G
Guest
·Can anybody give a fairly inexperienced fantail keeper some advice. My birds live in a dovecote and after two had been taken by a hawk late last year I built a new homing cage around the cote, netted it at night when they were in and had my two remaining doves caught. I bought four new birds and put them in to home them over winter and after a few failed attempts at incubation over the winter when it was far too cold we now have two new babies,who are three weeks old and also two birds on eggs.
The birds have been in now for 12 weeks and should be well and truly homed I hope and I would let them fly free but I am unsure what to do about the new squabs. They were hatched in the highest nest holes and I am concerned about how they cope, getting up and down for food etc when the time comes for them to leave the nest.
I have not found much information about dovecote doves, I know an aviary would be easier to manage but I like the idea of the dovectote and last summer it was brilliant seeing the birds flying free.
The birds have been in now for 12 weeks and should be well and truly homed I hope and I would let them fly free but I am unsure what to do about the new squabs. They were hatched in the highest nest holes and I am concerned about how they cope, getting up and down for food etc when the time comes for them to leave the nest.
I have not found much information about dovecote doves, I know an aviary would be easier to manage but I like the idea of the dovectote and last summer it was brilliant seeing the birds flying free.