Rock-um sock-um pigeons!

Well, after a few weeks of peace in my little loft things went today!

To make a long story short, McGee and his girl (Waffles) decided to make a nest on a large ledge over the loft door. I thought they had picked out a different nest area lower down. But I guess they like the higher up ledge better. The problem is, Waffle's dad Penny has been hanging out on this ledge with his two daughters for the last few months. The three of them sleep there at night. Penny tried to throw McGee off the ledge this afternoon, and wound up being attacked by McGee and his daughter! I separated them but Penny got away and went back into the fray. By the time I had him in a cage by himself, Penny had some bloody wounds on his head and a hurt wing.

What should I do? Will Penny give up on the ledge eventually? Should I take McGee and his girl off the ledge? They really like it up there for a nest site. Penny's mate is sitting on eggs in a corner on the floor (she can't fly) but he's not paying her much attention while the ledge is in contention. Should I consider clipping Penny's wings so he can't fly up to the ledge easily? He used to be such a quiet and calm bird who spent all his time with his mate. But since he had his 2 oops babies this past summer, he's been causing some problems.

I wouldn't do any wing clipping rather coax McGee and Waffles to another nesting location.
Last week Sammy tried to take everyones nesting site. I closed him in his floght with Romy and as soon as she laid the first egg, he stopped trying to take the other boxes. I know your space is small and I don't know if you have a place in the loft, where you can confine McGee and Waffles. It would just be until that first egg arrives.

The first egg could be a while as the hen is pretty young yet. There are 2 nest boxes lower down that they were interested in initially. I did take the other daughter out of the loft as she and her dad were getting too attached to each other. And with Waffles mated with McGee, Penny will have that whole big area to himself with no real reason to protect it.

Can you put nest boxes higher up?

The higher up nest boxes are all taken leaving 3 lower boxes no one has used yet.

Everyone wants to be high up...that's the best real estate ...it's a status thing.
I don't know, Jen. What approach are you leaning toward?

Well, I think it would be nice is the pair could stay up on the ledge since Penny doesn't need to be up there. There is still a large area on the ledge that is free actually. The space they are fighting over is on one side which is separated by a wooden partition. Penny seems to think he has 3 mates now, his 2 daughters and his original one! The 2 daughters are really out of the picture now so I'm hoping he will realize that soon and go back to his wife. I just don't know how to discourage him from that corner of the ledge in the meantime.

How about posting a picture of the area?

This is a quick sketch of the ledge. It's not very good and it's not to scale of course. The one nest area on the right has been taken by a pair for a year. The other side on the left is what they're fighting for. The space in the middle is free space.

I could take Penny's hen off their eggs. That would encourage him to pay her attention and start a new nest with her. When he's busy with that he tends to forget about the ledge. Think that might help?

Hi Jen,
I'm sorry to hear about the 'territory' issue you're going through with Penny.

If it were me, I wouldn't remove Penny's hen from her eggs. I wouldn't remove McGee and Wallfles. Those three are Innocent bystanders, if you will.
I would deal with Penny one on one.

When Dolly was invading his grandpa's area and being a real birdy brat, it was suggested that I remove Dolly from the situation. So I did, several times as a matter of fact. He is now back in the aviary for the umpteenth time and is finally settling down. I hope it lasts.

I hope things calm down soon, as I know how frustrating it can be.

Please do keep us posted.

Jen...can you put shelves/perches on the back wall from the ceiling to halfway from the floor?

Matilda wrote:

Jen...can you put shelves/perches on the back wall from the ceiling to halfway from the floor?

Do you mean over the ledge? Or the back wall of the loft? There are lots of perches on the back wall. There isn't enough space for perches over the ledge.

Penny had a couple fights with the pair, then seemed to give up for now and went to sit on his eggs. At one point he was in the center area of the ledge calling, probably for the daughter I took out.

I meant the back wall. What about replacing the highest one with a shelf so that more than one can roost together...or can they do that already?

I have room to put a shelf about 6 feet long above the perches, and I have been thinking about doing just that. But I was worried that they would try to chase each other off the shelf too. Few of them seem willing to perch anywhere near each other. I could try it and then replace the shelf with more perches if the shelf doesn't work. As it is some of the birds like to perch hop to chase other birds off their perch.

Should I put dividers on the shelf or just leave it one long open shelf?

What about just covering the space they are all fighting for with something...forcing them all to use the lower nest boxes??

AZJourney wrote:

What about just covering the space they are all fighting for with something...forcing them all to use the lower nest boxes??

Everyone keep your fingers crossed. Penny seems to have given up on the corner nest box and stopped fighting. He's staying in the center area calling and looking sad and lonely. I know he misses his daughters but he needs to go back to his hen and give her the attention he used to give her.:For Shame: McGee and his hen have been building a nest in their corner and looking very happy up there. McGee needs to stay on his toes though, another pair who just gave up on their fake eggs are trying to sneak up there when he's not looking. McGee has been chasing them off. He follows his hen when she's wandering around the loft or aviary but then he has to fly back to his nest box and chase the other birds off. He's getting quite a workout but doing very well at it. Now I need to figure out what to do with Penny's other daughter who I took out of the loft. I think if I found her a mate she may go back to her dad anyway if I put her back out there? I think she considered her dad her mate.

Would adding box perches like these be a good idea? It would stop the perch hopping that goes on out there. Do the birds really like those kinds of perches?

Yes...adding something like that would be a good idea. I made something similar by dividing an old bookcase...well I didn't actually do it myself but you know what I mean.
Fingers croosed they all mind their manners.

Jenaka wrote:

Everyone keep your fingers crossed. Penny seems to have given up on the corner nest box and stopped fighting.

I've got my fingers crossed, Jen.