Diamond Doves

[weelouie]

A couple of years ago I found a hurt pigeon on my balcony, brought it in and kept it for a few days until I could get it to a wildlife rescue. I was surprised at how responsive and gentle it was and wanted to keep it, but it was a wild bird (no band) and we're not allowed to keep wild animals without a permit here. So I decided to adopt a domesticated one someday. 

I did a lot of research on pigeons and also doves. I was surprised to find that they make fine pets, they are easily tamed and forge deep bonds with their owners. I see them at the local rescues every so often, usually wedding doves that weren't properly trained or didn't have the homing instinct to return to their coop. Unfortunately unscrupulous people who rent their doves out for weddings use albino doves, which have poor eyesight and limited flying and homing ability, so they very often get lost or killed by hawks.

I decided that for my purposes (indoor pets) I don't want a pigeon. Most types need extensive flying time aka an outdoor coop, and apparently the males are similar to roosters and can make a lot of loud noise, especially if there's no female around. I've always loved doves and their soothing cooing, we have a lot of mourning doves around here. There were no pigeons or doves at any of the local shelters. So I looked at dove species and found the Diamond Dove. They come from Australia, are small, about the size of an English budgie, and relatively quiet. Their requirements are pretty simple and very similar to my other birds. They eat wild bird seed, which is often cheaper than the budgie or canary mixes, along with greens and a bit of eggfood, plus they need grit and a cuttlebone. 

So, I bought a male/female pair today, I'm picking them up tomorrow. They will live in my bedroom, where there's little stress (they can be spooky like game birds) and they can fly around safely when I let them out. I find them very pretty with their tiny diamond spots and orange eye rings. Here's a pic of a male, not mine because I haven't picked them up yet! The hens are a more brownish colour with narrower eye rings.

[skysmum]

Beautiful little birds, ive kept them before and i love their cooing song which is most noticeable first thing in the morning . Good luck with them, they make a lovely addition once they settle in

[weelouie]

Nov 26, 2016 21:36:33 GMT skysmum said:

Beautiful little birds, ive kept them before and i love their cooing song which is most noticeable first thing in the morning . Good luck with them, they make a lovely addition once they settle in

It's nice to know they like to coo early in the morning. I could use a better alarm clock, and I don't think my neighbours would appreciate a rooster!

[Shirls]

Pretty little birds. Do keep us updated when you get them weelouie, it will be interesting to follow how you/they get on.

[Shirls]

Well....... have you got them yet weelouie?

[weelouie]

Nov 29, 2016 15:21:09 GMT Shirls said:

Well....... have you got them yet weelouie ?

I got the doves a couple of days ago. They're smaller than I expected, but that's fine because right now they're in the minimum size cage for a pair (according to the info I found). The good news is I found a bigger cage on sale for half price during the Black Friday sales. I don't have any toys in their cage because I'm not sure if they will play with them. I'll keep them in the small cage in the bedroom for now and then transfer them to the bigger cage when I move them to the living room. 

I'm trying to sex them, but I don't think they're fully mature yet. I also noticed one of them (the male, I think) has a white rump and mostly white tail. I looked it up and found that diamond doves have their own colour variations, and white rump is one, white tail or white rump/white tail another. They also come in other colours. The female is normal coloured, with darker, more brownish wings than the male. The male's eye rings are not as thick or bright as the pics of males that I've seen. He's more slender and a paler shade of grey than the female. That's assuming he is male! 

They were very skittish at first. They'd freak out if I just entered the room. I've made a point of spending time in the room with them and humming or singing to them as I go about my business. They're a lot calmer now, and today they stayed still while I was filling up their dishes. I keep my button quail and one of my giant rabbits in the bedroom (until he's neutered) so I spend time doing chores there every day. Yesterday I was humming "Winter Wonderland" and the female dove started cooing whenever she heard a certain phrase of notes. She sounded like a tiny train whistle, "coo-coo!". I was surprised that it was the female cooing because I read that the males are the vocal ones. Sometimes I hear them make a lower pitched sound, sort of like a growl, it reminds me of noises I've heard chickens make. 

Here are a few pics, you can probably tell which one I believe is male. Their water looks green because it contains some Guardian Angel to help their stress. 

[Marianne Marlow]

Nov 29, 2016 22:43:46 GMT weelouie said:

I wrote a big long post about them yesterday, then when I went to post it this stupid proboard kicked me off and deleted the whole thing. This is far from the first time this has happened to me with proboards, I suppose you get what you pay for. Let's just say there are far better free message board providers IMO. I was so annoyed I stayed away for a day. 

I'd rather you did not say these things about Proboards on our forum.
I am very grateful to them for our free forum, which I cannot afford to pay for.
I think it's pretty good. Yes there are occasional problems, but that always happens with technology.
May I suggest that you type in a text editor before you post if you are going to write a long post, then paste it into the message box.

Thanks

Marianne
admin@BudgerigarsForum

[Shirls]

They are beautiful weelouie. What a brilliant idea just to ignore them and hum or sing while going around doing stuff. They must be feeling loads more comfortable with you now, especially with other birds and a rabbit in the room. Lovely pictures. Do please keep us updated.

[weelouie]

Nov 30, 2016 8:49:46 GMT Marianne Marlow said:

Nov 29, 2016 22:43:46 GMT weelouie said:

I wrote a big long post about them yesterday, then when I went to post it this stupid proboard kicked me off and deleted the whole thing. This is far from the first time this has happened to me with proboards, I suppose you get what you pay for. Let's just say there are far better free message board providers IMO. I was so annoyed I stayed away for a day. 

I'd rather you did not say these things about Proboards on our forum.
I am very grateful to them for our free forum, which I cannot afford to pay for.
I think it's pretty good. Yes there are occasional problems, but that always happens with technology.
May I suggest that you type in a text editor before you post if you are going to write a long post, then paste it into the message box.

Thanks

Marianne
admin@BudgerigarsForum

Sorry about that! I've deleted that paragraph now. 

[milliej]

They are gorgeous birds weelouie, I must say I'm intrigued with all your pets Must be wonderful to hear them 'coo-ing'

[Marianne Marlow]

The diamond doves do look quite sweet. I hadn't realised that they were smaller than pigeons.

[skysmum]

Beautiful , my two were tiny, not much bigger than a budgie, hmmmmm now do i have room

[Marianne Marlow]

Yes skysmum I'm sure you have room