good bye mocha

[offroadchickens]

mocha was a 16 yr. old [to our best knowledge] ringneck dove she was one of my first 7 and had produced many beautiful babies. i keep most of my birds mixed, pigeons, doves, pheasants and chickens, the only problems i'v encountered are the pigeons picking on the smaller doves so they were temporarily in a cage. the doves and chickens, enjoyed sticking their heads through the wire of the cage and stealing food from the pigeons. the pigeons would occasionaly rush them if they were on eggs but in my 11 or so years of bird experience i'v seen much worse and didn't think anything of it. when i went out side yesterday morning to feed and water all of my birds i found mochas body in a homing pigeon cage. my heart literaly skipped a couple beats, and i stumbled back hitting the wall, i then walked back to the house. ounce i had kind of collected myself i grabbed a box and went back out. it was then that i realized her neck was split all the way around, there was blood everywhere, and one of the white homing pigeons was completely covered. i put mocha in a box and buried her in the aviary of my new chicken house, i even engraved her a gravestone. the worst part is that i adopted the two white homers from our dogs vet as a favor, i gave them good homes and they killed my favorite bird. to me mocha was more than a dove, many people wouldn't understand, but she was my moral support, she was there for me. when she died i cried for hours, which is really saying somthing, i don't want to sound mean but when one of my birds usualy dies i put them in a cardboard box and then the trash can with no crying. mocha was really special to me, i loved her, and part of me felt like she would always be there, maybe i'm right, part of her always will be there...