# My pet dove loves me?



## Opponentsolid (Jul 22, 2014)

So for a long time now, about 9 months, we've had archimedes since he was just a wee egg, but now he's all grown up, which is nice, but we don't know that it is a "He", it used to be very boisterous

But now it sits behind me on my girlfriends desk chair, and if I put my hand near it, he/she lays down on their chest, opens their vent slightly and moves their head slightly side to side.

This isn't the only thing though, if they go into the cage(Even on their own), they will start doing a low, sad sounding coo noise and lay flat on the cage floor, and if I put my hand near them, they start nibbling or preening my hand, I don't know if somethings wrong or if they just want to sleep on me or something?


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## kalel (Oct 14, 2008)

sounds like you have a hen. Is this a ringneck dove?


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## Marina B (May 5, 2011)

I think you're bird is sexually mature now and expects your hand to "mate" with her. The cooing is her way of calling you. My pigeon does the same all the time. So there's nothing wrong, it's just nature kicking in.


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## Opponentsolid (Jul 22, 2014)

kalel said:


> sounds like you have a hen. Is this a ringneck dove?


It's a white fantail dove, actually, heres a video of her(?)(I thought it was a boy in the video)
https://plus.google.com/photos/yourphotos?pid=6031436738230391762&oid=116702043498376426139


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## kalel (Oct 14, 2008)

That video/pic does not work for me but your bird could be male. Just a male bird would probably be more dominant and try mating with your hand/head.


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## Opponentsolid (Jul 22, 2014)

kalel said:


> That video/pic does not work for me but your bird could be male. Just a male bird would probably be more dominant and try mating with your hand/head.


I realise it doesn't work, google+ isn't good for sharing photos or videos outside of google+

Also, both of the parent birds had bare legs, but this bird has feathered legs and has always had them, is this normal?


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## kalel (Oct 14, 2008)

The parents probably have the gene for feathered legs but I guess it's recessive so only shows up in young bird with both copies. It's nothing to worry about.


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## Jemofirongate (Feb 15, 2014)

Im with MarinaB on this, my Lahore hen does the same. She wants you to mate with her!
Jem


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## Trish in Dallas (Jun 5, 2012)

She loves you! 
This does sound like hen behavior, and it sounds like she has chosen you as her mate. She may lay start laying eggs, because her hormones are telling her body she's ready to be a mama. If she is housed with other doves and one is a male, the eggs may be fertile. If this is the case but you don't want baby birds, don't remove her eggs or she'll probably just lay more. You can hard boil them and place them back in the nest. Let her incubate them, and make sure she has high calcium grit and gets some direct sunlight on a regular basis. 

If there's not a male around and you know the eggs aren't fertile there is no need to hard boil them; just let her sit on them until the normal incubation time has passed and she loses interest. You'll need to try to discourage her from laying more eggs if this becomes a regular occurrence so that her health is not affected. There are several ways to do that but let's hope you don't need to go down that road


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