# Female pigeon being harassed by male?



## mistiy (May 3, 2014)

so i have two homing pigeons that used to be housed in a garage with other pigeons. Well most of them flew away and when the owner moved I took her last two, one male and one female. Now the female lays eggs but I think she is being harassed by the male because he will not leave her alone unless he is sitting on an egg (they keep breaking). she will get harassed until she lays a new one and I dont want her to lay anymore eggs and I want him to leave her alone (She tries escaping the cage he harasses her so much). I would like to put her in my big aviary with my other birds that she gets along with (but the male doesnt) but I dont want to leave him alone. Any advice on what I should do or how to get him to leave her alone? thanx!


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## Jay3 (May 4, 2008)

If he is really harassing her, then I would separate them. Hard to know from here, as males can be pushy and chase the hens a lot. But too much is not good. If she just keeps laying, she can become depleted of calcium and start having problems. If the eggs are breaking, then maybe she needs more calcium. If she is laying all the time, then this is probably the case. What do you give them for calcium?


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## mistiy (May 3, 2014)

well im just giving them a grit mixture which i believe has crushed oyster shell but i will have to check. I used to have a diamond dove that laid all the time and i gave her calcium powder on her food but the vet said that because i am feeding my birds with a pellet mixture they should be getting enough calcium from the pellets. I was thinking about putting a fake egg in their cage i've heard others do this but not sure it will work. My female is very friendly to everyone and everything and my male doesnt seem to like anyone lol its like he has an attitude. but i would still feel bad for him if i separated them.


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## Jay3 (May 4, 2008)

You put the fake in in place of the real egg. When they lay, if you don't want more babies, you switch the real eggs out for fake. Placing a fake egg in the cage won't do anything. You take the real ones and replace with the fake, so they think it is their real eggs and will sit on them for the required time.


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## Lefty07 (Dec 30, 2009)

If I were you, I'd cage your 2 pigeons separately, so your female gets some rest. It's not healthy for her body to be in "breeding (egg-laying) mode" all the time. Can you put them in separate cages (next to each other) but allow them free flight time together in a larger space? That might be a reasonable compromise.

I think these problems happen sometimes with birds kept in confinement. In nature, if a male wouldn't leave a female alone, she could just fly away and avoid him. In cages or pens, there is nowhere to go and the females can get beaten up.


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