homing ability in doves

broody rooster

Chirping
Jul 17, 2015
299
10
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i was curious if doves have any homing ability of course it ont be on the same level as pigeons but by bird in general standards how good is it ?
 
I have trained my ring neck doves to fly freely around my property and they go back into their cages when I call them. Each pair know their own cage. It took a long time to train them to do this.. and at the beginning I had a few losses to cats and a couple of birds simply had no desire to stay around and flew away. I don't recommend you try this yourself... as its hard and you will probably loose a few birds at first which is very upsetting if they are loved pets.


As well as my ring necks I have trained the following birds to free fly and come back to their cages...

Zebra doves, diamond doves, spotted neck doves, zebra finches, canaries, painted quail, mynah birds. I could not train my budgies to home.. no matter how hard I tried.

Some of my zebra doves.. mothers and 2 young. Having the birds born and raised at my home in the garden made it much easier to train them as they were familiar with the sights and sounds of the garden.

White ring necks exploring the tree.. collecting nesting material form the hanging moss.

One back in the cage.

Moving the cage around in the early training let the doves get used to the area as they could see it and make a mental map of everything. If they are simply let out they get scared by new things and will fly away in fright. Having some other trained birds around will give them confidence and encourage them to stick around.

Make sure they have a big perch so they can easily get back into the cage.

One of my zebra doves on the back wall. Its better if the birds are not very tame.. so they will fly away from people... if they are super tame they will approach strangers and may be stolen or 'rescued' my mistake.



My lace necked dove... he was a rescue with a broken wing.. when he healed he just wanted to stay around..

Playing on the back wall.



Up on the house roof.

Easy access to cage.. If they can't get in and out easily they may not go back in at all!!!

First time out takes courage...


Hope you found this interesting.
 
My oldest doves are about 5 years old now.. and I also have kept all their young over the years.

I like the zebra doves the best.. they have such a lovely 'song'.
 

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