[Shut.Up.Meg]

Hi Guys,

I am fairly new to the wonderful world of pigeon keeping and trying my best however I am finding I am having some issues with dominance between my 2 males.

I started off with 2 "females" one of which turned out to be a very male female : so overnight I went from 2 birds to 4 and well to cut a long story short I now I have 7 birds 2 males that I have identified with 100% certainty

The 2 males I have are of different bloodlines and not related in anyway

I have recently upgraded their accomodation from A small converted chicken coop to a sentry box style loft, I have attached pictured of the new loft for reference as its hard to describe.

I still have the old nest area of the old loft in the enclosure at the moment as I have a pair who have nested on the floor and are currently nursing babies so didn't want to disturb them too much however this seems to have caused a bit of a territory dispute.

Male 1 (Bindi) who is my first male and the one who is a proven sire and is in the old loft with his mate and babies

Male 2 (Dozzer) is an older male without a mate seems to have taken it upon himself to stake claim to the new loft and won't let Bindi in. He sits in the door way cooing and chasing Bindi away. He allows my 2 young girls in there with him but does nothing but chase Bindi.

Now I was optimistic that they would all play happy famillies in the new loft but it is not looking that way. How do I combat this because having both lofts in the enclosure is taking up a lot of their space to fly and do what pigeons do.

If I remove the old loft will they eventually all go into the new loft or am I going to have to build another loft?

Is it possible for 2 males to live together in one loft?

 

[Ladygrey]

Anything is possible. But... You have a mixed loft, uneven sexes. In cases like that letting the pairs hatch and raise young in that situation is troublesome and puts the hatchlings at risk over fighting and male behaviors.

If you want to be a breeder of pigeons, then what is done is the pairs have a separate breeding area with the nest boxes. More boxes than pairs. Nest boxes need to be the right size. Big enough for two grown pigeons and a nest and two growing squabs and room for another nest which the hen will lay eggs in right before the last clutch is weaned. So you see how space is important. The pairs in their own area are not let out to fly if they are raising babies, in case one does not get back in to feed the babies .

The other part of the loft is for young weaned birds and unpaired single birds. Pairs that you do not want to have young from can still be in the nesting area but use fake eggs .




The young bird and single bird loft are the ones let out to fly if that is your hobbie. These birds will still pair up and try to nest , like on the floor as you have seen. If nesting places are not provided, they will do this anyway. For this reason box perches can serve as places they can nest to keep them off the floor, no live hatching is allowed to go on in there. Use fake eggs. The box perch can be smaller than a real nest box. Just google pigeon box perch, and take a look.
So organization really helps when letting pigeon pairs hatch live babies. You have to have some control and purpose behind breeding, keeping in mind space limitations if your not selling the young birds. Don’t over crowd your birds.

I would use fake eggs for any pairs you have , until you set your loft up right for the pairs you want to hatch babies from.

Also even with a proper breeding area and the pairs have claimed their box/s, letting them raise young continually can be a stressful activity and effect their health. Imo , a pair should not raise more than three clutches in any one years time. Usually in the spring into summer, they rest and have fake eggs the rest of the year, and at those times can be let out to fly again and recoup with good feed , calcium supplements, sunshine and bathing pans.