# Okay, I am really thinking Persnickety is a boy now...



## LuaMoon (Feb 22, 2012)

You know, Persnickety acts like a boy so much I'm beginning to wonder. 

We thought she was a girl, because when we first got the two doves, My husband was cleaning the cage and she was standing in the empty box we use as the nest, and all the nesting material was out so it was completely empty. He said two seconds later there was an egg underneath her, and the other bird Chicken was not near the nest. 

But, she tries to mate with my feet, my head, my arms. She (he?) can be bossy around the food sometimes, too. Always thought she/he had the more dominant personality, where Chicken was always just really docile and Persnickety would boss him around. And she/he is definitely the larger of the two birds.

AND he/she NEVER shuts up!!! bow coos all day! Except when asleep. 

The ONLY reason we assumed Persnickety was a she was because of the egg incident.

I am buying another dove, and after talking to the breeder, he didn't want me to end up with two boys that fight, inadvertently.

Do you think Persnickety would be happy with a girl??? Maybe she IS a he and we were somehow mistaken about the egg? Seriously, guys, you think I'm safer having two girls accidentally than two boys accidentally?


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## Skyeking (Jan 17, 2003)

*Congratulations, (sounds like) you have a boy!*


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## LuaMoon (Feb 22, 2012)

It might take a couple day to start thinking of her as a HE.


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## nancybird (Jan 30, 2011)

Thats funny.


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## LuaMoon (Feb 22, 2012)

It's been three days, and I still find myself going "Hi pretty girl...or handsome boy...whatever you are..."...


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## scmona (Sep 6, 2012)

The cock has angular hips and the hen smooth. If you hold the hen in your hand and with your other hand take your index finger and feel underneath toward the rear in back and forth motion between the limbs it should feel smooth, not boney. The male will have a boney feel.


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## LuaMoon (Feb 22, 2012)

It seemed bony, but then I think I was feeling the roots of his/her feathers. LOL.


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## nancybird (Jan 30, 2011)

LOL thats funny.


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## scmona (Sep 6, 2012)

I have a pair and the only way I was able to tell is because one of them isn't boney. lol


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## nancybird (Jan 30, 2011)

sometimes it is hard to tell.


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## Heedictator (May 19, 2011)

what's with the egg? are there other birds in the cage other than the .. err.. chicken..? i'm pretty sure a chicken egg wouldn't be mistaken as a dove's egg, unless the chicken is as small as the dove or when the dove is as big as the chicken..lol if the egg was hers, then the argument is invalid, she's a HEN~


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## Heedictator (May 19, 2011)

a hen behaving like a cock sometimes happens when it comes to pigeons~ at least to my experience before, the story was really kindof funny haha though i'm not sure with the smaller 'doves'~


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## minimonkey (Apr 7, 2005)

I think "Chicken" is the name of one of the doves -- at least that is how I read it, since Persnickety is bigger than Chicken. 

I honestly can't tell my male and female Ringnecks apart, at least visually -- the behavior generally lets me know who is who. I tend to refer to them as the "four nearly identical doves."

I definitely have seen my pigeon hens act like males, and vice versa.


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## minimonkey (Apr 7, 2005)

Oh, and yes, you'd most likely be better off with two hens than with two males -- the males are the ones most prone to fighting.


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## Heedictator (May 19, 2011)

Heedictator said:


> what's with the egg? are there other birds in the cage other than the .. err.. chicken..? i'm pretty sure a chicken egg wouldn't be mistaken as a dove's egg, unless the chicken is as small as the dove or when the dove is as big as the chicken..lol if the egg was hers, then the argument is invalid, she's a HEN~


Sorry...hahahahaha lol to this!! but it's true chickens are birds! ;-)


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## Heedictator (May 19, 2011)

at least she said this way " ... and the other *dove* Chicken was not near the nest. " instead of " ... and the other bird Chicken was not near the nest. " haha my bad ;-)


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## LuaMoon (Feb 22, 2012)

Yes Chicken is the name of my dove who I used to think was a boy, but behavior is more like a girl. Lol I am thinking the egg must have been in the nest already and my husband didnt see it and thought Persickety, who acts more like a boy, laid it.


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