# Will they be friends?



## Podgy's Mum (Nov 21, 2010)

We have adopted a new pigeon, female - (we are pretty sure) & are wondering if her & Podgy, our very 'human' pigeon (male) will become friends & maybe even, mates?? 

Penny has shown her interest in no uncertain terms whenever Podgy does his prancing & parading before my foot - which as far as he is concerned is his 'love interest'  He has billed with her a couple of times - only because she forced herself upon him. LOL but other than that there is no connection on his part at all. He figures he has his human mate & that is all he needs. 

In fact - he can be quite nasty toward her - even going into her cage to attack her. 

Will they ever settle down? Is this normal pidgy behaviour? Do pigeons go through 'cycles' re. mating etc? Or is Podgy 'doomed' to be a forever 'human' & Penny 'doomed' to forever celibacy?????


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## spirit wings (Mar 29, 2008)

only tend to the pigeons to feed and water and clean..don't let him court you're foot anylonger and he should move on to a real mate. so the less time interacting with him the better.


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## scmona (Sep 6, 2012)

Our Maxx bows and coos when he gets near my husband. A crush I guess.


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## Podgy's Mum (Nov 21, 2010)

Thanks Spiritwings - Penny obviously hasn't been hand raised, she is very gentle but not a 'human' . Won't land on us & is cautious when we come close but not terrified, will fly away if we get too close. Podgy is the complete opposite. Will she ever become hand tamed do you think - especially if she & Podgy do eventually mate?

scmona - have enjoyed reading your posts. I have discovered that once you belong to a pigeon - you will ALWAYS belong to your pigeon! Never took an interest in them before, except to enjoy watching their bravado every so often when I was in the city. Now, after rescuing Podgy as a tiny baby - I am lost forever! I adore them now.


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## Howard Nye (Oct 14, 2009)

*Pigeon Introductions Take Time*

Hi Dana,

I posted a version of this on the other thread, but thought I would put it here too (this one speaks a bit more to my experiences with male pigeon aggression):

In my experience it just takes time to introduce the boys & girls. I started with Bird-Bird and Philly (the boys). When I introduced Newbird (girl) to Philly and Mary (girl) to Bird-Bird, I I put the girls in kennels / cages (good sized ones; with enough room for a large nestbox, food, water, etc.) in the boys' territories. After a bit over a month (maybe a month and a half) in both cases, the girls began to show interest in and accept the boys AND the boys calmed down enough to not freak out the girls. The boys were very aggressive towards the girls at first - they would chase them and try to peck their faces (I interpreted this as at least in part sexual aggression, but it may have been territorial too - or instead). The male aggression was actually the main reason I couldn't just leave the girls out and about in the boys territories and had to keep them in their kennels. But after about a month and a half the I think the boys were sufficiently used to the girls that they didn't get too aggressive, and the girls were interested enough in the boys that they weren't intimidated / didn't just try to run from them. 

Best,
Howard


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## nancybird (Jan 30, 2011)

Birds are so wonderful.My courtyard would not be the same if my doves where not there to grace it with their beauty as they flutter around & coo inside their aviary.


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## Podgy's Mum (Nov 21, 2010)

Thanks Howard, that was very helpful. Penny is SO gentle, what a difference to Podgy! As far as 'interest' goes - she has been trying really hard to get his 'nice' attention. She follows him everywhere, has fed him seed -seems like she regurgitates it & he eats it?? I think this is called 'billing'? Other than that though he shows no interest in mating. My daughters were telling me that they have seen her crouch down in front of him & he jumps on her back but rather than mate, he just attacks her . Poor little thing. She is so enamoured with him that she has decided to roost on top of his cage where she can see him (he is partly covered with a sheet) instead of going into her own cage for the night. 

One thing though - Podgy has become very aggressive toward us too. He had his grumpy times before, but the last few days since we have had Penny, he has been extremely territorial & has even taken to flying onto our shoulders, growling & pecking our head & ears. Its quite sad - I sometimes feel like we have done the wrong thing by him in taking Penny into our home  I sure hope this settles down.
Thanks for your help.
Dana


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## Howard Nye (Oct 14, 2009)

Hi Dana,

I do anticipate that Podgy will settle down. My boys pecked / attacked my girls in the early stages of the introductions too, and I think that they would have done this incessantly if I hadn't put the girls back in the kennels after the boys showed too much aggression. In the case of my boys, because they seemed to show more sexual interest than the girls, I interpreted the pecking attacks as part of an attempt at sexual assault (it looked like they were trying to mount the girls too), but it was probably territorial too. But I wouldn't be surprised at Podgy being territorial at first, especially if he isn't yet sexually interested. (At least with Penny being the one who is more interested you don't have to worry about anyone being sexually assaulted, which I really was worried would happen if I left the my girls out with my boys). 

As I said, I'd be quite confident that Podgy will eventually accept Penny into his territory, and when he does I think that he will be VERY happy to have a mate in his life. I think that my birds are MUCH better off now that they have the companionship of their mates 100% of the time - definitely worth the trouble of all the introductions and such. It took my girls & boys 1.5 months to be able to live together at all; by that standard it sounds like Podgy & Penny are already ahead of the curve. 

Best,
Howard


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