"in Heat???"

[pottersmom]

Can someone please tell me the behavior of the male pigeon who is definately "in heat" or whatever the proper term is for the male?
He wants me to be near him at lal times and sits on the pillow and rubs his beak back and forth continuously and it is now getting red. Is this normal OR is there something else wrong that's causing him to do that particular thing with his "nose"?? Please Help. Thanks so much.

[alea]

Beak is red????
Doesn't sound good to me... hope I'm not worrying you, I am not very knowledgeable, but have witnessed mating rituals first hand and have never noticed anything like that!
Hopefully others will be on shortly with more info.

[pottersmom]

Thank you for the reply. I must correct myself in that Potter's beak is "red" per say and it's not the beak itself-----just directly above the beak where there is like soft down-like. It's not actually red, just turning discolored and rather on the "fleshy" color side. It was "pinker" yesterday, but is now discolored like. As I said, perhaps from rubbing it back and forth on the pillow, but I don't think that makes sense either. I'm just not sure if it's that he is definately wanting to mate or what?
Could you explain the "in heat" behaviors??? Will start from there, I guess. Any suggestions?? Thanks so much.

[Trees Gray]

Hello,

Are you talking about the white soft area just above the beak? That area should be white. Is he trying to itch it?

There is something going on here, and it doesn't sound like courtship? Are there any other symptoms?

Treesa

[maryco]

That thing above the beak is the "cere" or "wattle" and if it's red it usually means something is wrong. An over heated bird can also have a red cere or a sick bird (canker).. etc.

As Treesa asked, do you notice any other symptoms? Open his beak and look for any yellow cheesy like growths. Inside the beak should be nice and pink and not reddish.

Mary