# When one pet dove is aggressive towards the other...



## LuaMoon

Hello everyone. I am new here and a first time "dove" owner. 

Actually, they are the first pet birds I ever owned! Someone had dumped them off at the front door of a local animal shelter in the middle of the night where a friend of mine was volunteering. No one at the shelter really knew their history. My husband and I ended up adopting them in lieu of a parakeet. We've had the doves for over a year now.

The boy dove had a few missing feathers under his neck when I got him. When I asked the people at the shelter, they said they didn't know and he was like that when he had been "dumped off" at the shelter, so we didn't pay much attention to it. 

Well, the bald spot has slowly gotten bigger under his neck and I can see his "ears". I'm coming to believe the girl dove is being aggressive towards my boy dove and she has plucked the feathers out from under his neck. We are making a vet appointment to make sure it's not something else, but I really think the girl dove is plucking at him.

She chases him around and chases him away from the food dish by smacking at him with her wing and pecking at him. So I tried putting two dishes in there so they could each have their own food dish, and she will leave whatever food dish she is at when she sees the boy eating and chase the boy away from his food.

I thought maybe they just need more exercise, but when I let them out of the cage, they seem nervous, poop all over, and fly back into the cage.

We bought them a bigger cage so they could really fly around in there, but that hasn't seemed to help make the girl dove less aggressive, either.

However, they do sleep together in the nest, and do seem affectionate towards one another, (when the girl is not chasing the boy away from his food and smacking her with her wing)!

When we adopted them, the shelter said they were "husband and wife" and they belonged together, so I haven't entertained the idea of putting them in separate cages occasionally, but wondering now if that is appropriate? 

The bottom line is, I'm really trying to learn and understand dove behavior. I don't understand their different "calls" (i.e. which ones are happiness, which ones are "warnings", etc.) Just trying to learn the language here so I can give these rescued doves a happy life.

Any advice here would be greatly appreciated on dealing with one dove being aggressive towards one another.

Thank you all in advance...


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## LuaMoon

...or is there any type of skin condition that a ring neck dove might have that would cause a growing bald spot?


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## Jay3

Can you post pictures of him?


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## Doves1111

Are you positive the aggressive one is a female? Has she ever laid eggs?

Dawn


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## Woodnative

I am thinking along the line of Doves1111........if you have not gotten eggs you may have two males (?). I keep pigeons and not doves, but it still seems unlikely to me that the feather loss in front is from the other bird (again a photo may help). Usually they target the back of the head and neck when they are "biting" each other and that is where feather loss would be, not the front. Maybe some sort of mite or insect(?).


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## spirit wings

LuaMoon said:


> Hello everyone. I am new here and a first time "dove" owner.
> 
> Actually, they are the first pet birds I ever owned! Someone had dumped them off at the front door of a local animal shelter in the middle of the night where a friend of mine was volunteering. No one at the shelter really knew their history. My husband and I ended up adopting them in lieu of a parakeet. We've had the doves for over a year now.
> 
> The boy dove had a few missing feathers under his neck when I got him. When I asked the people at the shelter, they said they didn't know and he was like that when he had been "dumped off" at the shelter, so we didn't pay much attention to it.
> 
> Well, the bald spot has slowly gotten bigger under his neck and I can see his "ears". I'm coming to believe the girl dove is being aggressive towards my boy dove and she has plucked the feathers out from under his neck. We are making a vet appointment to make sure it's not something else, but I really think the girl dove is plucking at him.
> 
> She chases him around and chases him away from the food dish by smacking at him with her wing and pecking at him. So I tried putting two dishes in there so they could each have their own food dish, and she will leave whatever food dish she is at when she sees the boy eating and chase the boy away from his food.
> 
> I thought maybe they just need more exercise, but when I let them out of the cage, they seem nervous, poop all over, and fly back into the cage.
> 
> We bought them a bigger cage so they could really fly around in there, but that hasn't seemed to help make the girl dove less aggressive, either.
> 
> However, they do sleep together in the nest, and do seem affectionate towards one another, (when the girl is not chasing the boy away from his food and smacking her with her wing)!
> 
> When we adopted them, the shelter said they were "husband and wife" and they belonged together, so I haven't entertained the idea of putting them in separate cages occasionally, but wondering now if that is appropriate?
> 
> The bottom line is, I'm really trying to learn and understand dove behavior. I don't understand their different "calls" (i.e. which ones are happiness, which ones are "warnings", etc.) Just trying to learn the language here so I can give these rescued doves a happy life.
> 
> Any advice here would be greatly appreciated on dealing with one dove being aggressive towards one another.
> 
> Thank you all in advance...


how do you know the sex of the doves? two male doves may not get along well in the same cage.


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## LuaMoon

Thank you everyone so much for taking the time to ready my post and share your replies!



Woodnative said:


> I am thinking along the line of Doves1111........if you have not gotten eggs you may have two males (?). I keep pigeons and not doves, but it still seems unlikely to me that the feather loss in front is from the other bird (again a photo may help). Usually they target the back of the head and neck when they are "biting" each other and that is where feather loss would be, not the front. Maybe some sort of mite or insect(?).


I'm hoping you're right actually because it's not like they chase each other around all the time and peck at each other. We are taking him to the vet next week to find out of it's mites or a rash, etc... 

I'm pretty sure the brown one "Persnickety" (aka Snickers), is a girl, as we have found eggs underneath her within seconds of there not being an egg. That tag on her foot was on her when the shelter found her on their doorstep. 

It's not out of the question that they could both be girls, but we always assumed the white one "Chicken" (aka Chicky) was a boy. But now I'm wondering if they are both girls?

Here are some pics I just took.

Today I tried to coax them out of the cage for some exercise. Chicken will sit on my finger or shoulder and stay there, but Persnickety wouldn't even leave the cage. lol

Let me know what you think!

(PS From their expressions in the first pic, they look a little startled by the camera!)


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## LuaMoon

PS here is a pic we took of them a few weeks after we got them. You can see the bald spot is there, but not as prominent.


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## LuaMoon

One more...(this is an old one, and the "baldness" has not yet spread to his ears).


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## spirit wings

well the eggs tell the story..lol.. you know you have a hen for sure. I would have a vet check for yeast or fungus or perhaps a parasite under a micro...the patch is in a strange place, and some of the quills do look broken... either that or she is rubbing it against something and irritating the area. also canker can do that..but not sure if that would be the case.


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## Doves1111

Yep...the eggs always tell the story. 
I had a dove that was pecked the exact same way as yours...except for the ears. I thought he was being pecked by the other doves...but then I caught him in the act. I couldn't believe it... he stretched his head and neck way back and picked himself under the chin...and then ate the feathers! 
He looked like a contortionist!!! I would say your dove is pecking his own feathers too...but the ears got me buffled...

Dawn


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## Jay3

I was going to say that he is probably plucking his own feathers. But like Doves1111 said, the ears have me stumped. As far as the neck feathers though, he could do that himself. Lots of things can cause that. Vitamin deficiency, stress. Lots of things.


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## LuaMoon

Ok I have been watching them extra closely and OMG! Just like Doves1111 said HE STRETCHED HIS HEAD AND PLUCKED HIS OWNED FEATHERS! But still doesnt explain the ears! He *must* have some sort of issue making him irritated and itchy. So definitely going to the vet next week! I have a vet we took to him once before but if anyone knows a vet who knows doves/pigeons in northern new jersey/new york city (usa) region please let me know. Thanks again guys! I would have never caught him doing that if Doves1111 hadnt mentioned her bird was doing that! Persickety is still ruling the roost but it doesn't seem she is as guilty as I thought!

I will let you guys know what the vet says.


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## LuaMoon

So I did finally take Chicken to his vet appt today. They took a culture and he has trichomonas! I believe that is canker? The vet gave us antibiotics and said we should treat both the doves for a week and then they will be retested.

Please feel free to share any info if you have if you have experience with this.

The vet said that Chicken probably has had this since before we adopted them. He said that he looked healthy otherwise, and that we must be doing something right  and he also mentioned he was glad we adopted them cuz they would probably still be sitting at the shelter.

Again any stories about experience with this, please feel free to share!


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## MaryOfExeter

Yep, that's canker. After antibiotics it's always good to follow up with probiotics if you have them


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## LuaMoon

MaryOfExeter said:


> Yep, that's canker. After antibiotics it's always good to follow up with probiotics if you have them


Any recommendations?


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## LuaMoon

OH, and Becky M. have any of your doves/birds experienced this?


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