When you think of the term 'dove' you think of the White Dove. The White Dove has been one of the most universal symbols of love and peace throughout history!
Bonnie Girard - 2012-04-15 My Mom has 4 white doves. 2 pairs in 2 cages. The original female must be 16 yrs. old, if not older. Her beak has grown and the bottom part sticks straight out. She still is able to eat, but it looks terrible. I have asked my vet if it could be trimmed, but he said he does not like to do something like that because they can bleed to death. I have put in one of those items that parrots and other birds use to sand down their beaks, but I do not see the doves doing this. The female is much older than the male that is with her and he is so in love with her. It is very neat to see. Any advice on this beak issue would be much appreciated. Thanks!
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janet - 2012-04-16 Hey Bonnie, if your 16yr old dove is able to eat who cares what her beak looks like! and I am happy that she has a mate that loves her just the way she is. god bless her .
Charlie Roche - 2012-04-16 I wouldn't worry too terribly much if she can eat. However, filing down a beak is a very simple process and takes all of a few seconds. If you can find an avian vet you shouldn't have any problems. You can hang a lava rock in her cage and possibly she will break it off herself but better to take her to a vet that actually knows what he is talking about. It is pretty much the same thing as clipping a puppies toenails.
Bonnie Girard - 2012-04-20 Thank you for the wonderful responses. It is greatly appreciated!
Lyall Cousins - 2012-03-04 I've got 2 doves. One white, one mottled brown. They must both be males because there hasn't been any eggs since I purchased them 6 months ago, and they coo constantly ALL night. I want to get them a mate so they'll quiet down and be happier. Is there an easy way to tell what sex they are when I go so the guy who sells them doesn't try passing off another male on me?
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Charlie Roche - 2012-03-04 Without having seveal doves and seeing the behaviors and knowing for sure cuz one actually laid eggs, there isn't any accurate way to determine the sex of a dove except through DNA. Males coo a lot to attract a mate and females lay eggs. Many times people wind up with birds two of the same sex. People will buy several and allow the doves to pair up - they seem to know.
Geraldine Mccall Woodcox - 2012-04-15 I had a male and didn't know but it never laid a egg. When I wanted to get it a mate the gentleman at the feedstore said it's hard to tell but a female is smaller in the pelvic area and he felt around and said yep this one is a girl and sure enough eggs eggs eggs
Peter A Meyer - 2011-12-14 I am in Eltham, Victoria, Australia. I found a small white dove last Sunday (Dec. 11) on my lawn. It happily allowed me to pick it up and I found it was covered in bird lice. It is now deloused, wormed and settling in to its cage nicely, with a flutter around my unit every now and again. It is feeding well on a local brand of complete canary mix (Trill) which has all necessary seeds, shell grit, multivitamin supplement, red and green capsicum, etc., and judging by the amount of rear-end production its internals are working fine. I think it is barely fledged and is a beautiful little bird with a very trusting, friendly nature, but I can't get it to take a bath, and I always thought most birds love a bath.
Anyone have any ideas on how to fire it up in this department? I tried before and if a bird can look disapproving, this one did.
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Laurie - 2012-03-18 I have 13 White Doves who live outside year round. They love baths and frequent misting from a garden hose(summer time only). They are very picky about their 'bathtub' though. There are two containers of water. Once small, for drinking, and a bigger one for bathing in. However, most times I find them bathing in the smaller one. Silly birds.
Charlie Roche - 2011-12-15 All birds do not like a bath. Some do but I have found that most do not. However, you can spritz her with water or just spritz her with the kitchen sprayer if you have one. You can try different things and possibly she will be OK with one of them. Most don't. They will learn to tolerate a spritzing if gentle and aimed above the head. Weird - right?
Peter A Meyer - 2011-12-16 Thanks Charlie. I'll just try her (?) with a kitchen spray bottle and see if I get glared at again!
Well, that wasn't a success - she was happily sitting on top of her cage watching me until I started spraying, tolerated it for about 10 seconds, then cleared off! It's a quite warm day so no harm done.
Charlie Roche - 2011-12-16 Keep trying with the spritzer as he ? might get used to it. Some birds just do not like baths. I have one that will bathe in his water bowl every time I run the vacumn close to him but forget trying to bathe him. Impossible. I turn the vacumn on and just let it sit and he goes crazy bathing in his water bowl. Go figure. Good luck.
Charlie Roche - 2012-01-05 That is funny and yes they do make one big mess when decide to bathe in water bowl. Mine still bathes in water bowl every time I run the vacumn. They eventually get us trained.
Peter A Meyer - 2012-01-05 Charlie my dove finally told me it wanted a bath by making an almighty mess trying to have one in its water bowl. I put in a larger bowl of water and it happily had its bath OK. Trouble is that was 2 weeks ago before I had a brief holiday, and it hasn't tried since!
Peter A Meyer - 2012-03-15 I think my dove has an aversion to cleanliness. It had one bath since I found it, and won't even take a dust bath (let alone one in water), unlike its native Crested Pigeon cousins around here. It's moulting at the moment and I am having a snowstorm in late summer/early autumn!
Geraldine Mccall Woodcox - 2012-04-15 I have 2 beautiful doves one male one female and they love love love a shower in the shower. I make the water luke warm and they sit on my finger and open their wings and all they enjoy it,but keep away from the face. I always dry them off after as to not let them get a draft
Kevin Bushrod - 2012-04-07 We have set up a breeding shed along side of dove shed. Two pairs have laid eggs but the first pair introduced to nesting shed would not let the 2nd pair settle so they nested in the shed with the others. Can anyone give me any help on getting more than one pair in nesting shed please we have only had doves for aprox 4 weeks.
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Charlie Roche - 2012-04-07 If you are saying that you have one nesting box (shed) then you can only expect one pair to use one box. Doesn't make any difference how big the box is. If you have two pair of doves you should have two (preferably three) nest boxes. I do not understand what you mean that they nested in the shed with the others.
Christi - 2011-09-11 I recently obtained a white dove from someone that nursed it back to health. He is very friendly and I would like to find him a friend to keep him company. I think maybe a female as I'm not sure if two males can live together peacefully. If anyone has any leads on a white female dove in the St. Louis, Mo. or Southern Western Illinois Please respond.
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Anonymous - 2011-09-12 Wll do but check the Classifeids and Craigs List in your area.
Joyanne - 2012-01-16 Hi, I just have a little concern, I hope someone can help me?. A bird has kind of adopted me. I think it is a white pigeon with some black. It has been living in my yard for just over a week. I do feed it. It sleeps in my water drain on my roof. But does'nt fly any further than my roof. It seems to be quite tame. My noisy kids don't scare it. It even tried to come into my house! It has no ring or id tags. Should I be worried? It is eating lots. But I was also hoping to get a cat soon. But I don't want anything to happen to this beautiful bird. Thank you. I hope someone can help as getting a bit worried about it.
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Charlie Roche - 2012-01-16 WOW this could be so many different things ranging from the bird is just fine to the bird is really old and settled away from the flock. It could also have gotten separated from it's human owner which is why it comes in the home and is so tame.
Charlie Roche - 2012-01-16 Just some thoughts in if the little fella is this tame. it belonged to someone or at least had a flock. If it is old and separated from the flock or just separated from its human, it probably can't make it on it own through winter - depending on where you live. If it comes in the house - just pick it up and put it in any kind of a holding cage. You can keep it for a pet or you can take it to a rehabilatation facility. You can also put a bird cage where it is nesting on the roof and fill the cage with hay or carefresh so it can stay warm. The SPCA called me to care for a dove that had been lost somehow in a hurricane. I realized the dove was blind and I lived in Fl so just for temporary, I put her in my dogs kennel. I have no idea how she did it but a male dove got in there and showed her the 'ropes' and they had 4 babies. Somehow the male showed her around, where the food was and he cared for the babies and her. It was a wonder to see and have. Few years went by and there were about 15 doves and they went in and out of the dog kennel as they saw fit.
mary - 2012-01-16 What state are you from? It sounds like my dove, as I think mine has expanded, her feeding route, yes here in MI she is still flying, shivering some nights I know, imagine a white bird in white snow. Shes had to see same days, then a white cat was stalking her about a month ago, but someone at work told me to put orange peel in the yard,and I haven't seen the cat since. Can anyone tell me where in the USA someone builds Dovecotes, I can only find them in the UK, and shipping is terrible.
Andrea Ghent - 2012-03-01 Hi, we had the same experience with what we eventually figured must have been an Ice Pigeon. No tags or ID, stunningly beautiful, tame and we ended up taking her in for almost half a year. When summer hit we would take her outside for walks outside. She had homing abilities and would do flights around our neighbourhood. One day she took a longer flight than normal and we think she got lost. We spent most of the rest of the summer and fall calling for her. If you're in Ontario, let me know, we'd love to find her again.
Denise - 2012-03-05 Well a strange thing happened the other day. The male dove I thought I had, had 2 eggs in the bottom of the cage. We have had this dove for 10 years. Nothing before ever never .....Has anybody heard of this?
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Charlie Roche - 2012-03-05 Strange but normal. It happens. Person wrote in and their MALE was 26 years old and laid eggs for the first time. If you haven't thrown the eggs out, just put them in a dish with carefresh or torn up paper towel so she can sit them if she wants. After 15 days - throw them out. Frequently if they don't sit the eggs or the eggs get tossed, they will lay eggs again. If you already threw them out, don't worry about it but let her sit them if she wants the next time.
Joshua - 2012-02-14 I have two male white doves that I got last year. I feed them wild bird food. Should they be fed the nutrient filled bird food found for parakeets, finch, and lovebirds, etc. Also, I had a cuttle-bone, and they didn't want anything to do with it. What about their talons/feet should they be clipped?
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Charlie Roche - 2012-02-14 I would feed them a nutient filled food - I would think there would be a seed for doves but I just don't remember. Remember they can eat anything you eat that is nutitional. Give them a little taste of meatloaf or chicken or brocoli. Birds in the wild can forage and birds housed can't so you can just offer. Nah, probably wouldn't do anything with a cuttlebone but doesn't hurt to lieave it in the cage. I like those concrete perches for birds and you get one (I think medium) for the doves and you place that perch as the highest perch in the cage. They usually sleep at the highest point and that should keep their nails and beak trimmed. You can also place it in front of the feed dish if they sleep in a nesting area.
Jim - 2010-07-27 I found a white dove in my evergreen trees sat. He must be from a wild grey dove as I seen her next to him. He was gone for three days and I spotted him again on Tues. today. Caught him but am going to release him. Has any one ever heard of this before? I live in the country.
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noel mccarten - 2010-08-19 I found a fan tail white dove about a year ago on my pathway. It was exhausted and near to death. He was about 2 weeks old. I kept him in a very large outdoor cage with a small dog box for shelter. When it became old enough and stronger I was given a white fan tail hen. They mated almost immediately and hatched two eggs. The chicks were well for 2 weeks then one died. I kept the other one with the parents until 1 week ago when I put it in its own cage and house on top of the parents house. I erected an open polecote today and intend to move the young dove into it and train it to free fly hopefully to return to the polecote and use one of the 8 nesting boxes as its home. Mating has now commenced again with the two adults so I am hoping for more eggs and eventually more chicks. I must admit I love keeping the doves and find it a very rewarding hobby. You should try it jim. Do not release it as it may perish. Try housing it in a roomy cage and see how you go. Good luck.
CJ - 2010-10-25 Doves are not native to any country with evergreen trees. Please try to rehome said bird, or keep it yourself. It is most likely someone's bird that they foolishly released or accidentally got out of the house. They do not do well with cooler, wet climates & are normally eaten by any prey birds around.
When you think of the term 'dove' you think of the White Dove. The White Dove has been one of the most universal symbols of love and peace throughout history!
My Mom has 4 white doves. 2 pairs in 2 cages. The original female must be 16 yrs. old, if not older. Her beak has grown and the bottom part sticks straight out. She still is able to eat, but it looks terrible. I have asked my vet if it could be trimmed, but he said he does not like to do something like that because they can bleed to death. I have put in one of those items that parrots and other birds use to sand down their beaks, but I do not see the doves doing this. The female is much older than the male that is with her and he is so in love with her. It is very neat to see. Any advice on this beak issue would be much appreciated. Thanks!
Hey Bonnie, if your 16yr old dove is able to eat who cares what her beak looks like! and I am happy that she has a mate that loves her just the way she is. god bless her .
I wouldn't worry too terribly much if she can eat. However, filing down a beak is a very simple process and takes all of a few seconds. If you can find an avian vet you shouldn't have any problems. You can hang a lava rock in her cage and possibly she will break it off herself but better to take her to a vet that actually knows what he is talking about. It is pretty much the same thing as clipping a puppies toenails.
Thank you for the wonderful responses. It is greatly appreciated!
I've got 2 doves. One white, one mottled brown. They must both be males because there hasn't been any eggs since I purchased them 6 months ago, and they coo constantly ALL night. I want to get them a mate so they'll quiet down and be happier. Is there an easy way to tell what sex they are when I go so the guy who sells them doesn't try passing off another male on me?
Without having seveal doves and seeing the behaviors and knowing for sure cuz one actually laid eggs, there isn't any accurate way to determine the sex of a dove except through DNA. Males coo a lot to attract a mate and females lay eggs. Many times people wind up with birds two of the same sex. People will buy several and allow the doves to pair up - they seem to know.
I had a male and didn't know but it never laid a egg. When I wanted to get it a mate the gentleman at the feedstore said it's hard to tell but a female is smaller in the pelvic area and he felt around and said yep this one is a girl and sure enough eggs eggs eggs
I am in Eltham, Victoria, Australia. I found a small white dove last Sunday (Dec. 11) on my lawn. It happily allowed me to pick it up and I found it was covered in bird lice. It is now deloused, wormed and settling in to its cage nicely, with a flutter around my unit every now and again. It is feeding well on a local brand of complete canary mix (Trill) which has all necessary seeds, shell grit, multivitamin supplement, red and green capsicum, etc., and judging by the amount of rear-end production its internals are working fine. I think it is barely fledged and is a beautiful little bird with a very trusting, friendly nature, but I can't get it to take a bath, and I always thought most birds love a bath.
Anyone have any ideas on how to fire it up in this department? I tried before and if a bird can look disapproving, this one did.
I have 13 White Doves who live outside year round. They love baths and frequent misting from a garden hose(summer time only). They are very picky about their 'bathtub' though. There are two containers of water. Once small, for drinking, and a bigger one for bathing in. However, most times I find them bathing in the smaller one. Silly birds.
All birds do not like a bath. Some do but I have found that most do not. However, you can spritz her with water or just spritz her with the kitchen sprayer if you have one. You can try different things and possibly she will be OK with one of them. Most don't. They will learn to tolerate a spritzing if gentle and aimed above the head. Weird - right?
Thanks Charlie. I'll just try her (?) with a kitchen spray bottle and see if I get glared at again!
Well, that wasn't a success - she was happily sitting on top of her cage watching me until I started spraying, tolerated it for about 10 seconds, then cleared off! It's a quite warm day so no harm done.
Keep trying with the spritzer as he ? might get used to it. Some birds just do not like baths. I have one that will bathe in his water bowl every time I run the vacumn close to him but forget trying to bathe him. Impossible. I turn the vacumn on and just let it sit and he goes crazy bathing in his water bowl. Go figure. Good luck.
That is funny and yes they do make one big mess when decide to bathe in water bowl. Mine still bathes in water bowl every time I run the vacumn. They eventually get us trained.
Charlie my dove finally told me it wanted a bath by making an almighty mess trying to have one in its water bowl. I put in a larger bowl of water and it happily had its bath OK. Trouble is that was 2 weeks ago before I had a brief holiday, and it hasn't tried since!
I think my dove has an aversion to cleanliness. It had one bath since I found it, and won't even take a dust bath (let alone one in water), unlike its native Crested Pigeon cousins around here. It's moulting at the moment and I am having a snowstorm in late summer/early autumn!
I have 2 beautiful doves one male one female and they love love love a shower in the shower. I make the water luke warm and they sit on my finger and open their wings and all they enjoy it,but keep away from the face. I always dry them off after as to not let them get a draft
We have set up a breeding shed along side of dove shed. Two pairs have laid eggs but the first pair introduced to nesting shed would not let the 2nd pair settle so they nested in the shed with the others. Can anyone give me any help on getting more than one pair in nesting shed please we have only had doves for aprox 4 weeks.
If you are saying that you have one nesting box (shed) then you can only expect one pair to use one box. Doesn't make any difference how big the box is. If you have two pair of doves you should have two (preferably three) nest boxes. I do not understand what you mean that they nested in the shed with the others.
how do i get rid of the starlings that have invaded my feeder, and not scare off my other birds?
I don't think there is a way to scare a particular species of bird away without scaring the others.
I recently obtained a white dove from someone that nursed it back to health. He is very friendly and I would like to find him a friend to keep him company. I think maybe a female as I'm not sure if two males can live together peacefully. If anyone has any leads on a white female dove in the St. Louis, Mo. or Southern Western Illinois Please respond.
Wll do but check the Classifeids and Craigs List in your area.
Hi, I just have a little concern, I hope someone can help me?. A bird has kind of adopted me. I think it is a white pigeon with some black. It has been living in my yard for just over a week. I do feed it. It sleeps in my water drain on my roof. But does'nt fly any further than my roof. It seems to be quite tame. My noisy kids don't scare it. It even tried to come into my house! It has no ring or id tags. Should I be worried? It is eating lots. But I was also hoping to get a cat soon. But I don't want anything to happen to this beautiful bird. Thank you. I hope someone can help as getting a bit worried about it.
WOW this could be so many different things ranging from the bird is just fine to the bird is really old and settled away from the flock. It could also have gotten separated from it's human owner which is why it comes in the home and is so tame.
Just some thoughts in if the little fella is this tame. it belonged to someone or at least had a flock. If it is old and separated from the flock or just separated from its human, it probably can't make it on it own through winter - depending on where you live. If it comes in the house - just pick it up and put it in any kind of a holding cage. You can keep it for a pet or you can take it to a rehabilatation facility. You can also put a bird cage where it is nesting on the roof and fill the cage with hay or carefresh so it can stay warm. The SPCA called me to care for a dove that had been lost somehow in a hurricane. I realized the dove was blind and I lived in Fl so just for temporary, I put her in my dogs kennel. I have no idea how she did it but a male dove got in there and showed her the 'ropes' and they had 4 babies. Somehow the male showed her around, where the food was and he cared for the babies and her. It was a wonder to see and have. Few years went by and there were about 15 doves and they went in and out of the dog kennel as they saw fit.
What state are you from? It sounds like my dove, as I think mine has expanded, her feeding route, yes here in MI she is still flying, shivering some nights I know, imagine a white bird in white snow. Shes had to see same days, then a white cat was stalking her about a month ago, but someone at work told me to put orange peel in the yard,and I haven't seen the cat since. Can anyone tell me where in the USA someone builds Dovecotes, I can only find them in the UK, and shipping is terrible.
Hi, we had the same experience with what we eventually figured must have been an Ice Pigeon. No tags or ID, stunningly beautiful, tame and we ended up taking her in for almost half a year. When summer hit we would take her outside for walks outside. She had homing abilities and would do flights around our neighbourhood. One day she took a longer flight than normal and we think she got lost. We spent most of the rest of the summer and fall calling for her. If you're in Ontario, let me know, we'd love to find her again.
Well a strange thing happened the other day. The male dove I thought I had, had 2 eggs in the bottom of the cage. We have had this dove for 10 years. Nothing before ever never .....Has anybody heard of this?
Strange but normal. It happens. Person wrote in and their MALE was 26 years old and laid eggs for the first time. If you haven't thrown the eggs out, just put them in a dish with carefresh or torn up paper towel so she can sit them if she wants. After 15 days - throw them out. Frequently if they don't sit the eggs or the eggs get tossed, they will lay eggs again. If you already threw them out, don't worry about it but let her sit them if she wants the next time.
I have two male white doves that I got last year. I feed them wild bird food. Should they be fed the nutrient filled bird food found for parakeets, finch, and lovebirds, etc.
Also, I had a cuttle-bone, and they didn't want anything to do with it. What about their talons/feet should they be clipped?
I would feed them a nutient filled food - I would think there would be a seed for doves but I just don't remember. Remember they can eat anything you eat that is nutitional. Give them a little taste of meatloaf or chicken or brocoli. Birds in the wild can forage and birds housed can't so you can just offer. Nah, probably wouldn't do anything with a cuttlebone but doesn't hurt to lieave it in the cage. I like those concrete perches for birds and you get one (I think medium) for the doves and you place that perch as the highest perch in the cage. They usually sleep at the highest point and that should keep their nails and beak trimmed. You can also place it in front of the feed dish if they sleep in a nesting area.
I found a white dove in my evergreen trees sat. He must be from a wild grey dove as I seen her next to him. He was gone for three days and I spotted him again on Tues. today. Caught him but am going to release him. Has any one ever heard of this before? I live in the country.
I found a fan tail white dove about a year ago on my pathway. It was exhausted and near to death. He was about 2 weeks old. I kept him in a very large outdoor cage with a small dog box for shelter. When it became old enough and stronger I was given a white fan tail hen. They mated almost immediately and hatched two eggs. The chicks were well for 2 weeks then one died. I kept the other one with the parents until 1 week ago when I put it in its own cage and house on top of the parents house. I erected an open polecote today and intend to move the young dove into it and train it to free fly hopefully to return to the polecote and use one of the 8 nesting boxes as its home. Mating has now commenced again with the two adults so I am hoping for more eggs and eventually more chicks. I must admit I love keeping the doves and find it a very rewarding hobby. You should try it jim. Do not release it as it may perish. Try housing it in a roomy cage and see how you go. Good luck.
Doves are not native to any country with evergreen trees. Please try to rehome said bird, or keep it yourself. It is most likely someone's bird that they foolishly released or accidentally got out of the house. They do not do well with cooler, wet climates & are normally eaten by any prey birds around.