subject: Pigeon Mating - Is Your Pigeon Mating Normally? [print this page] After the pigeon mating is done the hen will give herself to the cock.
She squats down and separates her wings as the cock mounts her by treading on her back. As her head turns slightly, the sexual act is done. It only takes a fraction of a second as the two sexual openings very briefly touch.
With older birds there may be less time spent on courtship during pigeon mating, but as in my previous article, this depends on the individual.
Telling whether you pigeon is male or female is very easy during the pigeon mating season, but even when the pigeons are kept apart it is possible to watch them courting the birds in the next compartment. In pigeon mating the cock will coo and perform full circles on his perch, while the hen will only move slightly and coo back gently. After the pigeon mating the pigeons will start to nest. If the pair has not already been given a nestbox, they will find a place for the hen to lay her eggs.
Usually, the cock finds a good spot and then drives the hen towards it. After the tenderness of the courtship this can seem rather cruel. The cock will:
Chase the hen around the loftpecking at her head.
Buffeting her with his wings.
Peck her all over.
He will continue to do this until he has driven her into their nest box, and does this to stop other cocks taking advantage of her aroused state.
Two stock birds in a loft alone, or with very little other birds, will not go through this pigeon mating process quite as aggressively due to the male feeling less threatened.
