# genders



## tyira (Feb 18, 2014)

How do you tell the gender of a pigeon? Any tips wod be helpfull thanks.


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## spirit wings (Mar 29, 2008)

usually by looking at behavoir, pigeons when they mature start to try to pair up, most pigeons find a mate if you have enough in your loft. when they pair up and make a nest and you get two eggs only and they are fertile then you know you have a true pair. the hen is the one that would be on the nest laying the eggs.. lol..


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## tyira (Feb 18, 2014)

I am trying to tell if they are male or female before they pair up as they are siblings and I dont want in breeding.


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## tyira (Feb 18, 2014)

So is there any way to tell before the pairing and eggs?


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## sev3ns0uls (Jul 2, 2011)

not really. The only most accurate is to let them turn to you. If you have a cock bird, it will display its cockiness when it mature. Hen on the other hand, is not as cocky as a cock bird. They usually give in or avoid fighting.


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## re lee (Jan 4, 2003)

tyira said:


> How do you tell the gender of a pigeon? Any tips wod be helpfull thanks.


Knowing the breed you are raising makes it easyer to know which is a hen or cock bird. Most often there is a size difference. Sometimes you will get fooled BUT not often after you understand the breedsa or understand pigeons more


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## tyira (Feb 18, 2014)

re lee said:


> Knowing the breed you are raising makes it easyer to know which is a hen or cock bird. Most often there is a size difference. Sometimes you will get fooled BUT not often after you understand the breedsa or understand pigeons more


They are a mix breed of fain tail and roller. The ones much larger then the other yet there both bigger then there dad.


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## Woodnative (Jul 4, 2010)

Tyira how old are the babies now? In the beginning you will not know but usually as they approach 4-5 months (some earlier, some later) you will begin to tell.....especially the young boys. As they mature their neck/crop will look larger. They may start courting the girls and/or fighting with teh other boys. Thier coo will be deeper than they will do it more often than the girls. However, if you have a couple extra dollars and you want to find out for sure it is possible to DNA sex them using a drop of blood and/or a couple feathers. This can be done even when they are quite young. You can google DNA sexing of birds or something like that. Forum member Dragonboy has this done fairly regularly with his youngsters. You will have to decide what you are going to do with these two babies anyway......keep them both as pets or find new (good!) homes (harder to do with mixed breeds). If they end up being a pair (male/femaler) it may work to your advantage. You could switch out thier eggs with fakes and/or use them as an occasional foster parents if you have other birds breeding at the same time. Make sure you have enough space for all of them though.......especially the males which will each want thier own territory/nestbox.


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## tyira (Feb 18, 2014)

They will be 3 moths on the 11th. We plain to keep them my sisters takeing one and im keeping the one that looked like her mom. I dont plain to breed again right now already have dummi eggs ordered in case they do breed.


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## spirit wings (Mar 29, 2008)

there is no sure way to tell before they mature. appearance of eggs lets you know if a bird is a hen. if not laying a bird could be either sex or is a hen and she needs more time to mature.. if mature enough to lay eggs and there is none then it is a barren hen or a cock bird. they have more months to mature and you may get a good guess by how they act. and of course the eggs if they appear.


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## tyira (Feb 18, 2014)

Ok I will keep watching them. Thanks


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