# Two males paired up?



## jmaxpsi (Jul 31, 2009)

Ok, I have 2 pigeons that I believe are paired up. The more aggressive one in which I thought was a male and actually mated with the other less aggressive one. Then another day, the other one in which I thought was a female was on top of the male and mated. Can anyone explain why the male laid down and let the other one mate? Each time that I saw them mate, it was a successful and complete mating ritual. The one that I thought was a female is a young bird. It always follow the call of the older bird. As of today they are looking for the right box to build a nest. The OB coos and hides and the YB comes looking. Thanks for any comments.


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## wcooper (Aug 4, 2009)

probably a dominant action, in combination with a shortage of hens


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## plamenh (Aug 11, 2006)

You have, agressive females, quiet males and opposite. Sometimes birds of the same sex pair together. Nature works strange ways. I have pair of males living together. One, more agressive is PMV survivor. living with other one helps him calm down and reduces number of fits. He is playing female role though.
I would suggest you, wait couple of months to see they may still produce eggs. Behavior not allways defines sex of the bird.


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## jameswaller (Nov 4, 2008)

*paired up*



jmaxpsi said:


> Ok, I have 2 pigeons that I believe are paired up. The more aggressive one in which I thought was a male and actually mated with the other less aggressive one. Then another day, the other one in which I thought was a female was on top of the male and mated. Can anyone explain why the male laid down and let the other one mate? Each time that I saw them mate, it was a successful and complete mating ritual. The one that I thought was a female is a young bird. It always follow the call of the older bird. As of today they are looking for the right box to build a nest. The OB coos and hides and the YB comes looking. Thanks for any comments.


think thats unusual-/read this-,,i have a pair which from-time to- time lay as many as 4 eggs-with rotating shifts and sometimes they hatch,,one is an aunt,one is a niece,they takes turns feeding,until it is time to kick them out//.. just not sure about any ferilization process/dad might included in there somewhere--now thats weird,,sincerely james waller


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## Charis (Feb 11, 2007)

It's actually not unusual.


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## jmaxpsi (Jul 31, 2009)

wcooper said:


> probably a dominant action, in combination with a shortage of hens


I guess it's hard to understand animals, but I have 2 males that does not have a mate. I'll keep a close eye on them to see what happens and who'll lay the eggs. I just thought that was wierd because I didn't know the sex of the YB.


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## jbangelfish (Mar 22, 2008)

*Hard to say what you have*



jmaxpsi said:


> Ok, I have 2 pigeons that I believe are paired up. The more aggressive one in which I thought was a male and actually mated with the other less aggressive one. Then another day, the other one in which I thought was a female was on top of the male and mated. Can anyone explain why the male laid down and let the other one mate? Each time that I saw them mate, it was a successful and complete mating ritual. The one that I thought was a female is a young bird. It always follow the call of the older bird. As of today they are looking for the right box to build a nest. The OB coos and hides and the YB comes looking. Thanks for any comments.


Females will take the top position and often do so after first breeding the more standard way.

I've observed males that would mate with their hen and then fly off and allow another male to breed with them (male to male). Not sure what this behavior means, birds being birds. 

Two cocks will sometimes mate up, so will two hens. It is not completely unusual, especially when the opposite sex is in short supply.

If you get 4 eggs and some are sometimes fertile, one or both of the hens are borrowing a male partner. Probably has something to do with keeping a species going, ie instinct.

I have even seen pigeons that changed sex over the years, don't have a good explanation except that perhaps they were born with both sexes. It would be quite unusual, I would think.

There are fish that do this as needed to keep the species going. Many old livebearing fish will appear to change, males to females and vice versa but none seems to be fertile at this point. Many old egglaying female fish become male in appearance (at least somewhat). This seems to happen when they become barren.

Bill


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## sreeshs (Aug 16, 2009)

I have a pair of Lahore which mate in both positions. One is male and the other is female for sure as they had laid eggs and squabs raised. They mate in succession for some 3 or 4 times, usually changing the role of who is on top.


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## darkfur (May 11, 2007)

I have a gay male fantail. He has a definite preference for boys, won't accept a female. I've taken partners aways from him and he just picks another boy. It's quite funny actually, him and his mate make a nest and wait for each other to lay eggs. If I slip someone else's egg in they raise it fine and wonder what took the other one so long to lay.


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## maryjane (Jul 15, 2006)

darkfur said:


> I have a gay male fantail. He has a definite preference for boys, won't accept a female. I've taken partners aways from him and he just picks another boy. It's quite funny actually, him and his mate make a nest and wait for each other to lay eggs. If I slip someone else's egg in they raise it fine and wonder what took the other one so long to lay.


I had two doves that did the same thing, regardless of the number of females around. They raised lovely foster babies.


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