# How old is a pigeon when the parents stop feeding her?



## jandkds

We have one baby who was born on December 28th. She is VERY large and is getting a lot of feathers. How old will she be when mom and dad stop feeding her? They are in a small loft, will they make her leave their nest? We think they just layed two more eggs tonight and I will check and switch tomorrow if they did! At what age should this baby be removed from the loft that the parents are in?
And one more question...sorry....Is it true that the second egg is generally a female?

thankyou for your help!


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## sreeshs

Well, about the second egg being female, I have no idea and have never noticed a phenomenon like that 

It depends on the parents on how long they feed the young ones, on an average my pigeons feed their young ones for 35 - 45 days. Around 35 days I keep the young ones along with other pigeons picking up the seed, they learn fast and start eating themselves. Once they start feeding for themselves they cry for food occassionaly and eventually after some days the whole parent feeding stops.

So I guess the baby here has some more feeding left from the parents, if the second round of eggs have been laid, then more often only the cock will show interest in feeding the baby.

Its usually after 45 days they show signs of "pushing out" the babies if the place is too cramped. What I suggest is that at around 30 days of age you can take the baby and keep it with the parents on ground while feeding and they will learn quickly. After that you can switch it to another nest box in the same loft (what size is your loft ?) The cock will still feed the youngster if he wants despite the fact that its in another nest box.


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## Skyeking

jandkds said:


> We have one baby who was born on December 28th. She is VERY large and is getting a lot of feathers.* How old will she be when mom and dad stop feeding her? **They are in a small loft, will they make her leave their nest? We think they just layed two more eggs tonight and I will check and switch tomorrow if they did! *** At what age should this baby be removed from the loft that the parents are in?
> And one more question...sorry....**** Is it true that the second egg is generally a female?
> 
> thankyou for your help!


* Usually the mom stops feeding them when she lays her second set of eggs, but the father will continue to feed the youngster indefinitely even when they eat on their own. I have had the dad feed babies up to 2 months if you allow it. 

** Not right away, but they do eventually if you leave them there, they can do damage to the current eggs if their nest box isn't big enough to hold two nest bowls and 4 grown birds.

*** Depending on what you are using them for, if you are racing fancier the baby should be moved with other babies to their own loft when it is totally self feeding and eating well on its own which happens around a month of age. This is what the racing fanciers will do, and this is the time to start training them. 

**** Not really, I have had sets of eggs where they are both males, and then sometimes one of each.


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## Pawbla

An old guy who has tons of different birds told me that most of the times male was first and female second, but not always.


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## jandkds

Thank you for the answers, I appreciate it!
We only have one pair of pigeons and then one lone male. The pair is outside in a small heated loft with their baby and the lone male is inside the house in a large cage. (he is very spoiled and waiting for a mate). We do not plan on flying the birds, they will have a nice new aviary come spring time and a much bigger loft. No chance of overcrowding in the one that mom and dad are in. We do not plan to let them hatch any more eggs anytime soon.

At what age are the pigeons ready to choose a mate? Would it be appropriate to let this baby be a mate for our male when it reaches a certain age? Dude is a little over a year old.
Baby's dad is a NY Flying Flight and mom is a pretty little homer. Baby is looking very interesting!


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## jandkds

oopps, one more quick question....at what age baby be able to hop down from nest box (about 1 ft) and walk around, at what age will he learn to fly?


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## Guest

Just weaned my first youngsters. Parents started feeding seed to them at 15 days, by 20 days they were exploring the nest box and looking for food(parents had slowed down on feeding, and at 25 days they were really curious so I put them down on the floor. Mom showed them where to get seed & water and stood with them for the next few days while they learned. They are 28 days now and self sufficient, no help at all from parents. They sleep in a nest bowl on the floor, sheltered in a milk crate (laying on its side). 
Went out today and one was up 6" off the floor sitting on a piece of wood. I think I read on here somewhere that it takes up to 45 days to fly?


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## bundyray

oh maybe we should all run an experiment and keep track of our hatches mark the 1st egg with a marker and keep an eye on it from there or possibly if birds are nesting @ same time let 1 pr hatch the 1st eggs and another hatch the second pr?


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## sreeshs

jandkds said:


> oopps, one more quick question....at what age baby be able to hop down from nest box (about 1 ft) and walk around, at what age will he learn to fly?


I might have an answer for that which is fresh 

Yesterday one of my 29 days old white jumped out of the nest and was exploring the floors  He must have took time as the nest box was 4 feet high.


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## jandkds

Well, seems like we best get this little (girl hopefully) out of that cozy nest and get her moving on eating seed. I had her out and in the house yesterday, she is just as happy being held and stretching her beautiful wings...she is so pretty! I will post a pic of her here. She (by our estimation) is now 24 days old. (I like the idea of marking the egg and seeing if the myth is true, I am keeping my fingers crossed that it is!)

Now, for the last question...how old does she have to be to be put with a specific male to bond? If they fight does that mean that "she" is a "he"?


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## sreeshs

Pigeons do pair up when 4 - 6 months old and thats mostly the time when the sex can be judged by the behaviour. Once matured "he" will coo around his mother if thats the only hen in the loft or the "she" will be always cooed by her father  So its a wait and see game 

I prefer my birds pair up and lay eggs/raise squabs after they complete atleast a year but usually all my calculations go wrong and they just pick up the mate and start their family life


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## jandkds

So Chickie should be at least 4 months old before we put her in with Dude? 
Thank you for all your answers, you have been a lot of help!
Does the color of the first feathers represent the color that the bird will be as an adult?


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## MaryOfExeter

Such a pretty grizzle! Lemme find you some pictures of what she/he could look like once it's moulted out a few times.


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## MaryOfExeter

Here's some pictures of some grizzles:
http://www.angelfire.com/ga/huntleyloft/griz.html

There's no way to tell just how much of that color he/she will keep as he/she moults. But, she does appear to be a blue grizzle. Usually mine like that moulted out almost all of the bronze colored wing feathers and replaced them with mostly white feathers. Grizzle has a very wide range of outcomes  But they're all pretty either way!


Question, what do the parents look like?


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## jandkds

Hi,
Thank you for that link, those birds are very pretty! The first picture is mom (Babygirl), the second picture is dad (Ernie) and the third is a different view of Chickie.


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## jandkds

PS She definately has dads "nose" !


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## sreeshs

Very clean nests  Your pigeons must be some of the happiest


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## jandkds

Thank you sreeshs, I do believe they are a big spoiled but they deserve it! My husband cleans their loft every single day and gives them new Timothy grass. It was funny when little Chickie would stick her butt over the edge of her "nest" and poop...it built up around the edges and he did not dare move it for fear of her getting upset!
They seem to be very happy birds...!!


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