Cockatiel and Ringneck Dove Mating???

[EllenD]

Last month I made a post about how my female Cockatiel, Duff, who was not close at all with any of my other birds, and my male Ringneck Dove, Dylan, had started to hang-out together, and were seemingly becoming "friendly" with each other. I was initially really very happy for both of them, as I have always been Duff's "person" and the only one she has ever had a bond with, and the same goes for Dylan, even though he's only been with me for around 4-5 months now, while Duff has been with me since she was 10 weeks old and she is now 4 years old...As of two days ago, things have gotten a bit "weird" ...

On Wednesday I was home all day long. Dylan's cage is in my master bedroom, along with the bird's huge PVC play-gym (my bedroom is very large). Dylan has pretty much taken ownership of the play-gym as his own, he's free-roaming in my bedroom, his cage is always open unless I have any of the other birds in my bedroom, then I'll put Dylan in his cage and let the other birds play on the gym; however, for the most part, Dylan spends all day on the gym either playing with/poking at the toys, swinging on the swing, or looking out the window into the backyard. So what I've been doing is bringing Duff upstairs to my bedroom in the morning after she eats her breakfast, so she and Dylan can play together, and they have been getting along great. They snuggle together and sleep, Duff preens Dylan (though he can't reciprocate, and Duff will put her head down for him constantly, not understanding that Dylan can't really help her, lol). They sit together and look out the window, swing on the swing together, and Dylan has been allowing Duff to go into his cage to drink his water and pick at his food.

On Wednesday I was in my office on the computer, and I heard a weird "chirping" noise coming from my bedroom. I went in to check it out, and the "chirping" noise was exactly what I thought it sounded like, Duff, with her butt in the air facing Dylan, while she made that little constant, quiet "chirping" sound that some female Cockatiels make when they are trying to entice a male to mate...Dylan was sitting right next to her on the gym while she was doing this, but wasn't trying to do anything about it. He did start cooing at me over and over again when I walked into the room, like he thought I was going to do something about it, lol...I took Duff downstairs and put her in her cage to "cool down"...I hated to separate them because they have become so closely-bonded, but I also don't want a female Cockatiel that starts laying infertile eggs, as once some Cockatiels start laying eggs, you know how that can go...I kept them separated the rest of Wednesday and all day yesterday, with Dylan "cooing" his head off and driving me insane. So this morning I brought Duff back upstairs and put her on the gym, and immediately Dylan flew up and snuggled with her...When I left the room they were looking out the window together...

Then this morning I had a doctor's appointment, I left, and when I came back about an hour ago I heard Duff's "chirping" noise again as soon as I walked in the door...So i went upstairs to my bedroom, only to find Dylan on trying to get on top of Duff :06: What in the world...

I can't imagine anyone else has had much experience with their Dove and their parrot actually trying to mate with each other, obviously it's not going to produce anything, but i'm not sure how to handle this situation overall...

 

[Laurasea]

What a story! Those urges ate hard to ignore! I once saw a walphin in Hawaii zoo, a pilot whale dolphin cross, they thought it wouldn't be fertile and it was placed with other dolphins and then the whalphin had a baby of her own @@ believe it or not some weird hybrids do take place in nature! Lol not saying at all that I think these two could produce viable offspring! It just spurred my memory.... If they are meeting each other's needs....I would let them hang out, I don't know if there is a way to keep them active without the getting busy?? I had my two GCC females that got busy but my old girl only laid eggs once when I first brought home the new bird, the next seven years they just were friends with occasional benefits....

 

[LaManuka]

My male cockatiel Fang fell madly in love with my beautiful (sadly departed) white girlie cockatiel Twinkle, right around “onset of puberty” time. Unfortunately Fang became very hyped up and aggressive towards her & he would often chase her around the house to the point of exhaustion, and then attack me when I tried to intervene. We sometimes had to cage Twink for her own safety! Our CAV suggested we get Twinkle a hormonal implant to prevent her from exhibiting the kind of displaying behaviour that caused Fang to lose his mind (classic victim-blaming if you ask me!). But it worked wonders, they lived peacefully together and no issues with egg-laying either.

 

[EllenD]

Well, I haven't separated them, I just got up and they weren't anywhere near each other. Then I ran up the street for coffee, and when I came back there was Duff with her butt up in the air again, making that "chirping" noise, and Dylan sitting about an inch away from her...It's like they waited for me to leave!

I don't necessarily mind this at all, as long as they're happy then what the hell...I just don't want Duff laying a bunch of eggs (she's never laid one in her 4 years)...I think I'm going to just see what happens, and if she does start laying eggs then I'll figure out what to do. Right now they're so cute cuddling with each other that I can't bring myself to separate them...

Duff didn't even want to go downstairs to her cage for breakfast this morning! I don't care what they do, they're not moving-in together!!! Not under my roof!

 

[EllenD]

Oh, just on a side-note...I did a Google search for "Ringneck Dove and Cockatiel", that's it, that's all I searched for, and tons of videos popped-up of Doves and Cockatiels who are bonded with each other, mating, etc. I guess it's not uncommon...Too bad I didn't know that!!!

They are both "powdery" birds, lol...maybe that's the attraction...

 

[ChristaNL]

Hahahaha, Oh I am a bad person, but I really liked this read.


I know you are worried about the egg-issues, but apart from that .. 2 strangers meet and like each other (and now a bit too much ?).
As long as they are happy to see each other, that's okay with me.

 

[EllenD]

Hahahaha, Oh I am a bad person, but I really liked this read.


I know you are worried about the egg-issues, but apart from that .. 2 strangers meet and like each other (and now a bit too much ?).
As long as they are happy to see each other, that's okay with me.

That's exactly where I'm at too Christa, if they're happy, I'm happy I guess...

I just spent the last hour watching videos of Cockatiels and Ringneck Doves/Rock Pigeons who are bonded, live together in the same cages, and a lot who mate regularly (one video featured a female Ringneck Dove who's bonded to a male Cockatiel, and every morning when she's let out of her cage, she immediately flies over to her Cockatiel boyfriend, turns around, lifts her butt up, and puts it right in his face. Every morning like clockwork, lol.) So apparently I was out of the loop on "Dove-Cockatiel Love" ...

It's kind of sad they can't breed, as the more I look at them, the more I think that their babies would be adorable, lol...

 

[ChristaNL]

I probably would want one!

I've had those cute little doves growing up, never had a tiel ...
so something in the middle would be great, but plze with the cooing, not the sharp whistles.
(Maybe dutch tiels are like the dutch and curse a lot, I never liked their whistles)

Grinn, that would be a nice new forumchallence: show what you think a dove-tiel-mix would look like!
(LeslieA has a morphpicture already as an avatar, there must be someone around who can make a few cute little doveatiels? )

 

[EllenD]

The cross would probably be adorable, as they actually do have a lot of visual characteristics in common, they're both "dusty" or "powdery" birds, so I would bet their offspring would be super cuddly and one you'd just want to eat-up!

I grew-up with tons of Cockatiels who were breeders that belonged to my mom, and there were some who were particularly "screechy", loud as hell, and annoying. Then there were ones like Duff who hardly make a peep at all (except for her new "Horny-Chirp", that's what I'm calling it, lol...it's disturbing)...I think with Cockatiels their noise levels has a lot to due with their gender, as it seems that female Cockatiels are usually not even close to being as vocal/loud as the males. I've brought Duff home from her breeder's house when she was just 10-weeks old and she turned 4-years old this past May. And from day number one she has been extremely non-vocal. In fact, the only sound that she makes on a regular basis is a single chirp that she does whenever I call to her or she's with me and I say her name. She will make one loud chirp/tweet whenever I call her/say her name, and then that's it, she doesn't make any other sound at all (with the exception of the screaming she did when I had to pull a blood-feather out of a bone in her wing with a pair of needle-nose pliers, that was a horrible experience for both of us, and she screamed bloody murder). Even when I clip her toenails she rarely makes a sound, she just lays on her back in my hand and lets me clip them, with the occasional quiet little "chirp" at me, but that's it. In contrast, I've heard male Cockatiels who scream/screech/yell at every little thing. I've not ever had experience with another "pet" female Cockatiel except for Duff, so maybe that's just Duff and not all female Cockatiels, I don't know...the female breeders I've had were a bit more vocal than Duff, but not much...

****Christa, as far as the "Cooing" goes, be very careful what you wish for, lol...It's like having a Rooster living in your bedroom...

 

[ChristaNL]

Hmmmm, good point, our couple used to live in the garage (huge cage of course) so no cooing 24/7 (or as near as these crazy fluffs get) next to us.
In that case... make them breed the quiet tiel-version plze?

 

[EllenD]

Well to add to this particular topic, it seems that having Duff around more often causes Dylan to "Coo" more often, like all freaking night long, all day long, he doesn't stop now, he just stares at her and "Coos"..."Coo-ca-ca-ca-Coo!" all freaking day and night!!!!

Give me a rooster, please...he's horny and he's driving me nuts...even Duff is looking at him like "Give it rest"...

 

[reeb]

This is absolutely fascinating to me! Mostly because my male budgie directs all of his flirtations toward my female cockatiel, and not my female budgie! He does full on head bobbing, eyes pinning, and is always chasing her.

On the other hand, Berry the tiel only does her hormonal beeps for ME occasionally, despite my best efforts to create an environment that does not encourage broody behaviour.I always make sure to completely ignore her to let her know that NO I’m NOT interested in her! Lol

 

[EllenD]

They love who they love, just like us!!! I'm learning this more and more with this Dove/Cockatiel love-story, lol...

So an update on Dylan and Duff and the Soap-Opera that is playing-out in my bedroom...

Duff finally moved full-time into my bedroom, her main-cage was moved from the living-room to my bedroom last week. She has her cage right next to Dylan's, but neither of them spend much time at all inside of their cages anyway, the only time either of them go inside of their cages is to eat. The rest of their days/nights are spent on the play-gym together, snuggling together, Duff preening Dylan, Dylan "pecking" at Duff, lol, following each other around constantly...It's sickeningly sweet, lol...

If one of them gets on the swing of the play-gym, the other gets on the swing. If one of them goes down to their cage to get something to eat or drink, the other goes down to their cage to get something to eat or drink. Dylan has recently been making some completely new "Dove Sounds" that I've not ever heard him make before. My mom and stepfather have had different species of Doves for years, but they live outside in an Aviary, so I have never noticed any sounds that they make except for the typical "Cooing"...But Dylan is making the most bizarre sounds now, directed at Duff of course, lol...It's interesting...

Duff is the quietest Cockatiel on earth, always has been, to the point that when I first brought her home from her breeder when she was around 9-10 weeks old, after a week of not hearing her make a single peep I thought she was sick, and during her first Wellness-Exam I was driving my CAV crazy because I wanted every test that you can run on a bird done immediately, lol...I grew-up around hundreds of Cockatiels because my mom and my grandma both bred them, and they were all extremely loud and constantly talking, squawking, chirping talking, etc...So I wasn't used to a Cockatiel like Duff who doesn't ever make a peep. Even for a female Duff is quiet, almost mute. I started to be able to get her to "answer" me (contact-call) after working on it for 2 years, lol, but her "Contact-Call" to me is literally one peep. That's it, one single, quiet "chirp", and that's it. But it was something...She's now over 4 years old, and nothing had changed; she's absolutely the sweetest, most loving, snuggly, cuddly sweetheart of a bird in the entire world, always has been, has never once even nipped at me, no exaggeration, not even when I clip her toenails...But she's a mute ...

****Well, as it turns-out, Duff is not a "Mute", she's actually quite vocal and can actually sing and whistle lovely little tunes....But not for me

It took the love of a Ringneck Dove to get Duff to stop her "selective mutism"...Now she won't shut-up at all, ever...

I'd be lying if I said that my feelings were not totally crushed, along with my pride...damn Ringneck Dove...

 

[davidmagneto]

LOL good one & don't know much about Doves. Just alittle science Talk. They are literally as different to any Psittaciformes as a rabbit is to a monkey. The Bird/Aves class is as vast as the Mammalia classification. Only species within the same families can match genetic codes & for the Tiels their closest cousins (the cockatoo family) are all too huge LOL.. Any Hookbill can hurt them a softbill but cockatiels are chill. I have 2 horny female cockatiels so I know how you feel. I pick her up and she acts like I am doing the deed with her LOL. When I put them down, they make a nest in my shoe boxes & lay non-fertile eggs in there