# Raised Adult Wild, personality change?



## JanieLee1129 (Aug 4, 2012)

Ok I posted before when I first found my baby wild pigeon. Raised to "her"? To full adult hood. She is released daily sometimes flies off but always returns home before dark. 

So one day I was buying food at our local pigeon guy and was talking to him about getting her a friend/mate. He said he had recently caught another wild the he placed about the same age as mine(before first mult). So I took "him" home. As to the sex of the birds, I based it on what pigeon guy told me. Males make noise females hardly do. We Big Boy(new pigeon) did make quite a bit more noise then my Baby Bird. So I proceeded to assume(still do) he's male, she's female. 

So put them both in the same coop, pigeon guy said to keep him in the coop for a month, and release on an empty stomach and he should fly return. Wen he was released, hung around all day and through the night. We were unable to get ahold of him to return him to the coop, the next morning he was gone. Haven't seen him since. 

So here's my issues. My baby bird used to land on my hand, let me pet her and eat from my hand and such. Maybe a couple weeks into having the new boy she started getting aggressive. She had learned to tolerate the male, they nick picked at each other but no feather pulling or any thing like that. But maybe a week or more before we released the male she started showing aggression towards not only my husband but me as well. She started always wanting to be on the light by our back door when let out. She now will attack your hand when you try to put it under her to get to to step up onto it(never used to). She makes what I like to called a pigeon growly noise and constantly peck and grabs at any hand put near her. It is very difficult to get her into her coop at night(doesn't quite grasp he whole door deal). So the personality change is one of my issues. Don't know why, or what caused it. 

2nd issue is tonight while taking my dogs out she started making the pigeon growl noise for no reason, turned the flash light over other cage and watched her. She was doing this weird back and forth strut around a toy ball she's had since she was little with her tail flared open pointing downward(like an upside down peacock tail). And fluffing herself up as well. She started picking at the fleece I have in her coop(she used to it, from when she was a baby) and trying to pull it down, so I kinda panicked and figured she as trying to nest. So I got a box big enough for her to sit in, wrapped and taped it up with a plastic back to prevent water from getting to the cardboard and cut up little strips of felt and put it in the box. I put the box in her cage and she starts going at it, messing with it, moving it around and such. Watched her kinda get in the box, but at that point we went inside and left her alone. 

So you see there is my second issues, is my bird gonna lay eggs? I know they mate for life, and it's been over ten days since the male left. Where I live is like a big community, and we do have wild pigeons, but they are closer toward the front of the community by the freeway, where as we live far in the back in a neighborhood. I haven't seen any other pigeons around my house just your normal mocking birds, blue jays, doves, robins. Soo....again what's her deal?


Summery- why did my sweet loving bird become Satans guard bird almost over night, and what's with the weird nesting like behavior. Looks forward to answers thanks a bunch guys.


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## Bella_F (Nov 29, 2008)

Ah, its a bit sad when they grow up and stop being babies isn't it? 

On a positive note, she's acting normal and the aggression is normal pigeon behaviour; its more about setting boundaries with you, I think, than actual ill will. Maybe when they reach maturity they know physical touch and affection is for the mate only, and thats all she's trying to say to you? At least she knows she's a pigeon. They do this with each other too, for example I've seen babies bond very closely and become very affectionate, and then when one of them matures they start to fight and the physical affection ends, especially if they are the same sex. But they hang out and continue to stay close. 

PS. Most of my hens grunt at me, lol, especially if they've seen me hand feed their mate. But seeing them happy and affectionate with their mate makes up for it in my mind.


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## minimonkey (Apr 7, 2005)

Don't you love the grunting hens? 

I have a solo male who gets extremely possessive with me... he starts wingwhacking the side of his hutch if my human mate goes anywhere near him ... it's pretty funny. He definitely doesn't want another male in THAT picture....


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## JanieLee1129 (Aug 4, 2012)

See her thing is she's alone now. The other wild bird I had flew off. And he aggression is on a scale of one to ten a 12. She grabs the skin on your and and twists. She refuses at all to get on your hands or let you get ANYWHERE near her. Which is a serious issue because she doesn't get the concept of going back into her coop. So we have to attempt to put her up by hand. We are to the point of using either a wrag to grab her or putting a towel over her. There is no point at all where you can put your hand anywhere near her and her not try to grab your skin and yank it off. Is this just female behavior? It makes I very difficult to care for her. As I said before she does have free time out of her coop and I can't get ahold of her to check for injuries or anything like that. This bird went from sitting on my hand happily content to trying to rip my fingers off. I'm fine with not being able to pet and cuddle her, but I at least need to be able to get ahold of her with out driving her to pure panic and chasing her around until she's to tired. Is not healthy for either of us to stress like this. I really need advice.


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## Quazar (Jul 27, 2010)

JanieLee1129 said:


> .......
> 2nd issue is tonight while taking my dogs out she started making the pigeon growl noise for no reason, turned the flash light over other cage and watched her. She was doing this weird back and forth strut around a toy ball she's had since she was little with her tail flared open pointing downward(like an upside down peacock tail). And fluffing herself up as well. She started picking at the fleece I have in her coop(she used to it, from when she was a baby) and trying to pull it down, so I kinda panicked and figured she as trying to nest. So I got a box big enough for her to sit in, wrapped and taped it up with a plastic back to prevent water from getting to the cardboard and cut up little strips of felt and put it in the box. I put the box in her cage and she starts going at it, messing with it, moving it around and such. Watched her kinda get in the box, but at that point we went inside and left her alone.
> 
> So you see there is my second issues, is my bird gonna lay eggs? I know they mate for life, and it's been over ten days since the male left. Where I live is like a big community, and we do have wild pigeons, but they are closer toward the front of the community by the freeway, where as we live far in the back in a neighborhood. I haven't seen any other pigeons around my house just your normal mocking birds, blue jays, doves, robins. Soo....again what's her deal?
> ...


As pigeons grow up, their behaviour does change. Like kids they go through an adolesance type regime, moreso when introduced to other pigeons as they learn things from others that they havent experianced being on their own.
From the comments ive highlighted in red, it sounds to me that your sweet "hen" could actually be a HE.
The male acts this way when courting a female and also when warning off other males from his territory.
He may be courting the ball, or If the ball is small, Its possible he thinks the toy ball is an egg. I have a rescue who did exactly the same with a "trackball mouse" for my pc, so much so that he decided to sit on it lol. 
The male also usually finds the nest area, will sit in it and call for his mate, then go gather materials for the nest.


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## Bella_F (Nov 29, 2008)

JanieLee1129 said:


> This bird went from sitting on my hand happily content to trying to rip my fingers off. I'm fine with not being able to pet and cuddle her, but I at least need to be able to get ahold of her with out driving her to pure panic and chasing her around until she's to tired. Is not healthy for either of us to stress like this. I really need advice.


Yes, you'll need to change your routine for sure. Its not usual for an adult pet pigeon to step up to your hand to allow you to move her when you want. People either train them to go back to their roost spot on their own, or they are best picked up after dark.

Its a bit easier when they have a nest in the coup, where they lay their eggs. She'll be driven to return to that nest box every night and nothing will stop her.

Is the coup big enough to put a nest box in there?


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## JanieLee1129 (Aug 4, 2012)

Bob,
Do you think I should get "him" a mate? Also do you think this is something he will grow out of? Lastly if I were to buy him a mate how would I go about doing that? The man I get my pigeon food from sales them, but says I could never release them to fly because they would just fly home to him. How could I get him a mate that would "return" to it original home?


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