# Keeping Two Different Species Together (Doves)



## Szulptist

Hello folks, (If you want to just cut to the chase, skip to 'The Questions')

I am very new to this forums and I did do some searching and looked through all the section topic titles so I do hope I've chosen the right area for this question. If not I sincerely apologize. (I also tried using the search function to find the answer to my question but it took too many words and was hard to phrase my curiosity accurately to find relevant threads)

*Brief Introduction:*

Hello, my name is Eric. I've recently purchased an Albino Ringneck Dove, I was told she is approximately 4 months old. I built her a cage that is approximately 2 ft Long x 2 ft High and 2 feet deep. She has a access to fresh food, water, mineral / vitamin grit and has several perches in her cage, varying in size. She seems very happy and healthy, calm and quiet. She steps up voluntarily when I go to take her out of the cage, enjoys sitting on my finger next to my face (she cozies up and begins to appear to sleep) and overall I am very happy with her. I take her out everyday and let her relax on her perch near me and place another perch nearby to encourage flight. Oh and her name is Amelia. 

*My Situation:*

Although I currently have a lot of free time to spend with my bird I am aware that I will likely be more busy in the future. This led me to believe it might be a good idea to get her a friend to spend time with when I am not around. Since I live with other people (don't have my own place yet) I must be very careful about noise, odor, and of course space. So in that vein of thought I will have to avoid getting a male dove to be her partner because they can be relentless with their cooing. (although I would like to have more birds / possibly an aviary when I can afford to / have the correct living arrangements). I have read that I can get another female and with a proper introduction it is likely that they will get along / enjoy each-others company but I was curious if there was another alternative. This led to me wondering...

*The Questions:*

Can different species of doves be kept together? For example can a female diamond dove and a female ringneck dove share a cage or become friendly with one another? I have heard that pigeons kept with doves may act aggressively towards one another, especially males towards other males, but have not read or found any information on keeping female diamond and ringneck doves together. I know people sometimes keep diamond doves with finches with usually neutral or poor results but I wondered if two different female doves would fair better since both are non-aggressive and non-territorial. Has anyone ever kept the two species together with positive or neutral results? Is it a terrible idea or possibly unheard of? 

Another curiosity would be perhaps a female pigeon and a female dove. If they have similar coats maybe they will be fooled into thinking they are both the same species?

Sorry for the long-winded first post, I appreciate all feedback. 

Thanks!
Best Regards, 
Eric


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## Ananth_Tvli

Welcome on board Eric. This is a great forum and very soon you will get some expert advice (sorry, I am not experienced enough to give you that). You have come to the right place. Enjoy your time.


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## ThePigeonGene

Ring neck doves are great pets  enjoy

Like you said, the males can be relentless and EXTREMELY loud. Mine is louder than all my pigeons put together 

My only exp with two female ring necks were mother and daughter and they fought like hell, but its mainly because they saw each other as competition for nesting space and the male.

Pigeons can get along fine in same sex environments. I would imagine 2 female ring necks would be a similar situation.

I know diamond doves can be incredibly terretorial, but I do not know if that is limited to the males.

Mixing ring necks and pigeons I would be wary of. Pigeons are so much more heavily built (even the small breeds are sturdier than a ring neck) and are naturally more terretorial than ring necks. If they do fight or try establish a pecking order your ring neck would be at a great disadvantage.


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## Szulptist

*Ananth_Tvli: *Thanks for the warm welcome! Yea this place is great, been spending more time reading threads and so far I've learned so much. 

*ThePigeonGene:* Thanks! Are pigeons known to be much quieter? I appreciate your insights and believe you're probably right. I sure wish I knew of a local pigeon breeder / diamond dove breeder that I could connect with and try and see if it was possible to do a temporary trial. Of course I wouldn't just stick both birds in the same cage and hope for the best, I'd just introduce them in a separate room and later try same room near their cage and if it didn't seem like it was going well after a few days I'd have to either build a new cage or return the bird. 

If anyone has ever kept any of these birds and allowed them to interact under close supervision I would love to hear about your experiences and opinions on this sort of situation.

Thanks for the replies guys!

Best Regards,
Eric


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## ThePigeonGene

Szulptist said:


> *Ananth_Tvli: *Thanks for the warm welcome! Yea this place is great, been spending more time reading threads and so far I've learned so much.
> 
> *ThePigeonGene:* Thanks! Are pigeons known to be much quieter? I appreciate your insights and believe you're probably right. I sure wish I knew of a local pigeon breeder / diamond dove breeder that I could connect with and try and see if it was possible to do a temporary trial. Of course I wouldn't just stick both birds in the same cage and hope for the best, I'd just introduce them in a separate room and later try same room near their cage and if it didn't seem like it was going well after a few days I'd have to either build a new cage or return the bird.
> 
> If anyone has ever kept any of these birds and allowed them to interact under close supervision I would love to hear about your experiences and opinions on this sort of situation.
> 
> Thanks for the replies guys!
> 
> Best Regards,
> Eric


My pigeons also coo a lot but the tone carries less, and my male ring neck is a LOT louder. 

I've had a family of 5 ring necks out in my room at the same time as one of my rescue pigeons (big guy) but they were both too wary of each other to really tell anything...........until my male ring neck decided well if he moves I might as well try hump it..............

So my teeny tiny ring neck started humping my large male pigeons head 

Some pigeons can be very sweet and gentle, but even my quietest pigeons are terretorial of their box/space, so while I might even trust some to be free flying in the house with another bird as small as a diamond dove even, I would not chance putting them in the same cage where the little guy had no where to run.

If you had the space to have a largish aviary, where each bird had their own little 'cage/box' but shared a common space you'd probably be ok


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## Szulptist

ThePigeonGene: That's very interesting about the noise, I've been told that pigeons are louder but then again the guy who said that isn't very reputable and often gives shabby advice. Thank you very much for the information and I sincerely appreciate you taking the time to get back to me. I don't think I'll be keeping two different species together unless over an extended period of time they seem inseparable. I do think I might be taking in a rescue pigeon and I will see how they interact outside of their cages but they will both have their own spaceous cage that they will remain in when not hanging out / free flying (although I don't know if the rescue will be able to fly). 

Thanks again!
Eric


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## spirit wings

Szulptist said:


> Hello folks, (If you want to just cut to the chase, skip to 'The Questions')
> 
> I am very new to this forums and I did do some searching and looked through all the section topic titles so I do hope I've chosen the right area for this question. If not I sincerely apologize. (I also tried using the search function to find the answer to my question but it took too many words and was hard to phrase my curiosity accurately to find relevant threads)
> 
> *Brief Introduction:*
> 
> Hello, my name is Eric. I've recently purchased an Albino Ringneck Dove, I was told she is approximately 4 months old. I built her a cage that is approximately 2 ft Long x 2 ft High and 2 feet deep. She has a access to fresh food, water, mineral / vitamin grit and has several perches in her cage, varying in size. She seems very happy and healthy, calm and quiet. She steps up voluntarily when I go to take her out of the cage, enjoys sitting on my finger next to my face (she cozies up and begins to appear to sleep) and overall I am very happy with her. I take her out everyday and let her relax on her perch near me and place another perch nearby to encourage flight. Oh and her name is Amelia.
> 
> *My Situation:*
> 
> Although I currently have a lot of free time to spend with my bird I am aware that I will likely be more busy in the future. This led me to believe it might be a good idea to get her a friend to spend time with when I am not around. Since I live with other people (don't have my own place yet) I must be very careful about noise, odor, and of course space. So in that vein of thought I will have to avoid getting a male dove to be her partner because they can be relentless with their cooing. (although I would like to have more birds / possibly an aviary when I can afford to / have the correct living arrangements). I have read that I can get another female and with a proper introduction it is likely that they will get along / enjoy each-others company but I was curious if there was another alternative. This led to me wondering...
> 
> *The Questions:*
> 
> Can different species of doves be kept together? For example can a female diamond dove and a female ringneck dove share a cage or become friendly with one another? I have heard that pigeons kept with doves may act aggressively towards one another, especially males towards other males, but have not read or found any information on keeping female diamond and ringneck doves together. I know people sometimes keep diamond doves with finches with usually neutral or poor results but I wondered if two different female doves would fair better since both are non-aggressive and non-territorial. Has anyone ever kept the two species together with positive or neutral results? Is it a terrible idea or possibly unheard of?
> 
> Another curiosity would be perhaps a female pigeon and a female dove. If they have similar coats maybe they will be fooled into thinking they are both the same species?
> 
> Sorry for the long-winded first post, I appreciate all feedback.
> 
> Thanks!
> Best Regards,
> Eric


It is best to get another ring neck dove because of size differences with other species like dimond dove and pigeon.


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## Raisindust

Diamond doves are SO SMALL compared to a ringneck I'd never consider housing the two together. Also, they can be kind of scrappy from what I've seen at work where we sell them ( there was three ringnecks, and the two worked together to absolutely maim the third ) and thus if the diamond were to start a brawl with the ringneck, and the ringneck decided to fight back, it could get quite messy.

I'd reccomend another ringneck. Yes, it may get louder with their cooing, but it'd be better than coming home to two very injured and / or dead birds!

RE: pigeons -- they ARE quieter. Their vocals are a much much lower pitch and thus the sound, even at its loudest, isn't near as penetrating as a ringneck's ( though baby pigeons do screech quite a bit, and that noise can be a little grating; they grow out of it quickly enough at least ). However, again, ringnecks aren't as aggressive or as hardy as a pigeon, so the ringneck wouldn't stand a fighting chance if the pigeon got a little antsy. I personally wouldn't risk it, though if you got the itty bittiest tiniest of pigeons ever, a miniature miniature basically, you miiiight be able to pull it off.

In any other case, I'd still say just get another ringneck. Otherwise, if that isn't an option due to the potential noise, leaving him as a single bird should be fine!


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