# Does my pigeon need a mate?



## pmasonsmith (May 21, 2015)

I have two female pigeons, my tame ferals mate disappeared three months ago, so I looked to get her a new companion. The new companion ended up being a homer squab which I fed and then introduced to her. The feral does not like the homer, she used to chase and bite it all the time, now she only chases it away when it's near the food and she wants to eat, or is sat on a perch the feral wants to perch on.
The female feral now has a male feral admirer, who I'm hoping will move in one day, or that they will fly around together and enjoy doing what pigeons do.
However the homer is left alone, she hasn't been acting particularly lonely but she will fly after the pair or fly with the flock of homers she came from down the road. Do I need to find her a mate so she won't randomly pair up?
I'm thinking I will but how could I be sure of a successful pairing?


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## Jay3 (May 4, 2008)

They will usually pair up okay if done right. If you just put one bird into anothers territory, the first one resents it and they will be more apt to fight.
Putting them in cages beside each other till they show signs of wanting to be together works best. Then let them fly together in a neutral territory.
Letting just a couple of birds fly outside is dangerous, as they are more likely to be grabbed by a predator. They are much safer in a flock.


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## pmasonsmith (May 21, 2015)

Do I find a mate for my homer though? I understand most seek mates when they are 4 months onwards, but I will be at uni when she's four months old.
And it's dangerous for them to fly in pairs or alone, but my area has very few birds of prey, being in a town and not near anywhere which can provide the amount of birds nessercary to feed a bird of prey. There is a male sparrowhawk which feeds about half a mile away, but a male is the size of a pigeon so. And there is also hundred of nesting herring gulls in my town. My pigeons also fly with the homer flock from down the road when their out at the same time. 
If I get another pigeon I will introduce them in separate cages, or alternately if my feral lays and the eggs are fertile I could let her hatch one, but then there's still the issue of it being a female egg.


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## cwebster (Dec 11, 2010)

Jay3s method worked for us. We have four females. Two bonded immediately because one was so overjoyed just to have a pigeon friend. The others beefed so I put them in separate cages and let them meet gradually with supervision. They are now happily sitting on nonfertile eggs together. Pigeons definitely seem happier when they have a friend. Would not let the feral homer fly free because even if you don't see a predator a lone pigeon is a sitting duck and has no chance against wide ranging Hawks.


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## pmasonsmith (May 21, 2015)

I cant just have her shut in though, shes used to free flying, and she normally flies around with her bf at the moment. I have cages to separate them but one won't fit in the aviary and the other is very small and is what I used when I first introduced them. They are separated at night but in the same shelter, its more of a case of the homer asserting herself, she hasn't started pecking back yet though now she tries to stand her ground by not moving. In a month or so the homer will have filled out more so might be able to defend herself fully.


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## Jay3 (May 4, 2008)

pmasonsmith said:


> I cant just have her shut in though, shes used to free flying, and she normally flies around with her bf at the moment.
> 
> So because she is used to free flying, you would rather do that and take a chance that she will be killed and eaten by a hawk? That is probably what happened with the other bird.
> 
> ...


By letting them free fly, you won't most likely have the problem for very long anyway. Shouldn't take long to be picked off. Just keep flying them as you do, and you won't have to worry about a mate.


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## pmasonsmith (May 21, 2015)

So you never let your birds out incase they get eaten?!
And you don't seem to understand about the area I live in, its a housing estate with a giant circle of houses with the gardens backing onto each other, there are no areas of dense tree cover for a sparrowhawk to hunt from. And a sparrowhawk doesn't hunt from the one big tree which is in someones garden because:
a) I would have seen it.
b) Parakeets nest in it and they wouldn't be if a bop hunts from it.
c) The herring gulls would mob it and drive it away.

Also my missing male is likely to have been shot or something if the people who live out by the fields are anything to go by.
I only kept my female and male ferals because they could free fly, not going to keep a non disabled bird locked up when it can follow its instincts and pick moss of the roofs of peoples houses.

Yes the homer was too young to be introduced, but I wanted her to fledge in the aviary rather than the rabbit cage I was keeping her in inside. And unlike when the ferals fledged in my living room, my parents are now very against free flying birds in the house because of all the poop last time.

And the aviary is big enough for them to fly around, its because their shelter is made from an old cupboard so the base of which takes up room on the floor. year a converted cupboard isn't ideal but where I was planning to place their shelter (on top of an storage container next to the aviary) was deemed inappropriate after their old rabbit hutch was blown off the top of it during a storm.


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## Jay3 (May 4, 2008)

You can do what you like with your birds. Sparrowhawks are not the only birds of pray in the area. I'm just telling you that it is very unsafe to fly 2 or 3 birds outside. They will become predator food eventually, but that is your choice. Seems to be all about what you want to do, rather than about what is safe for the birds. Then you try to convince yourself that it is what is best for the birds. If the male got shot, then these birds may also. By introducing the homer too young, you set her up for failure. Really not fair to the poor thing. You don't put a young bird, or any bird in with others that will pick on it. Put yourself in her place.
What you should probably do is to find a home for the homer, where she will be safer.


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## pmasonsmith (May 21, 2015)

You don't know my area though, the only bop I've seen directly over my road is a buzzard. In my local area I have only seen kestrels, a male sparrowhawk and buzzards flying very high.
And I'm not an expert on pigeons but I'm learning about animal behaviour, and I'm not happy shutting two birds in small cages next to each other for days and days. Cages where they cannot hide from each other but are forced into close proximity. I would rather have them in the aviary or free flying where they have the space to avoid each other, and where they can choose how close they are to each other. Yes I made a mistake with the young homer, but I wanted the best place for her to fledge, I wanted her to become used to the goings on of my garden before she was let out for the first time.
And free flight is incredibly enriching, the birds can entertain themselves in ways they cannot were they shut in all the time.
I would rather they have an enriching life while they have it then for them to be locked in a cage when they are physically capable of flight. And there are some things that I can't protect them from, if a bop did swoop in and somehow not get mobbed and maybe killed by the herring gulls then they would have to take their chances. And I would feel aweful if they were killed, but you can't protect wild animals from everything, in the same way you can't coddle a child their whole lives.


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## pmasonsmith (May 21, 2015)

And how is the homer a failure?!
Animals can't be failures at anything their animals.
And I'm not rehoming my homer for her to spend her whole life locked up in a coop!
I'm not having my birds being put under the stress that that change would be.


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## Jay3 (May 4, 2008)

pmasonsmith said:


> You don't know my area though, the only bop I've seen directly over my road is a buzzard. In my local area I have only seen kestrels, a male sparrowhawk and buzzards flying very high.
> 
> You don't always see them, but they are around, whether you choose to believe it or not.
> 
> ...


.............................................................................


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## Jay3 (May 4, 2008)

pmasonsmith said:


> And how is the homer a failure?!
> Animals can't be failures at anything their animals.
> 
> I think most would understand what I am saying. Sorry if you don't.
> ...


She is under stress now. Stress is stress. You want to see stress, wait till she gets grabbed by a predator. Brings stress to a whole new level.


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## pmasonsmith (May 21, 2015)

Such great advice from someone I once admired on the site. You seem so negative about the whole situation.
As if every single thing I have done is wrong.
I built them an aviary and shelter. They are fed and watered, with access to grit and also weekly vitamins in the water. They are wormed and had anti mite stuff put on them. I try to feed them a balanced diet of pigeon feed, though the feral is very fussy and I am working on getting her to eat a wider variety of seed. I am training them to sit on scales so I may eventually take their weights. I tried to find a rescue male for my feral when her other mate disappeared, though had to settle for what I could find when I couldn't find a suitable candidate.
And sadly I do not know the exact circumstances of the original males disappearance, as I was at uni at the time and my parents had been letting him stay out as long as he wanted despite me telling them not to.
I tried to introduce them for the first week with the fledgling in the small cage, but it did not work, I understand now that I should have had them in two small cages next to each other. But I don't think I would have if I had even tried that to begin with, as when they were first introduced the feral would growl and throw herself at the wire to try and bite the fledgling. That is why as soon as she was capable of flying I let them in together as the homer could Choose to perch up high or sit in the shelter, there were always three spots of food and water available during this time.
The feral would initially only attack the baby when it was in her personal space, basically if it was within a foot of it. If I had had them caged together the feral would have been this close far more often than if they were loose. Also the fledgling would shake all the time while in the cage, but now she only does so if the bf of the feral goes near her.
Often the feral now ignores the homer, sadly because I suspect she does a stereotypical behaviour 
This behaviour started when I was away at uni, and I can't determine the cause though I think its related to the loss of her original mate. When she does the behaviour she frantically flies from perch to perch, and though it greatly saddens me at least during this time she will perch right next to the homer and ignore it.
And I would know if there was any interesting bop around as bird watchers would have told me.
The feral and homer often fly with either a local feral flock or the homer flock down the road, so they do have flocks, just not ones they roost with.
And they also have a small group of "friends", a mix of a couple of ferals and a homer which they will fly with and rest with on the roof.
They also have visitor pigeons to my garden which when I do keep my birds in will perch on the aviary and sunbath or preen.


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## Jay3 (May 4, 2008)

This is a link to a U.K. Facebook group. They are really nice people who love pigeons. You should join the group and get to know them. They are in your area, and I think you would enjoy it, and get lots of good info from them. Why not check it out?

http://www.pigeonrescue.co.uk/findusonfacebook.htm


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## kiddy (Feb 5, 2015)

Poster is already a member of that group...


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## Jay3 (May 4, 2008)

Okay, thanks Kiddy. Thought maybe they could help them.


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## Whytpigeon (Sep 14, 2015)

pmasonsmith said:


> I have two female pigeons, my tame ferals mate disappeared three months ago, so I looked to get her a new companion. The new companion ended up being a homer squab which I fed and then introduced to her. The feral does not like the homer, she used to chase and bite it all the time, now she only chases it away when it's near the food and she wants to eat, or is sat on a perch the feral wants to perch on.
> The female feral now has a male feral admirer, who I'm hoping will move in one day, or that they will fly around together and enjoy doing what pigeons do.
> However the homer is left alone, she hasn't been acting particularly lonely but she will fly after the pair or fly with the flock of homers she came from down the road. Do I need to find her a mate so she won't randomly pair up?
> I'm thinking I will but how could I be sure of a successful pairing?


The thing you have to keep in mind is age. The new homer won't be mature enough till about 6 months of age. So that has probably influenced her to not be interested. Plus it can takes some lone mates sometime to find new love. As far as the new homer goes you have to see what sex it could be later, if you have a good idea by the way it acts then get a companion for it of course. But that may be a mystery for awhile.


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