- May 20, 2014
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We bought a house featuring three pigeon coops and have been raising mostly white homers. The main coop is about 8'x20', with shelves and a few open breeding boxes, where pigeons are fed and allowed to fly free. A center coop has six individual compartments (A, B, and C on the front side), and again pigeons are allowed to fly at will. A third is an aviary for some homers we purchased (these birds cannot leave).
We've had six nests this year. Of the first three, two were in the main coop, and the other in a compartment (B). One set of birds in the main coop were stillborn - we guessed that the mother was two young. The other birds survived and are active members of the flock.
Both pairs of parents started new nests: the ones with the stillborn in the main coop, and the pair in B started a new nest in C. The four eggs hatched and all were doing well. The pair in the main coop is approximately four weeks old and starting to eat seed; the the chicks in C are approximately three weeks old. The father in C has been preparing B for a new round.
The father - a gorgeous and conscientious bird - disappeared a couple weeks ago (hawked?), but the mother has been carrying on (she looks tired tho'). The chicks were beautiful and doing well - one seeming to be the big brother to the other, protecting her. But a few days ago, the male from the other nest in the main coop (no chicks on it now) came over and pecked the big brother to death and scalped the other before we noticed and stopped him. (This was a devastating loss for us.)
I took the scalped survivor and his mother into an individual coop (A). The mother sprang the cage and left while a male from B coop broke in and immediately started pecking at the baby. I got the male out, put up a wood divider between cages A and B, recaptured the mother and put her back in A, this time more securely. I think they (the mother and the scalped chick) are doing ok now. But what would have caused two male birds to all of a sudden go after these chicks, in two separate cages?
And then... while the father from B/C was out flying, another (third) male, one of friendliest/favorite birds, young and unmated, and who had been living in the main coop, decided to check out coop B, and started dancing around. After a while, though, he jumped into coop C with the chicks and killed one of the babies, hurt the other. The survivor is now locked up with his mother...
We've never had anything close to this before: three different males, all previously non-violent, all seemingly determined to eliminate the chicks. (They still stand at the doors, trying to get in.)
Any advice?
* Could this have to do with a nutritional issue? (We feed Nutrigreen/gold and ProGrains for Pigeons.)
* Or territory? When we moved the family from the main coop to A, where he was immediately attacked, the attacker had staked out compartments B and C and used them for a year, without competition...
* Do they sense something wrong with the babies? (They seem strong and healthy to me.)
* Should we lock the birds in the coops during breeding season (to avoid hawks and this kind of stuff)?
Help!
(And thanks for any advice!)
We've had six nests this year. Of the first three, two were in the main coop, and the other in a compartment (B). One set of birds in the main coop were stillborn - we guessed that the mother was two young. The other birds survived and are active members of the flock.
Both pairs of parents started new nests: the ones with the stillborn in the main coop, and the pair in B started a new nest in C. The four eggs hatched and all were doing well. The pair in the main coop is approximately four weeks old and starting to eat seed; the the chicks in C are approximately three weeks old. The father in C has been preparing B for a new round.
The father - a gorgeous and conscientious bird - disappeared a couple weeks ago (hawked?), but the mother has been carrying on (she looks tired tho'). The chicks were beautiful and doing well - one seeming to be the big brother to the other, protecting her. But a few days ago, the male from the other nest in the main coop (no chicks on it now) came over and pecked the big brother to death and scalped the other before we noticed and stopped him. (This was a devastating loss for us.)
I took the scalped survivor and his mother into an individual coop (A). The mother sprang the cage and left while a male from B coop broke in and immediately started pecking at the baby. I got the male out, put up a wood divider between cages A and B, recaptured the mother and put her back in A, this time more securely. I think they (the mother and the scalped chick) are doing ok now. But what would have caused two male birds to all of a sudden go after these chicks, in two separate cages?
And then... while the father from B/C was out flying, another (third) male, one of friendliest/favorite birds, young and unmated, and who had been living in the main coop, decided to check out coop B, and started dancing around. After a while, though, he jumped into coop C with the chicks and killed one of the babies, hurt the other. The survivor is now locked up with his mother...
We've never had anything close to this before: three different males, all previously non-violent, all seemingly determined to eliminate the chicks. (They still stand at the doors, trying to get in.)
Any advice?
* Could this have to do with a nutritional issue? (We feed Nutrigreen/gold and ProGrains for Pigeons.)
* Or territory? When we moved the family from the main coop to A, where he was immediately attacked, the attacker had staked out compartments B and C and used them for a year, without competition...
* Do they sense something wrong with the babies? (They seem strong and healthy to me.)
* Should we lock the birds in the coops during breeding season (to avoid hawks and this kind of stuff)?
Help!
(And thanks for any advice!)