Adolesent behaviors

[ftblady]

Hello -
I'm new to the forum and recently acquired young pigeons. Have raised birds in the past (canaries, finches, etc) but first time pigeon handler. The 7 birds I got have done well - they fly from the loft and return from 5-10 miles releases just fine. They were born this spring and I believe I have 4 cocks and 3 hens based on the "puffy chest" behavior. I have only one loft and really didn't plan on being a breeder, so I am wondering if keeping them all together will become a problem -- the cocks do seem to have a pecking order established and the hens are somewhat "paired" with a particular cock, but it isn't too clear. What I am noticing is that I get the dominate cock and his chosen girlfriend trapped and the the rest are reluctant to go in and quite often it appears as if the cock blocks the trap so that the hen can't go around him. Any insights into adolesent pigeon behavior would be appreciated.

Norma

[Jiggs]

Hi ftblady

I know you are not racing but when building a "Racing" loft the idea is to build your trap as to let the birds trap as quickly as possible.

Usually various devices about 1,2m up from the floor as to let the birds just "drop" in. This also stops other birds getting in the way. Maybe you could try that.

The main cock is pretty agro and I have learnt that myself the hard way and lost a youngster because of it. You could try having less cocks than hens which would help. When I got an extra hen the fighting went down quite a lot.

This could help but as I am also a beginner there could be better tips from other writers here on the forum. Have you tried using the search function i ussually find that most of my questions get answered by some of the older threads

[ftblady]

Hi Jiggs -
Thanks for the reply. Will do a search - perhaps in another section I will find something as I only looked through all the posts in the racing pigeon section. Getting another hen might be the answer. I am just now linking up with fellow enthusiasts in the area and perhaps could get a new bird that way. The woman I got my 7 from are a long way away.
My trap door is about 1M from the floor and they all go through just fine.
They all trapped very fast today since I held back on the feed yesterday. As I read through all the posts, food does seem to be the answer.
Norma

[Jiggs]

Yip I followed up on the cock / hen issue. Definitly better to have more hens than cocks. Racers, that is, as they are a might rowdier than the other types.