# Question on Satinettes



## jazman (Jul 9, 2011)

Hi everyone, it's been truly a long time for me when it comes to pigeons. Basically I have parrots and fancy finches etc, but I always thought about pigeons.

Its probably been about 28 years since I had a pair of pigeons. I love birds so I always stayed with the parrots and stuff. That is until recently I went to the feedstore to get some supplies for some of my parrots and I was looking at the pigeons. I had no clue what specie they were, all I know about pigeons species are homers. That's what I started out with when I was a kid.

Anyway I was looking at a pair of satinettes, I mentioned to my wife that they are really nice looking. So she said go ahead and get them, that was all the arm twisting I needed, I enjoy my birds so I bought them. Since then I went back to the feed store and got a show roller and a homer, now I have 4 adult pigeons.

I had forgotten the specie of pigeon that I had, I had to go back and ask the guy at the store what I bought. I had to show him a picture of the pigeon for him to tell me. Anyway the satinettes went to nest about 3 weeks after I got them. I still don't have a loft, I have them in a large cage that I would normally use for temporarily holding parrots until I get their cage.

While the satinettes were sitting on the eggs I was in the process of building a bigger cage for them. But between work and working out, I can only do this stuff on weekends (sometimes). And like shadybug, I take my time and I work with precision and perfection in mind. I have to design it in sketchup first then start building. I have made too many building mistakes when building cages, so now I take a step back. Plus I like my cages to look good. Before I got the larger cage finished for them to live in, the eggs hatched, they squished one of the babies maybe 2-3 days after it hatched. I was wondering if they did that because the cage was too small, I have no idea.

After I built the bigger cage I moved them into the cage with the baby in the nest and everything was fine. I placed a platform with another nestbox about one foot over the current nestbox where they are sitting and feeding the baby. That worked well since the hen went back to nest and had two more eggs. I was thinking that she would only have one egg, but I was surprised when I saw two.

Anyway this is where it get's intersting. Now that the first baby is about 5 weeks old, the babies in the nest are about about 12 days old. This is what I see that is so interesting.

The cock mostly attacks the first baby that is grown up. He physically picks her up and drags the baby over to a corner and pushes her/him down. The baby just submits and stays in the corner squeaking a little, while moving her right wing up and down slowly and then putting her head on the ground. 

I had never seen this behaviour before. I read on here many times where others will have nestboxes on both sides of the breeder cage. In my case how come the male is messing with the baby? Before they would hang out on the platform and just relax, now the baby sits in one corner most of the time or it's running for it's life. I don't see the hen going after the baby only the cock.

From my assumptions it looks like the cock does not want the baby to eat the food until after he fills up. Plus he does not want the baby anywhere close to the other two babies in the nest. Thats weird beause she would spend the night right next to the nest when either of the parents were sitting on the eggs. This behavior seems to happen whenever I put food in the feeder. The cock and the hen goes to eat, then he chases his first born all around the cage until he catches her/him and drags it back into the corner to just sit there.

It's like don't move damnit, you are in detention now.

What are your thoughts on this, as I mentioned I have never seen anything like this before.


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## loftkeeper (Sep 21, 2010)

Get The First Hatch Ed Out Of The Cage Now . The Cock Will Soon Hurt It Badly. It Is Protecting Its Young And Nest From A Invadering . It Is A Nature Thing Some Parents Will Let Young Stay Around But Your Male Has Other Ideas


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## Jay3 (May 4, 2008)

loftkeeper is right. Your cage is far too small for so many birds. The cock is going to hurt that young bird. This is about the time when the first baby should be leaving the nest box, but if you have them in a cage, then he has no where to go. You might want to stop them from hatching eggs for now, til you can maybe build them a loft to live in. Even then, if you don't start switching the eggs out for fake eggs, you are going to have too many birds for the room you have.


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## jazman (Jul 9, 2011)

Thanks guys, I will do it first thing tomorrow morning. This is pretty much it for the satinettes, they had three babies and thats all I wanted. There is only one nestbox in there and thats the one the babies are in. At what age should I remove these babies? Because I am not going to let the parents go to nest again anytime soon.

Thanks...


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## Jay3 (May 4, 2008)

As soon as they are weaned. About a month or so, or when the cock starts going after them. But even if he doesn't, when they are weaned. Are you going to build something they can all go into together, like a little loft or aviary? I think it's more enjoyable to keep them that way, then it is in separate cages.


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## jazman (Jul 9, 2011)

Jay3 said:


> As soon as they are weaned. About a month or so, or when the cock starts going after them. But even if he doesn't, when they are weaned. Are you going to build something they can all go into together, like a little loft or aviary? I think it's more enjoyable to keep them that way, then it is in separate cages.


Appreciate this. I am going to build a redrose loft, but it's going to be in panel form. I really like how this guy painted his so I am going to have mine look like that: http://www.redroselofts.com/images/burr-5.JPG

I am going to put an electric fence around it too. I did quite a bit of research on stuff like electric fences, loft designs etc. Thats why I still haven't built it yet. There used to be a restaurant behind my house, now it's just an empty field with lots of bushes and stuff. I have seen two falcons hanging out there months ago when I would go cut branches for my parrot perches. I think they were just weaned and the parents were teaching them how to fly. 

Another time I was leaving the house to go to work about 5:40 in the morning and a possum was by the trash can. That ugliness with big teeth scared the hell out of me. Two other times I saw a snake in the street, don't know where it came from but I killed them all. I do need an electric fence when I build this loft. I am putting a lot of thought into it before I build it, because once it's done there may not be too much room for change. Sketchup sure does come in handy for stuff like that.

As others build their lofts I look at it and grab the pics, so while I am designing mine I can have all the frills.

Shadybug, I know you are probably reading this. What are the dimensions of your perches? I like the portabilty of it where it's easily removed.

I just though of something. This is so weird that the male goes after the baby. When I got the birds from the feed store the guy had a pair of white homers on eggs. Next time I went there the eggs had hatched and the babies looked like about a week old. Next time I visited the store the babies were grown and sitting at the bottom of the cage and the parent was sitting on another egg. Never at any time did I see them fighting, they were always calm. What gives????


Thanks again folks for all the needed information.


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## Jay3 (May 4, 2008)

jazman said:


> Appreciate this. I am going to build a redrose loft, but it's going to be in panel form. I really like how this guy painted his so I am going to have mine look like that: http://www.redroselofts.com/images/burr-5.JPG
> 
> I am going to put an electric fence around it too. I did quite a bit of research on stuff like electric fences, loft designs etc. Thats why I still haven't built it yet. There used to be a restaurant behind my house, now it's just an empty field with lots of bushes and stuff. I have seen two falcons hanging out there months ago when I would go cut branches for my parrot perches. I think they were just weaned and the parents were teaching them how to fly.
> 
> ...


It'll be nice when you can get a loft done. You'll have to post pics as you go along. Most everyone usually wants to change something about their loft, down the road. LOL. 

Those birds in the store................maybe the babies were younger? Or maybe just a less aggressive Cock. Some are more tolerant than others. But it just isn't a good idea to keep so many in a small space. Causes stress and fighting, and babies can be hurt. They like their own space.


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