Greetings!

[Athalie]

Greetings Nikku!
I am glad your baby is also doing well. I have been thinking the same thing all day today… ever since I started feeding him I feel closer to him. I was hoping he will stay around the house or maybe come back to see me from time to time…don’t even know if I’ll recognise him when he gets older. Something tells me I will mother’s instinct perhaps… I will be sad when his time come to be with his own, but I also know that that is the best for him, that is exactly why I tried keeping his parents interested as long as possible. Hope he won’t be too tamed to fend for himself. Maybe I worry too much… there’re just so many bad things out there that it scares me to think of letting him go but again he belongs with his own.
Would you post some pictures of your little one pleas? It will be nice to see him

PS
I don’t mean to get involved in any argument happening on this thread, I most sincerely hope it wasn’t me who caused it. All I would like to add is that, like Mr. ryannon said, people need to cut each other some slack, especially towards those who are in need of help and who care. It’s not easy being confronted with something as delicate as a sick baby pigeon, and someone having a go at you certainly makes things more difficult. I have the utmost respect and admiration for Phil, he is doing a wonderful job, but some things shouldn’t have been said as sharply as they have been.

I wish everyone a happy and sunny day tomorrow and a very nice evening!
Bernadette

[LondonPigeon]

thank you for looking after the dove

it's really cute,and hope it will continue to get better

[Lady Tarheel]

Bernadette, I am so very pleased that things are finally going well for your baby. You've done an admirable job in caring for him. It is really hard at first to care for a young dove (or pigeon) if you have never done it before but I'll bet you are already feeling more comfortable handling him.

Thank you for being such a nice person too!

[ZeldaCA]

Bernadette, I've been reading the thread and just wanted to say how happy I am that your little dove is responding to your good care and love! I don't know how doves are compared to pigeons, but my pigeon Floyd (who we've had two months now) seemed to bond to us very quickly and so we decided he needed to be a pet, as he was far too trusting of humans to do well in the wild. I, like you, also couldn't bear the thought of anything happening to him if we let him go and something bad happened.

Oh well, you will know in time whether or not he/she can be safely released. One thing that's for sure, there is a wealth of information and people who really do know a lot here, so I know they will give you good advice.

Good luck, and happy foster-mothering!

Zelda

[nikku-chan]

hey Bernadette,

I have exactly the same concerns as you.
It will be so hard letting my baby go. But she needs to find a mate. Obviously since they mate for life, having a mate is very special to them.

If i kept her, I'd have to buy/find a mate for her..and build them housing etc. which i'm really not equipped to do. But i will if i have to!

I live in Australia. I wish we lived closer, if yours ended up being a boy, and mine a girl, maybe they would mate and have little Bo-Pecky babies! (my baby is called Pecky, but she's becoming more of a Flappy lately) But they are quite different breeds anyway, so i'm sure it wouldn't be possible. Mine is a "feral" pigeon, or "Rock Dove".

this picture is 5 days after i found her


This is when she was 4 weeks old with my boyfriend, just before she learned to fly! (we can't take her outside anymore because she might fly away and get lost)


This is at about 5 weeks..maybe a bit under.

[nikku-chan]

and, sorry for posting so many pictures, but i'm a proud parent.
This is her having a shower bath.
Has yours tried that yet? It's the cutest thing ever.



Keep us updated with your little Bo!

Nikku x

[Athalie]

My goodness, he’s the sweetest little thing! Congratulations, you’ve done a great job, he looks very happy! I’m not sure if this is true but I read somewhere that they have to choose their own mate, so I guess buying one won’t work… again, I’m not certain, I just remember reading about it. I wouldn’t mind having two sweet doves here, to be honest I feel very sad for him being all alone in that box… that’s why I take him with me all around the house. He is very curious, pecks at everything yesterday he was in the kitchen with me (in his box) while I was cooking, he hopped out of his box and walked round the kitchen tops till he reached the chopping board and pecked at the onions, Ha didn’t like them I can tell you that What kind of “housing” do they require? My fiancé would gladly make one for him, he’s enchanted with the little fluff ball too, we can’t stop staring at him sometimes I wouldn’t like to keep him in a cage though. Is it possible that they just have a shelter-like wooden box or something so they can fly whenever they want? Wish some people weren’t so mean so we could release them back where they belong
Great day to everyone! Best wishes!

[Athalie]

I know exactly how you feel about posting pictures, I couldn’t stop taking them yesterday He hasn’t tried that yet, but I had (still have, he just lives with my parents now) a budgie, Ti-ti, he used to love having showers under the kitchen tap, so I know what to expect. Doesn’t take away the excitement of it though I take care of a budgie now as well, she belongs to my sister-in-law, but she couldn’t take it to where she lives so we agreed to have her. She likes to bathe in a little dish. They are so relaxing and enjoyable to watch, like fish I guess Can’t believe my Ti-ti is 14 years old. He’s the oldest one I know that is still alive… must be some kind of a record. I’ll take some pictures when there’s a bit more light, my camera is crap (sorry, might not be allowed to say crap)
He makes my days so much more full of life! I love having him around! I bet you feel the same about Pecky

[cyro51]

What kind of “housing” do they require? My fiancé would gladly make one for him, he’s enchanted with the little fluff ball too, we can’t stop staring at him sometimes I wouldn’t like to keep him in a cage though.

Collared doves absolutely hate being in cages and will batter themselves bloody against the bars to get out, although tame ones will be quite happy to sit in a cage with the door open or to live in a large aviary.

They are much cleaner to have around the house than pigeons, because their poops are so neat, dry quickly and can be brushed up.

The danger of having a dove in the house is that if it accidentally escapes it might not be able to find its way home. Fluke, a dove rescued by another UK member escaped, he was returned two weeks later because he had flown into a pub window and knocked himself out, fortunately someone knew Fluke's rescuer and put two and two together.

Our Poppet is in a large aviary outside which she shares with other rescued feral pigeons and wood pigeons. We would like her (him?) to have a mate and have put other doves in with her but she will have none of that: John is the only mate she wants!

This is a link of a video of Poppet, Nami-Chan (an unreleasable feral pigeon) and Littlewood (an unreleasable wood pigeon) http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=Chy5UB92Gd4

and this is one of Poppet wondering what all this canoodling between two pigeons means:
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=l64rZ0DPLVc

Cynthia

[Athalie]

They are beautiful Cynthia !Congratulations ! Hope you don’t mind, I watched all the videos you posted
We have an unused shed at the side of the house, it’s quite large, ill take some pictures of it for you, right now it’s full of stuff but a little elbow grease can sort that out I was hoping that the parents would take interest in him again once he starts to fly, they are nesting in the garden very close to the house in a conifer. I see them every morning and throw food for them. I think one of them was born in the nest right next to my bedroom window, they were two babies in that nest last summer. Is there anything I could do to get the parents attention? They seem busy gathering twigs and stuff I assume for a nest, that’s why they stopped caring for Bo. I was thinking of putting the baby outside for a little while each day, maybe they’ll fly down to him… it would help if it wasn’t so cold
I will post the pictures see what I can do for him if he can’t be released.
Good day to everyone!

[cyro51]

Hi Bernadette,

I don't think that Bo's parents will be interested in him now. Collared doves will feed together but don't loll around in flocks like pigeons, once they have fed pairs will head off in different directions.

They don't seem to like roosting under cover, either. We have a shelter at one end of the aviary and a shed at the other, but whereas the feral pigeons will seek out their "caves" Poppet and the wood pigeons have always opted to sleep out in the open.

Cynthia

[ZeldaCA]

My understanding is that if you do not supply your bird with a mate (and sometimes, even if you DO!) that they will often consider one member of their human family their mate. I know this is true for parrots and some other domesticated birds....but I am not sure about pigeons and doves. But if it's true for them, then Bernadette, you can certainly provide companionship for your dove by getting one or more to live with him/her, but it's primary bond may end up being with you, anyway.

I have noticed Floyd has now bonded to me (he sees me more than my DH or the kids). He likes to groom me, and will allow me to pet him, while he is wary of anyone else's fingers/hands. In other words, I think I've become his significant other! If you and your boyfriend spend as much time with your dove as it sounds like you do, this may be the case with it as well.

[tipper]

Originally Posted by ZeldaCA

My understanding is that if you do not supply your bird with a mate (and sometimes, even if you DO!) that they will often consider one member of their human family their mate. I know this is true for parrots and some other domesticated birds....but I am not sure about pigeons and doves. But if it's true for them, then Bernadette, you can certainly provide companionship for your dove by getting one or more to live with him/her, but it's primary bond may end up being with you, anyway.

I have noticed Floyd has now bonded to me (he sees me more than my DH or the kids). He likes to groom me, and will allow me to pet him, while he is wary of anyone else's fingers/hands. In other words, I think I've become his significant other! If you and your boyfriend spend as much time with your dove as it sounds like you do, this may be the case with it as well.

That happened with my bird. When he died last summer I was devastated. Still am. My family finally prevailed on me to buy a baby, but we made the mistake of getting two. Miata has taken off and so far no luck in finding her. Gus, who is still here, loathes all humans despite having been crop fed, handled and always around us. Miata was much friendlier and liked just hanging out, would come when she was called, and was a people pigeon. Go figure that she'd be the one to disappear. Gus could never survive on his own so I guess we're condemned to be with each other for life. I hesitate to get another pigeon for fear he'd teach it his wicked ways. At least he makes pigeon noises and that makes me happy.

[Athalie]

Greeting everyone! I was very busy yesterday, have been putting some work off for a long time and it caught up with me. Can I buy collared doves? I didn’t think they were bred in captivity… that would be very nice indeed, to have a little friend for Bo. He seems to be growing every day his little collar is shoving now and he seems to have less fluff and more feathers. Had a family discussion yesterday about that shed, we have enough space to build an aviary, not a very large one but it’s better than nothing. When we cleaned it out I’ll post pictures, right now it’s in a horrible state.
I would never have thought when I found Bo that I found a friend for life I’m very happy!
My adoptive budgie Jordy, she thinks my fiancé is her mate, she goes mad when we let her out in the room and she gets near him gets more kisses then I do sometimes
Wish you all a great weekend! Take care!
Bernadette
PS Sorry about Miata tipper, hope you find her soon. Good luck!

[cyro51]

Hi Bernadette

You can't buy collared doves because they are wild birds, but there may be sanctuaries near you that have unreleasable ones that need homing. They can suffer from foot deformities through lack of calcium. Heln (Nooti) dosn't live far from you (she is in Blackburn Lancashire), I will text her to see if she can help. The number of collared doves is increasing fast and so there are more rescues turning up all the time.

There are also several species of very similar looking domestic doves. I have no experience of those and don't know whether the different species will mate, but our dove owners on this site might help or you could ask this group:

http://www.internationaldovesociety.com/

Cynthia