[Msfreebird]

This morning when I went out to the loft, this is what I found!! And "DAD" had blood on his beak

"MOM" was totally oblivious and just walked away!
I brought both inside, cleaned the injury with Nolvasan surgical scrub and I will finish raising them.
Only once have I had a cock attack his own young (different cock), and the same thing happened - the mom walked away and did not defend her young!
These were good parents, WHY do they do this?!
*One thing I have noticed - it's always first thing in the morning on the shift change*

 

[spirit wings]

would'nt breed him again.

 

[Msfreebird]

would'nt breed him again.

Well thats a given! But he's had plenty of young before, why would they start this?

 

[spirit wings]

Well thats a given! But he's had plenty of young before, why would they start this?

I don't think there is one answer for that, but I do beleive it is an inherited trait, runs in families of birds, for some reason at some point the elevator doesn't go all the way to the top and they think their own young is an intruder. also physical factors can come in to play, crowding, and an upset loft of unmated birds in there to cause mischief. maybe some others will have their opinons on this as well, but we may never know.

 

[Msfreebird]

I did notice that "dad" is kind of a "player" and has been sticking his nose in other places where he shouldn't be in his free time and getting the feathers on the back of his neck pulled by others.
Kind of wondering if he's taking his frustration out on his own kids

 

[Whitefeather]

This morning when I went out to the loft, this is what I found!! And "DAD" had blood on his beak

"MOM" was totally oblivious and just walked away!

Only once have I had a cock attack his own young (different cock), and the same thing happened - the mom walked away and did not defend her young!

Was that the incident back at the beginning of March.

This morning when I went out to the loft, this is what I found!! And "DAD" had blood on his beak

"MOM" was totally oblivious and just walked away!

Only once have I had a cock attack his own young (different cock),
and the same thing happened - the mom walked away and did not defend her young!

Are you absolutely sure this isn't the same pair, as the behavior appears to be exactly as the previous incident?

Cindy

 

[Msfreebird]

No, different parents and different babies. The culprit in March was a young blue bar cock, which I isolated.
The only incident when "dad" attacked his own babies was about 3 years ago.
The recent scalpings I've had are done by young cocks that just wander around.

 

[Birdmom4ever]

I'm so sorry this happened to your babies. The one thing that makes me truly angry with pigeons is when they scalp chicks. I've never had a dad do this to his own young (with mine it's always been another, usually unmated cock bird) and you're right, you'll have to finish raising them because you can't trust him. I would get rid of him. I don't keep overly aggressive cocks because I do think they pass the trait on and I can't tolerate that behavior in my loft.

 

[Charis]

Do you think your loft is over-crowded? Maybe go on baby free sabatical for a while? I know it's easier said than done.

 

[Msfreebird]

Do you think your loft is over-crowded? Maybe go on baby free sabatical for a while? I know it's easier said than done.

Its not over crowded, and actually I have been taking out alot of eggs. I'm going to be moving in a couple months and I don't want any more babies to have to move.

 

[Birdmom4ever]

It's not always about over-crowding; I've had cock birds that were complete jerks: controlled five or six nest-boxes and beat the crap out of anyone who challenged them. Sometimes they are just bad birds.