# 2 questions.



## tyira (Feb 18, 2014)

I camr home to my female bird neing dead (have no idea what happened shes not even a year.) This kinda leaves me with 2 qestions. 1 will the dad keep takeing care of the babies? 2 if so if I was to keep one of the babies and it ends up being a girl will I have to worry about him trying to mate with her? I have been told pigons have life tome mates but not aure how that works if one dies. Exspachaly if tbe pigions very young.


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## rasheed.rubeena (Dec 29, 2011)

If the dad is a normal responsible father he will take care of the children and feed him ( since you had only two pigeons which had children, he doesn't have any option I guess ).However, it will be a hard task for him so you should help him by hand feeding the children as well.
If you keep one of the baby pigeons and it is a girl there are chances that her dad may mate with her in the future. But I think you should keep both the babies if you are intending to keep one of them and also you should get another hen for the dad.Hope this helps.
-Rubeena


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## tyira (Feb 18, 2014)

How do I help him feed them?


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## rasheed.rubeena (Dec 29, 2011)

tyira said:


> How do I help him feed them?


There are different methods depending on their age, how old are the baby pigeons?
-Rubeena


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## mookeeman (Dec 11, 2008)

how unfortunate out of respect for this amazing website ill have to keep my comment short and sweet.....


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## tyira (Feb 18, 2014)

There 16 days old.


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## avian (Sep 6, 2010)

don't worry, dad will take care of the chicks. the chicks will start feeding by themselves in a few more days. keep a bowl of food right next to the chicks so thats easy for the dad to get food.
if you want to pair off the dad with a daughter, it will take some time. Also there is a possibility of both chicks being boys.... my suggestion is that you pair off the dad with a different female till the chicks are old enough to mate(maybe 4-6 months).
Pigeons do mate for life but if a partner dies, after some time they will pair off with a different mate.
whats their breed? I personally don't recommend pairing off close family(especailly if they are show pigeons eg- frillbacks,Black tails,english nuns etc)
Hope this helps


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## tyira (Feb 18, 2014)

I ant pairing the dad with the daughter. I was asking cuz if there was a chance he might I was going to make sure that the baby is in another cage as I have no clue how to tell genders. I mean I was under the impression that both my birds where boys before the baies came.


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## rasheed.rubeena (Dec 29, 2011)

tyira said:


> How do I help him feed them?


Here are some links showing how to feed:
http://www.pigeonrescue.co.uk/babybottlemethod.htm
http://www.pigeonrescue.co.uk/syringeandballoon.htm
You can use Kaytee exact hand feeding formula. Sorry, I won't be of much help in showing you how to hand feed such a young baby because I am experienced with only fledglings but there are many people who will surely help you out.
-Rubeena


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## spirit wings (Mar 29, 2008)

tyira said:


> I ant pairing the dad with the daughter. I was asking cuz if there was a chance he might I was going to make sure that the baby is in another cage as I have no clue how to tell genders. I mean I was under the impression that both my birds where boys before the baies came.


If the two young birds survive and then mature, yes he will seek out a mate from what is there. it is not a problem. use fake eggs for hatch control. read up on pigeon behavior and keeping to learn more about your pets.

my thought is that your young hen was egg bound,


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## tyira (Feb 18, 2014)

What egg bound?


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## spirit wings (Mar 29, 2008)

tyira said:


> What egg bound?


what IS eggbound?

"describing egg-bearing animals and birds that have difficulty 
passing their eggs."

google search can help you find definittions just by typing them in the search box.


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## Lefty07 (Dec 30, 2009)

Something easy you can do to help the father with the babies is to provide some finely mashed hard-boiled egg. As weird as it sounds, pigeons and doves (and most pet birds) will feed their babies "egg food" like this. It's high in protein and very nutritious. Just hard-boil an egg and then mash it very finely with a fork until the pieces are the size of small peas. I mix in a small quantity of corn meal with it, to dry up the egg a little, but it is not necessary. Then put it in a bowl in the cage and the father will eat it and then feed the babies with it. Remove and throw away any uneaten egg after a few hours because it can go bad.

You can make a little extra egg food ahead of time and store it in the fridge for a few days. You can feed this to the father as long as he is feeding the babies. And you can offer a little egg food, from time to time (maybe once a week?), as an extra food to any age pigeons or doves. But don't over-do it because egg food is very rich and it may also encourage your pigeons to breed too much. So I would use egg food only as a daily food for nesting pigeons - and rest of the time as an occasional treat.

As for the father mating with his daughter some day - yes, it will probably eventually happen, if he doesn't have another mate. And you should avoid letting that happen as it is "inbreeding" which is unhealthy. Also, you don't want the 2 babies to mate, if they are male and female, for the same reason. So you may have to swap out some of the birds, with another breeder, at some point to make sure your "couples" are all unrelated. For right now, you can sometimes stop pigeons and doves from breeding if you remove the nest and any "nesting material" (like straw) from the cage. I would do that as soon as these babies are out of the nest. Also, you may have to have another cage ready for the babies as sometimes father birds want their kids OUT of their cage, when they grow up and will be aggressive towards them, until you remove them.


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