# Juvenile's First Sounds?



## mubcupk (Apr 20, 2010)

Oh yes, it's me again. I know I keep posting but I have so many questions about my birds (who I become more and more fond of by the day!) and this is the only active dove/pigeon forum I've found! You guys rock, so please be awesome again and help me out with another question.

As you may or may not remember, a white ringneck dove showed up on our doorstep after Easter this year (and the same thing happened last year). We put them together, but the new one, Rainbow, is much smaller so we figured she may be a juvenile. 

She has never cooed, never laughed, never bowed. She is just small and silent. We have 2 new ringnecks now as well, and our first white dove is trying to bond with one or both of them, so I've been focusing my attention on Rainbow. All the birds ignore her, so I bring her in the house and pet her and hold her and love her. 

Yesterday she made 2 tiny cooing sounds, each almost like a one syllable "hmh" like you might say if you were lifting something heavy. Today when I went out to feed them and check their water, she laughed. 5 "hins" to her laugh just like our other white ringneck (the tan ringneck has 8 hins in his laugh), but much higher pitched and much quieter. 

When do juveniles first start making noises (age?)? Does this process sound like a juvenile growing up? How long after they start making sounds does their male/female behavior follow? She has not exhibited any male/female behavior yet so I actually don't know that she is a she. Maybe she's a he. Will a female laugh as her first sound? 

If she turns out to be a male, I will have 3 males and 1 hen. Am I set up for disaster, or do groups often live peacefully? If you don't know about ringnecks, I'd still love to hear about your pigeon experiences. They may be similar enough to give me some ideas. Google is not helping me!


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## mubcupk (Apr 20, 2010)

Also, last night someone pooped on her in 2 places and now she is stained green. Can I fix that or is it better to just leave her alone?


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## mubcupk (Apr 20, 2010)

Ok, I just had "her" out playing with her, and then I put her back with the 3 other doves. The white male was in the nesting box, bow-cooing to the female. Then the other make began bowing and cooing. Rainbow jumped up on a perch next to the tan male and laughed. Then he went straight over to her and pecked her until she jumped onto a lower perch. Mubcupk (the white male) always pecks her down to a lower perch too. Other than that, everyone ignores her and she ignores them. Argh.


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## doveone52 (Aug 3, 2009)

mubcupk said:


> Also, last night someone pooped on her in 2 places and now she is stained green. Can I fix that or is it better to just leave her alone?


Borax-1 tbsp to the gallon-was recommended to me and it works very well. Poor Rainbow. It seems she's really the low "man" on the totem pole now. But things can change!


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