Curiouser and curiouser..

[Hamster Girl]

Hey all, I've been away for a while.

 

My pair of Homing pigeons, when I bought them, were 7 months old.

That was last October.

As of now, in July, they are a year and four months old. One male, one female and yet no eggs.

 

They have vast amounts of water, and always have a dish of feed. The cage they are in is 3' wide x 3' long x 6' tall. There is a shoebox I have converted to a temporary next box, complete with hay and 3 1/2 walls, until I get my hands on some wood and nails.

 

Can I get some possible suggestions as to why they have yet to breed? I always hear the male talking and I can see him dance several times a day - easily.

Should I just wait on them?

Get a new female?

...I'm going wonky trying to figure it out - my friend who also raises birds has no idea why they wouldn't mate. :/

[pjc]

Are you sure they are a cock and a hen?

 

 

Phil

[gangster]

id pop another hen in there you may find this liven s things up....

[pjc]

more hens the better, eh gangster!!   ;)

[jimmy_84]

sorry   to invade but thought instead of starting new thread would gatecrash 1 close to my problem. i have 2 spare hens in my loft only they are not spare now as they have both laid and sitting but i have the cock's in pairs and on egg's with their hens they are now doing double time sitting 1 set of egg's thyen when that hen returns to sit they take over other nest is this normal and will they be able to rear to young sets of squabs

 

any advice guys

[gangster]

jimmy they will feed the young but you will have 2 keep n eye on them so they dont drain there selfs...the cocks i mean

[jimmy_84]

Do you mean you got hens paired up together

 

no 2 spare hens 2 eggs each and the other cocks which are paired to my other hens have nested with the spare hens and are sitting the egg's on a when the hens return to do their bit the cocks move to other nest box

 

is there anything i can get for the extra to feed got a breed and wean mix anything else for them

[Guest shadow]

Hey all, I've been away for a while.

 

My pair of Homing pigeons, when I bought them, were 7 months old.

That was last October.

As of now, in July, they are a year and four months old. One male, one female and yet no eggs.

 

They have vast amounts of water, and always have a dish of feed. The cage they are in is 3' wide x 3' long x 6' tall. There is a shoebox I have converted to a temporary next box, complete with hay and 3 1/2 walls, until I get my hands on some wood and nails.

 

Can I get some possible suggestions as to why they have yet to breed? I always hear the male talking and I can see him dance several times a day - easily.

Should I just wait on them?

Get a new female?

...I'm going wonky trying to figure it out - my friend who also raises birds has no idea why they wouldn't mate. :/

 

try splitting them up for a few days then see if one of them tries driving the other to nest if they just settle down and bill each other you could have two hens

 

 

[Peckedhen]

Hamstergirl....

 

If you have food in front of them all the time, it might be that your hen is too fat to lay!!!   Try feeding just once a day and removing the food after ten minutes.

[jimmy white]

Hey all, I've been away for a while.

 

My pair of Homing pigeons, when I bought them, were 7 months old.

That was last October.

As of now, in July, they are a year and four months old. One male, one female and yet no eggs.

 

They have vast amounts of water, and always have a dish of feed. The cage they are in is 3' wide x 3' long x 6' tall. There is a shoebox I have converted to a temporary next box, complete with hay and 3 1/2 walls, until I get my hands on some wood and nails.

 

Can I get some possible suggestions as to why they have yet to breed? I always hear the male talking and I can see him dance several times a day - easily.

Should I just wait on them?

Get a new female?

...I'm going wonky trying to figure it out - my friend who also raises birds has no idea why they wouldn't mate. :/

 

could even be two cocks ???  they most cerainly wouldnt lay ;D but they will mate if theres no other birds , i should ask any local pigeon fancier just to make sure their a cock and hen ,,occasionaly you can get a barren hen, could even be that ,,good luck anyway hope you can solve things out

[Guest IB]

Hamster Girl - I have a late bred yearling hen too which hasn't laid. She goes through the normal cycle, cock drives and she covers the bowl from about the day before she is due to lay, her vents are wide open - but still no egg. Floated a pair of eggs under her which she hatched and reared OK, thinking that would re-set her cycle, but again no egg, so reckon the hen is barren.

 

My worry is that it is something called egg-drop syndrome where the egg and yolk drops into the body cavity instead of into the oviduct. Heard of it in chickens, but not pigeons, and it can cause a bacterial infection in the bird.

[Guest IB]

Jimmy_84 - I have had hens pair together and lay and sit 4 eggs. 1st and foremost, do not assume as I did that these eggs are infertile.

 

The behaviour you describe is not normal. Normally there is no cock involved in the sitting - one hen will sit 9am - 5pm as a cock would, then both sit from around 8pm till early morning.

 

I've had paired hens raise youngsters. Just make sure that they have a secure box before you do it. They will defend it as good as any cock.

[jimmy_84]

i am so confused by these birds will keep you informed will candle test the eggs in a day or so

[jimmy_84]

You could have hens that have just paired upto each other they will still lay and sit the eggs i put 5 spare hens and my westie cock in section one year he paired up with one of the hens and the other 4 hens paired up together had them sitting 4 eggs in nestbowl never thought anything of it until they all hatched out he had trod all the hens i left them to rear youngster

 

will have to wait and see what happens i have been watching them again part of the day and they are just the hens switching boxes and sitting eggs gonna get 2 yearling cocks for them if i can get hold of any if anybody has any for sale or knows anybody who has some pm me plz

[Hamster Girl]

The fellow I bought them from assured I had a cock and a hen, and had them both with a marked ring to show who was with who. I.e. mine are both a red ring, number 9.

the fellow also had a huge, within a hundred+, flock of multi birds.

 

@jimmy white - Were she barren, wouldn't she still let the cock tread her?

@IB - She's letting him get close, and then last second will scuttle out of his reach or fly to a perch.

@Shadow - I believe I will put her in with my Domestic Flight hen for a week, see what happens. when they were at fair, they were all in seperate cages, but mine were all in a row. I assume they need to be further apart than that? ;p

@Peckedhen - I'll cut back the food as well.

 

Thanks all for the suggestions, definitely will try all of them. :]