# Chinese Owls?



## pigeon_16 (Aug 9, 2001)

I have chinese owls, and they love so stay on the grpund. I live in oregon and it is really muddy, and they keep mucking up their tails and I am constantly cleaning them. I have even tryed to cover the bottom of their coop with rocks, but they find some way to get dirty. And I was wondering what I can do. I have another question, I have Homers too, when I let them out to fly, will my chinese owls come back with them? I haven't been letting them out w/ the homers. I lock up my chinese owls before I let my homers out to fly, but would they follow the others? and One more question. My friend and I both got chinese owls, and Mine were fine, and hers stayed in a small box (barley enough room to turn around) and she had 4. Two killed eachother or so she says, so now she has 2. She said one had a little blood in its eye, but my dad had pigeons for 17 years and no pigeons ever killed eachother. Also I talked to the breeder who gave them to us, and he said it was weird, that had never happened to him eather. And when I went over there they had no food/water, so do you think they could have killed eachother? Thank you.


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.::¤MÅNDY¤::.


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## Marian (Feb 17, 2001)

Hi Mandy,

A few thoughts on this:

What is a Chinese owl?
I doubt either a murder/murder or a murder/suicide story of how two of these birds died.
Strongly recommend that you never ask your friend to bird sit for you.
Can you rescue/adopt her two remaining birds?

Marian


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## pigeon_16 (Aug 9, 2001)

A Chinese owl is a Type of pigeon. They have fluffy feathers pionting up in their chest and head. She wasn't bird sitting for me, The 4 were hers, and now she has a coop and will not give them to me. Thanks though!


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## bigbird (Aug 19, 2000)

I have white Chinese Owls, they are a medium beak rather small bird, not known for their flying abilities. The are quick and fast but probably do not have endurance in their blood. 
I think that it is possible for pigeons to kill if they are cramped and or starving.
Sounds like your friend can use some lessons in pigeon care.
If you go to the Gallery, Studio Images there you will see a 4 week old Chinese Owl from my loft.
Regards,
Carl


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## Pigeonrh (Oct 3, 2001)

Hi,
I also rasie Chinese Owls and as Big Birds said they aren't the greatest flyers and if you let them out they are just hawk bait, so don't let them fly with your homers, as for them killing each other, it is possible but it is usually the cocks, plus you said they didn't have much room so I would say that they most likey did kill each other, and blood in the eye was most likely caused by them fighting. As for the muddy tails your best bet it to make a floor of wood and raise it off the ground.

Ryan


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## DaveD (Jul 9, 2001)

see below

[This message has been edited by DaveD (edited December 23, 2001).]


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## DaveD (Jul 9, 2001)

I would consider allowing the owls out, but not to fly with the homers. Usually here, I let the rollers fly, and do thier thing, then when they're back, I let out the fancy breeds. This works well, the fancy breeds don't try to keep up, get lost, or slow down the rollers. They then get the afternoon to graze and play outside, though due to the heavy stray cat population, I stay with them at all times, becase most of the fancy breeds can't fly fast or well. As for pigeons killing each other, the only time I"ve seen this is either when males may pick on a sick or very weak bird, or same thing with a youngster, I've seen a little one be pecked to death by aggressive males, as the males will try to mate with them. Single males seem to be more apt to do this, here, we have almost twice as many males as females at the moment, and it's a dog eat dog world out there, lol. Still waiting for my batch of hens to arrive. Thanks, Dave. 

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David and Kellie Dittmaier
Haven's Loft
www.geocities.com/havensloft


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## Jeff Hitchlock (Dec 5, 2001)

Hi Mandy!
Your Chinese owls will make good droppers(let them out when you want your homers to land). If you don't want your birds fighting or picking on squabs,only keep mated pairs in your coop,with at least 2 nest boxes per pair.If you keep odd birds in with your mated pairs they will cause trouble because they want to pair up.Keep your young weaned birds and your odd birds in a coop separate from your mated pairs,then your mated pairs will be prolific.


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## turmani (Aug 29, 2001)

It's definitely uncommon for pigeons of Western breeds to kill one another, but it is not unheard of.

In the late 80's, I bred a Birmingham cock that for fact, I know personally killed 6 cocks over a period of about a year. One of his sons (out of about 30) was also a killer and killed 2 in a month's time. His other sons were not exactly pleasent and even some of the daughters were more than agressive. (one time I was being interviewed on video in the loft and for about twenty minutes of tape, two of those daughters could be seen scrapping over some nestboxes no matter how often I broke it up. Eventually, they calmed down after one had claimed that spot).

Still, this type of agression (save a few breeds) is not normal in most Western breeds.
Eastern breeds are another story. So for example, I remember once reading a short paper on Arabian Megris and the writer states "they can get a little rowdy". The truth of the matter is that they are one of about half dozen breeds cultivated for fighting and gambling in the Mid East.

Under normal circumstances, it really comes down to space. If you take adult pigeons of the same sex and cram them into a small space together for a prolonged period, it won't be long before they fight roughly over the limited space. If left unchecked, major injuries (mainly scalping) and even death are not uncommon.

Even Ringneck Doves (contrary to the propaganda of their being a great symbol of peace) can get downright nasty to one another if crowded. A friend once bred hundreds of them and as he got on in age, he had far too many for his space (imagine 500 doves crammed into a 20 X 25 space). At that point, things got extremely bad and his cocks scalped everything next to them. When I went over to relax things for him, I'll bet that 250 of the 480+ doves that I took had been severely scalped and I also found a few dead ones!

Overall, Chinese Owls aren't a breed known for agression, but if they were crammed into a small space, its possible that she could lose some from fighting.

About letting them fly this time of year. If you're in Oregon and you do, you won't have them for long because every falcon and accipter within 20 miles will be after them. If you're going to do it, wait until about mid April after everything migrates back into British Columbia.



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