Guess Who's Back?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?

[Fever]

Hurray, you got him back! But he's... part pigeon and part dove? Where did you get one of those? Was it an accident?

[TheSnipes]

Someone recently told me hybrids used to be a 'big thing' and they were called doveons. I'm going to see her this week and will ask her more about that since I can't find that online anywhere...

[Charis]

Great news!

[Feather]

So glad to hear the good news M.J. It is so disheartening when you tuck them in at night and one is missing.

[maryjane]

Thanks everyone, he is very happy to be home!

Originally Posted by TheSnipes

Someone recently told me hybrids used to be a 'big thing' and they were called doveons. I'm going to see her this week and will ask her more about that since I can't find that online anywhere...

That's interesting. I didn't know they were a "craze" at one point. I've been able to find so little info about them, or pictures, over the years. One of our members does have several but he's the only person I've known who does have one for sure. These two hybrids look very much like pigeons. The first pair I had, with a pigeon dad and dove mom, looked like a large gray dove, almost, but with some pigeon characteristics. I would be very interested in any more info you find about them, Snipes.

[Fever]

I found a page with some information on hybrids. It's interesting, but very technical (I'm studying biochem and genetics, so I thought it was neat anyway): http://www.ringneckdove.com/Wilmer's%20WebPage/pigeon_dove_hybrids.htm

[maryjane]

Originally Posted by Fever

Hurray, you got him back! But he's... part pigeon and part dove? Where did you get one of those? Was it an accident?

Sorry Fever, didn't read this somehow when you wrote earlier. They are "on purpose" hybrids. My first pigeon was (still is) a black male, and when I found him I got him a female dove, not knowing anything about pigeons then. They were happy together long enough to hatch and raise hybrids, which lived two years and then passed away with another wonderful pij I had from illness. After that, Gonzo became larger and more aggressive towards Beakers, the dove, and I had to get him a female pigeon mate and a male dove for Beakers.

So then I read more about hybrids, as they were so special to me, and by then I had several doves and pigeons--this was three or four years ago. One pair of doves got an oops baby past me and refused to have anything to do with it, so I hand-raised it and hoped he would be a male; this was Ivan. At the same time two of my first pigeons hatched a baby, about the same age as the dove. This was Genevieve. When she got bigger, I let her play with Ivan and they grew up together in a bedroom after she was weaned. They became mates and hatched a pair of their own hybrids last summer. The babies were actually fostered by another pair I had, while Ivan and Gen got to foster an older baby who was injured. Since it was their first set of eggs, I didn't want their inexperience to kill the babies.

And now I have two hybrids who look much more pigeon than dove. The last pair were both a silvery-gray, with large dove-ish bodies and were so pretty. These ones are also pretty, and have some dove showing in their heads, but mostly look like pigeons.

Here are the first ones, "the Monkeys":

And the newer set:



I found that website several years ago when searching for hybrid info. It was pretty interesting. One of the pictures on there is from one of our other members, Asadj (Zakriva), who also raises hybrids. There is a thread about it on here, if you keyword hybrids.