Bird Lover (pigeons and doves) asked:
Hello. I am going to buy some ring necked doves, some racing pigeons. Can racing pigeons breed with a normal pigeon off of the street? And can a ring necked dove breed with a white dove? Can they produce offspring?
Hello. I am going to buy some ring necked doves, some racing pigeons. Can racing pigeons breed with a normal pigeon off of the street? And can a ring necked dove breed with a white dove? Can they produce offspring?
I`m so confused. Thanks.
No way—burds lay eggs.
They can do anything, and you can mix species. It might be hard to let different kinds get together, but it is possible. Any female bird can produce offspring.
Ringneck doves and white doves are the same species, just different colors of it (so long as the “white dove” is one with a long tail — sometimes folks call white pigeons of any kind “white doves)
As for crossing ring necks and racing pigeons, don’t try it. While there have been occasional crosses, they take lots of planning and effort. Putting a pigeon and dove together at random usually leads to the dove’s death since the pigeon is larger and often more agressive and may peck the smaller bird and brutalize it badly.
Can a racing pigeon breed with a “normal pigeon from the street” – yup, they are the same species, just like a dog and a wolf are the same species. They can also breed with all other breeds of domestic pigeon – same way as a St Bernard can mate with a German Shepherd or even a Chihuahua (with some help). Question is, why would you want to? Racers have been bred for almost 200 years to home fast and rapidly from great distances. It would be the same as crossing a greyhound with a coyote or wolf and expecting to get something useful.