# Will my pigeon be aggressive towards a female?



## Stickytoes

Hi guys
I have a male pigeon that I hand-reared. He's incredibly aggressive and attacks anything that goes near him, or, tries to mate with your head/hand/feet etc.
I love him to pieces and Im worried that he's lonely, would getting him a mate be a good idea? Or because he was hand reared would he attack the female?
Any advice would be appreciated!
Thanks  

This is him! 


31310_10150171804935024_812175023_12380793_5732788_n by jamieAST, on Flickr


----------



## corvid2e1

Depends a lot on your bird as to how he reacts initialy. some get on fine straght away, others take a bit of time, but I have never had any long term problems intoducing hand reared pigeons to others. I have several hand reard birds in my own loft, some reared from as young as 2 days, who, while still staying very friendly, have paired up and attempted to breed (I do not allow them to hatch eggs, but I have no doubt they would have reared young without any problems) If you introduce new birds you may see some initial aggression but pigeons rairly do damage to each other in these disputes and that should settle fairly quickly. They are highly sociable birds and even though he gets interaction from you that cannot fully replace being part of a flock, so I would definetly make every posable effot to introduce him to other birds.


----------



## Stickytoes

Yeah, I would love to get him some companions, but the thing is he lives in an aviary all the time, as he attacks people/dogs/horses/the postman/prams etc etc if i let him out! So i'd only be able to get one or two friends for him. Also, I hand-reared a wood pigeon, and when i tried to put it in the aviary with him while it was learning to fly he constantly attacked it and pulled out its feathers.
Could this be because it was a wood pigeon and not a rock dove? This is why I am concerned about getting him a mate. If I got him a female and they fought, would they settle their differences after a while?


----------



## corvid2e1

I have previously mixed wood pigeons and ferals (rock doves) with relitivly few problems, but woodies tend to be nervous, flighty, non-aggressive and very prone to throwing feathers! That is a very extreme reaction towards other animals/objects, even for an imprinted male. Does he seriously attack or just fly after them attempting to land on them? I would still give it a try. Try to chose an especialy large, aggressive hen who can stand up for herself and put him in his place if needed. A racing homer would probably be a good choice as they tend to be large, powerful birds, and are also reletivly easy to source. As you are looking for an aviary bird, not a racer, you should be able to find a fancier who will be quite happy to give you a bird that does not race so well. also, make sure there are plenty of ledges, perches, especialy high ones, boxes if you use them, and 2 souces of food and water so they can avoid each other and not have to fight over the best spots. If posable it may even be worth adding a screen in the aviary so they can get out of sight of each other. Any initial fighting should soon settle, and as I mentioned before, pigeons rairly do damage to each other during these fights other than pulling out the odd tuft of feathers. (ferals are nothing like woodies in this respect, who seem to explode in a cloud of feathers at the slightest touch!)


----------



## Stickytoes

Yeah he attacks. . . With people he lands on you and pecks and pulls at your skin, then tries to mate with whatever part of you he's landed on; with the wood pigeon he just wouldn't leave it alone and was just pulling out its feathers. He's a crazy bird but I love him anyway!
And thanks for the advice, i might try and get him a girlfriend and see how it goes , I just need to decorate the aviary a bit more and maybe add another nest box.


----------

