 2006)

Thanks for the quick replies!

I had been bringing him down a few times while I cleaned the aviary, didn't dare leave him out there w/o supervision. I also tried putting him in a cage that's next to the aviary. He's had a few overnights out there, and a few supervised hours. Overnight he is ok. But as soon as the sun comes up he goes crazy. I was afraid he'd hurt himself on the cage bars, hurling himself against them, so I took him back inside.

He has also had a couple of different "roomies" in the quarantine. I kept them in separate cages but allowed them some flight time together. Mixed results. He alternated between getting along and attacking.

Re: Mate
I had not thought of pairing him up with a mate, but that could be the ticket! I'll try introducing him to a hen and keep an eye on them. I have seen how even the sweet males will "drive" their mates. Afraid that with him it could be dangerous.

And Chamomile tea is a good idea. I'll try that before next time I bring him down there. Wish I had some chill pills to give him, lol


----------



## Larry_Cologne (Jul 6, 2004)

*Traumatized bird?*

My brother Jimmy told me a story last year of an aggressive parakeet.

He got the parakeet from a friend who, for some reason or other of his own, had put the parakeet into a brown paper bag and shook the little bird quite a bit, traumatizing the parakeet. 

Jimmy wound up with the bird. The bird bit him every chance it could. Jimmy let the parakeet bite him all it wanted. Eventually the bird realized that Jimmy was not going to hurt him, and the aggression abated. The parakeet lived several more years, and I don't remember what eventually became of the parakeet, whether he died or flew off. 

My brother has a lot of patience, also two Quaker parrots who missed him terribly when he was in the hospital a week or so last year for bypass surgery. When he returned from the hospital the younger parrot Rosie ran up his arm and bit him (gently) on the ear.

Maybe let him act out his aggression on your feet and hands.

My feral rescue pigeons were always allowed to attack my hands (and feet enclosed with thick socks, tops of feet rather tender) to their heart's content. 

Larry


----------



## spirit wings (Mar 29, 2008)

Larry_Cologne said:


> My brother Jimmy told me a story last year of an aggressive parakeet.
> 
> He got the parakeet from a friend who, for some reason or other of his own, had put the parakeet into a brown paper bag and shook the little bird quite a bit, traumatizing the parakeet.
> 
> ...


doves are not like hookbilled birds, hookbills bite to be let go or not messed with. the ring necks are aggressive usually becasue they want a mate or want to fight/spar for one.. getting and keeping a mate is their number one thing, they do not bite/peck to be let go, or left alone like keets and parrots. but you have a point in just letting them do it..... big human, small bird..lol....but watch your eyes!!! .


----------



## amoonswirl (Nov 14, 2006)

spirit & Larry -
Except for the face-bites, I usually let him attack me. He seems to like "sparring," in a similar way that one plays with a cat. If he were afraid of being hurt by me, I think he'd go in the opposite direction. 

There could be some trauma in his past. But the fact that he's so fearless makes me think otherwise. I think it is a dominance issue. He always goes straight for the alpha males when I take him to the aviary.

Kind of amazing that he identified them so quickly, now that I think about it. The first thing he did when I brought him down was jump on top of the #1 dominant male and try to rip out some feathers. He'd had about 3 seconds to asses the pecking order situation, but somehow he just knew.


----------



## karijo (Apr 11, 2006)

My hand raised feral, Brooklyn, was on his own for 3.5 years and extremely bonded to me before I built my loft and decided to subject him to other pigeons for the first time in his life. He was a complete social reject. It took him a few months of throwing everyone else around and constantly sneaking back in the house before he finally came around and stopped bullying all the other birds 24/7. I'd actually have to lock him in his nest box for a couple of hours each day just to give the other birds a break. Eventually, he came around and learned to interact better with the others (he still bosses the dogs around though). 

He is still as bonded to me as ever, even though he has a mate now and has been in the loft for over a year. I'll say he still gets pretty pushy and bossy with the other birds (many half his size) from time to time and he gets a Time Out. Toys in the loft (especially in his box) help a lot to alleviate his frustrations and extra "energy", as I notice he throws them around and messes with them much more when he is feeling feisty - especially on a Time Out. He will sit in his box and ring the heck out of his bell toy when he's mad, or grab his bunny stuffed animal and beat the cuss out of it. LOL


----------



## amoonswirl (Nov 14, 2006)

Thanks Kari Jo. Good to know I am not alone.

Had not thought of trying toys as a distraction. I'll give that a go as well, if I can get him interested in some. I guess this could take awhile, *sigh*...


----------



## mr squeaks (Apr 14, 2005)

YIKES, Karen! Sounds like you sure have a feisty one on your hands.

I'm sure I echo my fellow site members in saying that we are all waiting with bated breath to see what Brooklyn will do next!!

I have a feeling that time and trying various methods will help...although I bet he will always be a feisty one!

My Mr. Squeaks was found as a squeaker and had no pigeon contact for a few years...just me and the cats. He considers me his mate. I now have 4 other non-releaseable pijies. I keep him separate from them when they are out in my bedroom. I put him with them a couple of times but he took one look at Dom and it was instant ATTACK...to the death! Took care of pijie social activities for Squeaks! He now is happy ruling me and the cats!

Sending OUR BEST with LOVE, HUGS and SCRITCHES

Shi and MR. Squeaks/Dom/Gimie/WoeBeGone/Rae Charles


----------



## amoonswirl (Nov 14, 2006)

Hi Shi!

I was wondering if maybe it had to do with him (Turtle) being an "only bird," and bonding to his human. Seems like a common thread with Mr. Squeaks and Brooklyn too. Such funny little characters they are!

I do love Turtle and would love to keep him in the house. He's so entertaining. But I'm trying to hire a pet sitter for when we need to go away, and simplifying the setup would make it much easier to do that. 

Oh well, this time, I guess we'll just bring Turtle with us


----------



## mr squeaks (Apr 14, 2005)

OOOOOPS!!

SORRY, Karen!! I got "Turtle" mixed up with Karijo's Brooklyn....*sigh*

That will teach me to read my posts correctly! Thank goodness, BOTH have similiar characteristics!!

My humble apologies!!

Love, Hugs and Scritches

Shi  and Mr. Squeaks


----------



## Msfreebird (Sep 23, 2007)

Hi Karen, I recently put Orvil and Poppy (2 hand raised nest mate fantails) out in the loft. I kind of have a similar situation but without the violent attacks on other birds. They've been out there for about 3 weeks now. Still want nothing to do with the other birds - if another bird gets too close to them, Orvil will chase it away and Poppy will run away from it. But when I go into the loft, Orvil fly's right to me landing on my back, head or arm, then Poppy follows him. Orvil stays very close to me but when I reach for him he'll start sparring with my hand. His main focus is ME, and Poppy copies whatever he does. There's a young white hen that's interested in Orvil, but he wants nothing to do with her  He continues to "hang out" with his sister (poppy) and diligently guards the shelf by the door looking and waiting for me.
I'm just wondering if hand raising and bonding with humans has something to do with it. They were still young when I put them in the loft, so I don't think they were confident enough to be aggressive with the older birds - thank God!


----------



## cvarnon (Mar 8, 2010)

I read some research recently that indicated that birds would be aggressive when first introduced to a group. Even if it was a group of farmiliar birds. Which ever bird was removed, and then reintroduced became very agressive after being isolated. The agression went a way after a while. This research was on young ducks, and sadly the authors lost interest in the topic before doing more experiments to find out why this happens... but I just thought it was interesting and relevant.

I would put his cage in the larger flight pen and leave him be for a while.

I don't think it is about trauma in his past... I just think he is being a crazy hand raised pigeon/dove. They just get like that when they are "only birds."


----------

