# Diamond Doves Anxiety Behavior?



## chat_noir (Jun 27, 2012)

Hey! Still new here, but I have another question for you guys!

I bought my first two diamond doves- Malachite (male) and Zoisite (female)- a few months ago and discovered right off that they were a mated pair and already laying eggs. Their first squab, Mercury (male), is now full-grown, and their second squab, Graphite (sex still unknown) is almost full grown. Both Mercury and Graphite are living in their own cage, separate from their parents, who have long-since kicked them out of the nest so they can lay more clutches. Both offspring went through a separation anxiety period, which I figured was to be expected, but settled in to their new cage after a week or two.

But here's the problem: Mercury (male offspring) keeps pacing his cage along the side that faces the parent's cage. Both cages are within the recommended sizing for diamond doves, and contain several natural wood branch perches, two nests, millet sprays, cuttle bones, and food trough on the bottom for them to walk around and eat their food naturally. They have enough room to fly between perches easily. I tried to keep a divider between the two cages (parent and offspring) to block their view of each other, but they can still hear each others' coos. The cages are also separated by a bookcase, so they're not side-by-side or anything. He doesn't do this all the time, but randomly throughout the day for extended periods of time. Eventually he'll settle down and preen or eat or try to mate with his sibling.
Another odd behavior Mercury does is pace on his perch and then launch at the cage bars, gripping them with his feet and flapping his wings until he can't support himself anymore and hops down to the cage floor. He doesn't seem to be hurting himself, but it makes me anxious watching him and I know this can't be normal behavior. 

I'll sometimes let him out to fly around when he does this, hoping that it's just him wanting to stretch his wings, but he'll resume the behavior shortly after I put him back in the cage. All the birds get periods of free-flight around our apartment, which has a high, lofted ceiling and big window sills with plants and trays of organic dirt (which sounds funny, but you know what I mean- no chemicals and stuff) that we sprinkled with seeds for them to graze on naturally as a special treat. They love it! I can't imagine this anxious pacing and cage-attacking is because he doesn't get enough flight time. =\

The only other thing I can think could be causing this behavior is maybe Mercury feels mated to Malachite? They're both males though- not to mention Mal is Merc's dad! Mercury has always seemed very attached to his dad, and kept wanting to follow him around whenever I would let them all out for free-flight. Recently I've caught Mercury trying to mate with both Malachite and Graphite. Is it a leftover separation anxiety, or a weird dominance display? Will it go away eventually, or should I cut off all contact between the parents and offspring and just keep them in separate rooms entirely? I live in a two room apartment (bedroom and living space) with no doors separating the rooms. I keep the birds in the living space room, and besides sleeping, I rarely spend any time in the bedroom. The bedroom is also the domain of my non-special needs cat (I have two cats as well, and the other can't jump or get into high places) who likes to get into trouble...so I'm hesitant to keep the birds in there.


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## spirit wings (Mar 29, 2008)

maybe it is because they are flock birds and wondering why he is not in there with the parents?.. maybe because he is not matured yet he thinks he should still be in a small group as seen in the wild.. just a guess.I have read their need for companionship is high.. perhaps the other sibling is not enough as he is still young.. just thought.


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## Jay3 (May 4, 2008)

I would say that Mercury has grown up and is in need of a mate to settle him down. Can you post a picture of the cages? It's normal for a pig or dove as they mature to seek out a mate. I would be careful with a cat in the same room, as a cat scratch or bite can be fatal to a bird.


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## Jay3 (May 4, 2008)

I do agree with sw that they are probably better off in a group. Being in a cage alone doesn't seem like it would be good for him.


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## chat_noir (Jun 27, 2012)

Jay3 said:


> I would say that Mercury has grown up and is in need of a mate to settle him down. Can you post a picture of the cages? It's normal for a pig or dove as they mature to seek out a mate. I would be careful with a cat in the same room, as a cat scratch or bite can be fatal to a bird.


That sounds pretty plausible really, considering he's been trying to mate with Malachite and Graphite, and both are disinterested (Mal being male/father, and Graph being too young). I'm hoping he'll settle down as Graphite gets a bit older. I was originally hoping Graph would also be male so they couldn't lay any more clutches (4 birds is max capacity in this apartment), but if Graph being female will help Mercury calm down a bit, I wouldn't mind having to switch out another set of plastic eggs every now and then.


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## spirit wings (Mar 29, 2008)

so mercury was the first hatched and not still full grown..but the second Graphite unknown sex is full grown?.. Im confused..lol..


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## chat_noir (Jun 27, 2012)

spirit wings said:


> maybe it is because they are flock birds and wondering why he is not in there with the parents?.. maybe because he is not matured yet he thinks he should still be in a small group as seen in the wild.. just a guess.I have read their need for companionship is high.. perhaps the other sibling is not enough as he is still young.. just thought.


The 2 parents are in one cage, and the 2 offspring are in a separate cage, so at least they're paired off. I didn't want to separate them, but Malachite (father) was getting extremely aggressive towards both offspring in turn once Zoisite had laid a new clutch. Mal would peck at them and try to pluck their feathers, chase them around the cage, and try to tackle them off the perches. I was afraid he'd seriously injure one of them...or worse!


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## chat_noir (Jun 27, 2012)

spirit wings said:


> so mercury was the first hatched and not still full grown..but the second Graphite unknown sex is full grown?.. Im confused..lol..


Mercury is first hatched (the second egg in that clutch never hatched) and full-grown. He has all his adult colorations and coos.
Graphite is from the second clutch (the second egg in that clutch did not hatch as well) and is full-sized. He (I only say "he" in the generic sense, since I don't know the actual sex of the bird) has his adult feathers, but the ring around his eyes haven't turned that beautiful bright orange yet. He still makes growly chirpy-coos and doesn't coo like the adults yet, but he's working on it!


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## spirit wings (Mar 29, 2008)

so when did mercury go into the cage with his younger sibling from the parents cage?


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## chat_noir (Jun 27, 2012)

spirit wings said:


> so when did mercury go into the cage with his younger sibling from the parents cage?


Mercury was roughly a month old when we moved him to the second cage by himself. This was around the time Graphite had hatched and Malachite started acting aggressively towards the older offspring. Graphite moved in when he was about a month old as well, for the same reason.


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## chat_noir (Jun 27, 2012)

Jay3 said:


> I would say that Mercury has grown up and is in need of a mate to settle him down. Can you post a picture of the cages? It's normal for a pig or dove as they mature to seek out a mate. I would be careful with a cat in the same room, as a cat scratch or bite can be fatal to a bird.


The parents cage:









Mercury and Graphite's cage (which is slightly smaller than the parent's cage):









Mercury (background) and Graphite (foreground):








I actually didn't realize how much color has started to develop in Graphite's eyes. Then again, it could be the yellow light from the lamp. It's also hard to tell, but Graphite still has a lot of that tawny brown and grey coloring of the juvenile feathers. His tail is getting a lot whiter now though, so so far it seems like he may actually be a male.


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## spirit wings (Mar 29, 2008)

I think you are doing everything right..it just may be has a hard time letting go of the family group or that is just his personality to fidget. he may be one that does better in an aviary situation..but that is not going to happen in an apartment. they are nice healthy birds from the looks of it. I would keep check on them to see if the other becomes a problem if graphite turns out to be male..


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## Jay3 (May 4, 2008)

Yes, the cages look fine. I think maybe he just likes to be out more. They do all have different personalities, and of course, having a mate does calm them down some. Don't know how you will work it out if the younger one turns out to be a male. They would probably start fighting. Too bad they couldn't be kept in an inside aviary, but guess that would be kind of hard in a small place. Pretty birds they are.


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## chat_noir (Jun 27, 2012)

Thanks guys! I'm just going to keep an eye on them and make sure they get out more. He really seems to calm down just by having the door to his cage open, even if he doesn't come out, so maybe I'll even just leave his cage door open between certain hours when I'm home. If it becomes a problem, I might even look in to just building them a large cage that's nice and tall. The parents seem to like the size of their current cage, but they were bought in a pet store (a nice one with healthy-looking birds, I made sure) and probably never had luxuries like free-flight and such. They like the exercise, but I think they feel most comfortable in smaller spaces.
I'm glad you think they look healthy though otherwise! I'm pretty inexperienced with birds, but I loooove pigeons/doves and really wanted a pair. :3


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## Jay3 (May 4, 2008)

You're doing good with them. Hope you'll come back and let us know how things go with them. And share pictures, as we love pictures here.


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## nancybird (Jan 30, 2011)

They sure are cute.


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