Pls help me with their strange behavior and egg

Miss Willis · May 3, 2009

Hello everyone. I know, I only come by here when I want something, because I don't really know what I'm doing except to enjoy the photos and stories.

I have a pigeon "Miss Willis" since last fall. I thought it was a girl. She lives inside as a pet and is fun, easy to care for, nice, and smart.

A bit before Easter, my friend brought over a female friend to keep her company. He thought a female would be best because it would get along with either a female or male, but 2 males would be bad if Miss Willis turned out to be a male.

The day my friend brought new friend "Betty" over, he stuck them both in the cage together and said they would work it out. I said they should be introduced slowly, but he said no, pigeons aren't aggressive. Well, Miss Willis poked newcomer Betty's eye out that day. I separated them and gradually let them fly around together, where they got to the point of getting along together in one cage, which I made bigger by joining the 2 cages together.

They do weird stuff, like Betty the definite female will stoop low to the ground and coo like a dove. I think she wants Miss Willis to pay attention to her, but Miss Willis mostly ignores her.

Miss Willis grunts like a chicken and Betty frequently grooms her neck, face, and beak.

Lately Miss Willis was acting weird, stomping her feet, panting, and not eating. Betty on the other hand ate all the food by herself.

Three days ago, I found an egg in the cage. No one paid any attention to it except me. I made it an impromptu nest out of coffee filters and knitting wool. I NEVER saw that coming!

Willis doesn't pay the egg much mind, spending most of his/her time standing on the roost box overseeing and acting protective. He/she frequently stamps his/her feet these days. Betty mostly ignores the egg except about 3 times in 3 days has sat on it. She knocks it over running to the food bowl and spilled the water bowl over it so many times I think she's trying to drown it.

I bought a nest and nest thread at the pet store and put the egg in the nest to try to protect it. They do pay some attention to it, because someone took the time to cover it with the nest thread. Then Betty pulled it out to sit on it. She's pushing it around now, I can hear her, clunk clank clatter.

It's like they're trying to scramble, break, or drown the poor thing!

So I tried to look online about topics such as mating behavior, male/female behavior, fertilization, etc. I found out if the egg is fertile, it will hatch in approx 17-18 days, but that's about all I understand.

I have some questions I hope knowlegeable people can help me with:

a) can you tell by anything I said if Miss Willis is a male or female? we thought she was a female in the past, but I didn't know females pecked each others eyes out or stamp their feet

if female Betty was here since Easter, is it possible she was fertilized that long ago and laid a fertile egg here? or are the eggs fertilized more immediately before laying?

My male friend suggested separating them and if the egg is fertilized Betty can sit on it or if not in about a week I will know it's gone bad and should remove it.

I did separate them, Betty sits on the egg for a few minutes then gets up.

Are pigeon eggs pretty hardy? I hope so.

Does anyone have any other / better suggestions or any advice to help would be greatly appreciated.

I think having a baby pigeon is very exciting! Photos below, White Betty w/ grey grizzle Miss Willis and Miss Willis w/ egg in background.

Thanks for your support everyone, I love these birds and try to take good care of them.

May 3, 2009

white one looks like female the grey male if she laid one egg she will lay another then sit them i dont keep tumblers so others might think diffrently

May 3, 2009

Hi,

(1) as neither bird actually sits the egg for any length of time, fertile or not, it is not being incubated, and will therefore not hatch.

(2) pigeons do lay two eggs, two days apart, looks like you're only getting one.

You were correct in thinking a strange pigeon should not be locked up right away with another bird that has had sole residence for a while. Doesn't matter what sex, there will be bother, depending on how aggressive each is. The other reason is disease control, new arrivals should go into quarantine for 7-10 days, to make sure they aren't carrying anything which could infect existing resident(s).

Pigeons mature sexually around 6 months; it could be you have an immature pigeon, or two hens - they will lay 4 eggs around 10 days after they pair up, but they will be infertile as the Hen needs to be fertilsed within that period.

'Stamping' could be a sign that the bird is being bitten by mites. 'Stamping 'dancing' from one leg to another is accompanied by frantic preening under both wings, and the tail. If this is what the bird is doing, you may need to treat both of them with an insecticide.

Miss Willis · May 3, 2009

Thank you for the input. I will check Willie for mites. You mean those red spider mites, right?

Since I separated them, Betty has been sitting on her egg. I will continue to leave it in there and see what happens.

Now I know about quarantine ... too late. Next time.

Willie's leg band says 2007 and Betty's says 2001 so I think they are 2 and 8 years old respectively.

Thank you so much for the support. I believe in miracles, so I'll keep you posted and if it hatches send baby pics. Thanks again, Dawn

the pigeon_milker · May 4, 2009

i think they male + female but will not breed very well in a small cage get rid of the egg give them a larger place to live somewere they can come and go freely? to get sticks for a nest this time nxt year you will have loads and its 21 days to hatch each egg one day apart

Miss Willis · May 5, 2009

Thanks for the additional comments. I can't let them fly loose outside because we live across the street from a river and all the raptor birds fly up and down it - hawks, bald eagles - I had to give up my bird feeder because they circle the yard and all the birds disappeared.

I let them loose inside and they have a bigger cage they go on the outside upstairs porch. Someday when I get a bigger house they can have a roost but I don't feel comfortable with them outside on the ground in my neighborhood.

Egg #2 showed up - 3 days later - strange. She has been dutifully sitting on both. We'll see what happens.

May 5, 2009

take out whatever is in the bowl and put some clean straw in it instead,most pigeons don,t incubate the first egg.

Miss Willis · May 6, 2009

Well I can try hay, but every time I put the egg in the nest, they pulled it out. I haven't touched either of the eggs since except to change the papers on the bottom of the cage. I do it without touching anything, same way they taught us to change bedsheets in nursing school - put the clean one under the dirty one then pull the dirty one out.

Isn't it better not to touch the eggs anymore and let her take care of them?

My friend said his pigeons laid 2 eggs on the ground outside, where they hatched. He said one baby died and the other is still alive. I hope it gets some feathers fast so it can get off the ground! It's been cold around here. I probably would have tried to move them but he was of the mind to leave them alone and let the birds take care of them how they know best.

Thanks again everyone, you're the best.