Breeding Help

[sportsman]

He is just protecting his mate. With two of my feral pairs, both males were pets before they got a mate, one I even hand raised from a week old. Now if i go near there mates they will atack me, if I go outside the loft and walk aroung with there mate they will follow me around on the inside. and one of them, if i just put my finger near him he will atack it. Your pigeon is just trying to protect his mate, just wait till they have eggs, then chicks, they are much more aggressive.

[fantailgirl]

He looks kinda silly doing it. He just isn't very intimidating. I'm so used to dealing with "problem" horses and their intimidation techniques, a little pigeon that can't even fly well isn't scary.

It's not hard to think about what's scarier: a pigeon that weighs less than a pound cooing and flapping his wings and pecking at the air ; vs. a 1200 lb angry/scared horse that's hell-bent on making you go away and never return .

Well, seeing as I've had this pair for quite some time together and they are just NOW deciding to pair up, I'd better let him just be protective. After all, it's his women. What a shock it'll be for him when we go to state fair and he'll be harrassed for all he's worth. Again.

[fantailgirl]

Heilo, my male Figurita, was driving Amber, my female, into her nest this morning. She stayed put, even though we were stacking hay, which is put right behind thim. This spell was broken unfortunetly by my dad, who misaimed a bale that he was throwing up at me and it hit the top of the cage next to them. Nothing was hurt, but I had one rather upset pregnant Annabelle, a Checkered Giant doe, and one terrified Amber. She came to forgive this after about a half-hour though, and after she gave herself a good soak and something to eat, she allowed Heilo to push her back into the box.

The temperatures here are astounding today: it's about 85F in the barn which is cooler than outside of it. I've noticed my pigeons soaking themselves in their water dish everyday around 2:00pm. This doesn't bother me, I just clean their dishes out when they're done, but is it too hot out here for them? Once again, I'm going to compare them to rabbits: I know rabbits can't take the heat much over 80F degrees, but healthy rabbits can withstand temperatures around -20F without much problem. Are pigeons the same? Should I be putting an ice bottle in their cage to act as a personal a/c unit? That's what we do to the rabbits, but I'm not sure if it's nessessary for my birds.

[pigeonmama]

Fantail Girl,
Just allow your pigeons to bathe as they are doing now. My birds have a bath dish in the loft all day long when it's really hot, and I change the water at least 3 times in the day, then pull the dish in the evening. As to pick cake, you might find it called pick (or pik) stone. My birds love this even more than oyster shell. Right now, I'm hand raising what will have to be the world's smallest figurita, named Bling. He's from a clutch of two. The other bird from the clutch is named Bluster, but we call him "The Blob", cause he's always been so much bigger. Bluster is already close to adult size, all feathered out, not yet up to flying, but is partially self feeding, with a little help from whatever adult he can bully in to feeding him. Poor little Bling is about the size of a med-large chicken egg. He's feathering out pretty good now, eats like a pig, fat and happy, just very tiny. He loves nothing more than eating, unless it's to climb up on top of my head and play with hair , or just to cuddle under my chin. And, what a sight, when I let him out to run on the floor, wings outstretched, wobbling away, chasing Mama. Just have to watch where I put my big feet.
Daryl
I'll send pics to Brad and see if he can do something with them so everyone can laugh at my crazy (or is it the owner who's crazy) birds.

[fantailgirl]

That'd be great! I'm not sure why, but I love seeing pictures of other people's birds.

[sportsman]

You don't have to worry too much about the heat as long as they have water available to them all the time and have some shade or some place a little cooler, the building works. Where i am at, there have been weeks where the high is above 90 almost everyday, and my pigeons don't mind it, they just lay down, sometimes in the sun.

[fantailgirl]

Thanks, I wasn't sure. I didn't want my pigeons to be very uncomfortable because of my lack of knowledge.