heidi

no i dont. they live with chickens (chickens ground level and the doves have perches and nest boxes high up) so they all share the same water, i must admit it does get grubby quickly and i am forever changing it. they do have access to a trough outside which they love to bath in but no i dont put anything in their water at all.

thanx can you tell me though why is it that some of my juvinile doves attack the chicks whenever their parents are away, is this cos they have been bullied when they were chicks. i spend so much time looking out for the chicks, putting them back in nests etc and the bigger ones can be really nasty. its not the adult ones just the juviniles. i dont have anywhere seperate to put the parents and chicks, which is one of the reasons that they are allowed to fly free and come and go and give the chicks some peace.

hi im heidi and i found this website yesterday when i was trawling through the internet looking for ailments. i live in cheshire and have around 35 doves, started off with 7, all white fantails in a dove cote, as you do, then as winter approached realised that this was ornemental only and moved them to proper house, an annex to our barn. i had one coloured one as well who proved to be really good at breeding so now i have a mixture of whites and black/white doves. i don race them they are purely pets but i spend hrs watching them and their behaviour and find it really relaxing. i realise that i have really basic knowledge on them after reading your website so i am hoping to pick up tips and have a better understanding of just what is required to keep them healthy. :)

i cant believe it !! i am sooooooo happy, i have just been in to see my poorly dove and its absolutly fine, its standing and its neck is straight and its desperate to get back with its friends.( i am going to keep it isolated for another day though) its funny really cos im very superstitious and last night i was out wiv friends and went into my bag for a pen, instead pulled out a dove feather, which has never happened before. i went on a real downer as ithought oh its a sign my dove has died!! i didnt want to go into them on my return as it was dark and they fluster when disturbed at night so waited till this morning. it must have been a sign but the other way round!!! thanx for all your advice and i am off to put garlic in their water (do i do this all the time?) i wil continue to look at this website as i think it will be extremly helpfull for me to pick up advice and ideas, so thanx again. :) :)o

oh i know but im realy careful with them now. we tried lots of differnet things to try and prevent them being attacked (some quite expensive gadgets!) and have now found something that works. we made a kite, actually a shape of a butterfly with two gr8big red circles on it and put it on a very very long bamboo stick and fly it off the barn roof. the hawks thinks its another bird of prey, the red eyes frighten it and although they sometimes hover high above they wont come down anymore. we havent lost a single one for months, touch wood!!! whereas before we lost one every other day. this was a relatively inexpensive way of protecting them and it really does work if anyone has a problem with hawks etc. i cant leave them inside as they are used to being free and i hate to see anything caged or restricted, these are pets to me not competion pigeons. they do follow me back into their house when they see me though as they expect food!!

ok will do. i can prob get an appointment tomorrow hopefully.. what does garlic do though and is this something that i should do on a regular basis? i regulary check for louse and i douse them if need be, only ever had long louse though and they breed really often (i started with 7and must have lost at least 10 to a hawk!!) so generally they are lovely and healthy and have plenty of free flight and back in at night. should i be doing anything else health wise with them?

before i take the vet route is there anything that i could maybe try first. i have just had another look and it is trying to fly but like i said just nosedives and ends up on its face with its bottom in the air!! the sticky stuff isnt present in its mouth anymore and its troat isnt discoloured in any way. they are housed with my chickens (which are all healthy) so cld it have picked up anything from them?

hi im new to this but hoping that someone can advise me on my poorly dove. yesterday i found it on the floor outside the coup and assumed that it had flown into something and was winded. however when i picked it up clear liquid came out of its mouth and it couldnt fly. i isolated it and checked an hr later and more liquid came out of its mouth and its neck wa sorted of lolling about and when it tried to fly it sort of nose dives and cant get up. this morning it seems to have picked up slightly ie not closing its eyes as much and abit more alert but still cant fly.(wings flap etc but just keeps falling on its chest.) no more liquid is coming out of its mouth but now when i open its beak its slightly sticky inside. i also found another dove dead this morning in the cope but dont know if this is coincidental as they all appear to be sound and healthy.( i have about 35 adults and 4/5 babies) :-/