# Pairing up birds.



## Shrek (Apr 2, 2008)

Okay guys I have more questions. In our loft we have 32 nesting boxes then other perch areas. Most our pigeons are sitting in them seperate. How do you incourage them to pair up? There are even some nesting boxes that are empty and the birds are perching else were alone.


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## Lovebirds (Sep 6, 2002)

Well, the ideal situation for breeding is mated pairs only. No extra birds. The pairs will usually pick out their own box and defend it. I expect that one problem is the fact that the birds have always been together and it's not really anything exciting to them to have both sexes all the time. I've seen this happen quite a few times. Fanciers normally separate the sexes at least part of the year and most only have their breeders together for about 3 or 4 months. It's the whole "distance makes the heart grow fonder" thing......what size are your nest boxes? With a 6 X 10 loft, I can't imagine they are very big. You may find that you'll need two boxes for each pair of birds. When they do start raising babies, they'll use a box for the first set of babies, and when those babies are around 2 weeks old or so, the hen will go down on another pair of eggs in another box. UNLESS the boxes are big enough to hold two nest bowls.


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## jbangelfish (Mar 22, 2008)

*Pairing*

If your birds are in good health, they should pair off. When a hen developes eggs, she will seek a mate if she does not have one and will even borrow one to make her eggs fertile. Of course, she is hoping to keep the male that she mates with and raise young with him. The males can be pigs and will breed outside of the bonded pair. Once in awhile, the hens will also.

If you have both sexes of birds together, eventually they will mate up with a chosen mate. It might take alittle time if you have a random group of birds together without mated pairs. It seems to work best if you separate males from females for the winter and put the ones together for a few days that you want to be together. They will be very anxious to mate up in the early spring (March or April for most of us).

If you have too many of one sex or the other, it may take longer as there is competition and the males in particular will certainly compete.

Most pigeons will fit into a 12 inch cubed nest box and it is best to have a double pair of nest boxes for each pair. That is to say that you would have a divider between each pair of boxes so that the birds can work with two nests as they will lay eggs so often that as their first young are growing, they will lay another pair of eggs and begin caring for them as they care for their fledglings. If they have about a 4 inch wide space to land on before the boxes, they will feel comfortable and will defend this space vehemently. After this landing and roosting area would be the 12x12 boxes with full 16 inch dividers between each pair of nesboxes. Does this make sense?

Hope this helps.

Bill


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## warriec (Feb 2, 2007)

This question have been bought up so many times before but here I go again again.

Provide double the nest boxes to the number of pairs you have.

Then u decide if you are going to force pair them or let nature do the selection for you.

In a forced pairing you lock up the choosen pair in the relavent nest box for a few days to weeks based on how well the pairing goes. remember you must keep an eye on them as the cock may get too aggressive and peck the female.

In natures selection the male and female will pair off naturally and choose there own box.

the reason for double the nest box per pair is because a pair will seek another box before there current baby had fledge. If you have limited boxes they would try to chase the current baby off too early or risk damaging eggs.

Once paired you should have eggs by day 10. Do not break pairs once paired and put them in the same loft.

ie

Pair (1) Male - A x Female B
Pair (2) male - C x Female D

You can't pair A x D or B x C and put them in the same loft, they will go back to there original partners


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## Guest (Apr 5, 2008)

i really never had a problem pairing up birds and thats also with pairs that are existing in my breeder pen ..I usually just let them pair up by themselves unless I choose the mate for them in which I just keep them caged together for a short while then return them to the breeder section and they just need to find a box to clam as thier own and wellahhh


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## ND Cooper (Mar 4, 2008)

Are your pigeons comfortable ?, Do they have enough room? How would you feel, if you were their size?
12 cubic feet of air space per pigeon, allows enough room to move.
Roosting space should be extra.
Do not overcrowd your birds. It's not healthy for them, or you either!


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## philodice (Sep 30, 2007)

You probably shouldn't be too worried about breeding yet, you have a lot more to learn first. We don't even know what breed your birds are yet. Do you have pictures yet? We love pictures!


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