Animal Stories - People Talking About Doves - Pigeons



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Latest Animal Stories on Doves - Pigeons (254)

stephen koski - 2012-05-03
Did anyone release some doves in celebration, in the Oakdale Minnesota area lately? I saw one in my yard today .

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janet - 2012-05-13
The birds that are released for weddings etc. are actually white pigeons that will fly back home. Doves fly in circles and do not return if they are released. Perhaps you should check if someone in your neighborhood lost a dove. Have you saved the bird or not?

helen - 2012-05-09
I recently found a white dove in my back yard, It seems to have little bugs on it, I need to know what to do to get rid of these bugs. I am thinking of keeping it. How do you tell if it is a male or female? And how can you tell if it is pregant?

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Charlie Roche - 2012-05-09
You can bathe the dove in warm water with a little Dawn and just soak it real well and rinse throughly. That should get rid of the little bugs (probably mites). There is no 100% full proof way to distinguish a male from a female without DNA sexing and you probably don't wish to do that at this point. If she is pregnant, she will probably lay an egg quite soon otherwise she isn't pregnant or you have a male.
janet - 2012-05-12
Helen if you keep the dove you found get a bird protector for the cage. It works really good, you can get them at any pet store. I have used them for 19 yrs and have never had a mite on any of my doves. just give her a nice dawn bath, please be very careful not to get any in the eyes, and really rinse, rinse, rinse. you will have years of happiness when you add a dove to your family!!!!!

Jim Welch - 2012-04-24
My white dove eggs hatched today. I saw the female and male in the fly pen and went to check on birds and found them looking as if they were still born. They were stretched out in the nest but were cold when I touched them. I picked one up and it was very cold but not stiff. Is this normal on the first day of birth or are they still born and I need to take them out of the nest? This is my first time experience with this kind of bird and I would like someone to reply, Please. Thanks.

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Charlie Roche - 2012-04-24
Just thought more about what happened. If the chicks had the strength to hatch out of the egg - they obviously were not stillborn. My guess is they hatched out and mom in her over eagerness to care for them possibly squished them. Another scenario - new mom and the egss she was sitting hatched and out comes two little strange things and she didn't know what to do. It is a learning expereince. But the chicks had to be healthy and on schedule to hatch so something happened after that. However, it is a learning experience.
Charlie Roche - 2012-04-24
No it is not normal. The first 24 hours, they are really still sometimes. Don't move much but not cold. I'd say the mom and dad have to learn from experience to keep them warm and to feed them. You can wait and see if mom catches on to what she is supposed to do.... The only other option is to hand feed yourself but with them cold and feeding every 2 hours - it would be real tricky. Just hope mom figures out what she is supposed to do. I am sorry but it is a learning experience the first few times.
janet - 2012-04-26
OMG,Jim.are the baby doves alive? My eggs should hatch in about a week if they are fertile. I sure hope I do not have to deal with anything like that.
Anonymous - 2012-04-29
is it normal for my female to poop giant size poop after laying 2 eggs? she sits in the nest pretty much all the time , when she goes down to feed it looks like she left another egg cuz the poop is huge!!!!

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!

Shari - 2012-04-20
I have 2 diamond doves. Male and female. I can't keep up with their mating habits. They just had one dove and they are at it again. It is possible to separate the birds? I need help I really don't want a dove farm and they are out of control. Also, when is the best time to remove the young dove. This is the first one they have had and I'm not sure when would be the best time. Please help. Any advice you can give will be greatly appreciated.

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Charlie Roche - 2012-04-20
Best time to remove the little guy, unless you wish to hand feed is when you see him out of the nest box and totally eating on his own all the time. Mom will feed for awhile after the baby laves the box. Don't panic. I don't think you will wind up with a dove farm. Sometimes mom and dad are quite prolific when they decide to mate. They only had the one baby and there is normally two so instinct is just doing its thing. I wouldn't separate them. Possibly she would lay eggs anyway and they would both be pretty unhappy.

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.

Tina Sanson - 2012-03-29
We have just inherited a beautiful ringneck dove, he/she hasnt been a pet but is semi tame. We've set it up home inside with its own cage space. I let it out in my room everyday to have flight time, problem is though I think it is depressed? It has barely made a noise at all the entire time, never tried to attack or be territorial, isn't fussed on being handled but lets me without to much fuss and just perches in my room rather then flies around. Help anyone? Im not sure if it's a depression stage or something might be wrong. Seems very healthy and we have wormed/mited it professionally.

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Charlie Roche - 2012-03-29
They are not flighty. They would just look around and find something they are comfortable perching or preening on and settle in. I don't believe they attack and not territorial at all unless sitting on eggs. She (I think she cuz a little quieter) probably is just getting used to her surroundings and new people, places and things. Hold her and pet -- love the top of the head and sides of the face. I don't think depressed - just new.
Tina Sanson - 2012-03-30
Thank you =)I try to pet her but she only lets me down the breast bone, gets really scared and skittery when I try to pet her head or back of the neck.
Charlie Roche - 2012-03-31
Probably real comfortable with you petting breast bone cuz she can see your hand. Works for me and her.

mary - 2012-03-26
how do i get rid of the starlings that have invaded my feeder, and not scare off my other birds?

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Charlie Roche - 2012-03-26
I don't think there is a way to scare a particular species of bird away without scaring the others.

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