# Pairing Long beak and Short beak Pigeon for breeding



## eres (Aug 13, 2016)

Is it okay to make a pair of pigeon in which one (let's say female) has small beak and other (the male) has long beak. They do mate but I am not sure if they will be able to feed their kids properly? The kids can be long peak or short peak or both. 

Just for example, if this is the female pigeon (small beak )










and this is the male (long beak)










Will they be able to feed their kids?


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## Jay3 (May 4, 2008)

Why would you do that? I don't think the hen can even feed babies like her, can she?


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## rpalmer (Mar 10, 2011)

Breeding does not work like that. If you have a black pigeon and a white pigeon you will not get a gray pigeon. If one has a short beak and the other has a long beak you will not get a beak size that is medium.


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## eres (Aug 13, 2016)

Dear Friends,

My point here is not to get a medium beak or medium color. I just want to know if they will be able to feed their kids? 

Because there is a chance that both kids can be long beak or both can be short beak.



rpalmer said:


> Breeding does not work like that. If you have a black pigeon and a white pigeon you will not get a gray pigeon. If one has a short beak and the other has a long beak you will not get a beak size that is medium.


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## Jay3 (May 4, 2008)

Don't see how she could feed a pigeon with a beak.


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## eres (Aug 13, 2016)

If you are saying that small beak pigeons can't feed their kids at all - I think that's not right. 



Jay3 said:


> Don't see how she could feed a pigeon with a beak.


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## Jay3 (May 4, 2008)

eres said:


> If you are saying that small beak pigeons can't feed their kids at all - I think that's not right.


well if she can, there is no way she could feed a pigeon with a normal beak.
Can I ask you why you want them to mate up? Or did they just happen to get together?


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## eres (Aug 13, 2016)

I have a male pigeon, and I saw somewhere a female pigeon that is of same style and color, I really want her to marry my male pigeon  . Only problem is that male is long beak and female is short beak. I will buy her only if they can feed their kids.

It is a bit hard to find same color and style mate for him in my area.



Jay3 said:


> well if she can, there is no way she could feed a pigeon with a normal beak.
> Can I ask you why you want them to mate up? Or did they just happen to get together?


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## Jay3 (May 4, 2008)

What do you keep them for? The short beak isn't a flying breed. She would probably get lost.
Is color so important to you?


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## eres (Aug 13, 2016)

Well, I want them to procreate and the kids should be similar to them. 

Just close to my home, there is a guy and he has a large flock of pigeons. 90% of those pigeons are small beak and he has all his pigeons for flying. So, i don't think they get lost - at least not the one that I am talking about. 



Jay3 said:


> What do you keep them for? The short beak isn't a flying breed. She would probably get lost.
> Is color so important to you?


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## Jay3 (May 4, 2008)

Their offspring wouldn't necessarily look anything like them. They would be a mix, and can look like neither of them. Will just be a mixed breed pigeon.

If you fly homers with them, they could go far, and if these guys follow them, they may not make it back. They don't have the same stamina, or the same homing ability. If a hawk should go after them and they scatter and go far, the same thing can happen.


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## GimpieLover (Dec 18, 2005)

babies have to put their beak inside of the parents beak to feed, I think that would be a bad idea. Not worth the risk that she wouldn't be able to properly feed them.


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## eres (Aug 13, 2016)

Alright. Looks like I should abort this plan. I will be finding a long beak hen as is the male. Thank you all.


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## Jay3 (May 4, 2008)

I really think you will be better off doing that.


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## eres (Aug 13, 2016)

I have already aborted this plan but I have found some information online. I wanted to share information with you.

Jay3, you were absolutely right. The short beak pigeon can't even feed kids at all.



> For instance, the short-beaked breeds such as the Oriental frills and the African owls can be very difficult to breed. “Because of the extreme shortness of their beak, the parents can’t feed their own babies. You either have to hand-feed the babies using a parrot hand-feeding formula or you have to give their eggs to a pair of homing pigeons that will be foster parents,” Andrew Kerns, a breeder specializing in American fantails and past-president of the Virginia Pigeon and Dove Association, explained.


The source of information http://petcha.com/pets/which-pigeon-is-right-for-you/


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## Jay3 (May 4, 2008)

Thank you for that eres. Appreciate it. With no beak, I would think that it would even be hard for homers to feed them. They have to get past that long beak of the homer to feed.


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## Chuck K (Jan 12, 2013)

*Short beaks*

The Classic Oriental Frills can feed just fine. I don't know about the Owls. Many of the short beak show breeds like the Modern Frills can't feed their young.

Long beaks are dominant to short beaks. When you inbreed birds heavily you will see the beaks shorten. I have seen this in my rollers and in homers. An outcross will result in a longer billed youngster.


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