Ferals and Doves

[lofus]

My rescued feral SAL" Sh**s A Lot" has been hanging out with a few doves lately. He continues to want to come into his cage at night and leaves his/her new friends to fend for themselves at night. Sal has been demonstrating a new behavior. He does his normal circular strutt and coo, then he lowers his tailfeathers and drags them. What does this behavior signify? Do most of you take your pet ferals to the vet or do you worm and innoculate yourselves?

[Reti]

From his behavior sounds like Sal is a male.
Some people take their birds for worming and vaccinations, others do it themselves.
If he is an indoor/outdoor pigeon best is to take hi mto a vet and have fecal done. If he has worms then the vet will give you meds to give to Sal. Also a good idea would be to have him vaccinated, for pox, if he didn't have it already and definately for PMV and paratyphoid. They can be deadly to pigeons.

Reti

[lofus]

Thanks, I will get Sal to vet. About his hanging out with doves, will he mate with them? If so, will he want to stay outdoors?

[TerriB]

Pigeon-dove hybrids have been bred, but in the wild I don't think it is likely. If Sal does bond with another bird, he might try to entice her to accept his territory (cage) as a nest site. If she doesn't feel it would be a safe place to raise babies, she won't consent to breed, so he will search for a place that would be mutually agreeable.