What breeds could I keep as pets? (Pigeons and Doves)

[Takeylla]

It is quite possible to keep all those doves and pigeons as captive birds. I have kepts a few more unusual species myself over the years, however, the more exotic species need special care... such as

They can not be free flown,
They need large natural planted aviaries to feel happy and safe... which cost more to build and maintain.
They need a more specialised diet to stay healthy
They are more difficult to breed and only have one or 2 clutches a year.
They need heating in the winter and even UV lights are beneficial in wintertime.
It's also hard to find a breeder of such birds
They will cost a small fortune!!!
Some are endangered in the wild and protected, and you need to get a special licence to keep them (rightly so).

The fruit doves are beautiful, but their main drawback is their wet fruity diet... which leads to huge quantities of sloppy wet poop and you need to do a LOT of cleaning of their enclosure!! It's also hard to replicate their natural diet, and they can develop malnutrition and sickness from improper diets.

I would leave the exotic species to zoos and bird gardens!

If you want a dove that can be a real pet in terms of being petting, kissed and shower affection on, they the DOMESTICATED species are the way to go.

If you want to keep them inside you house in a cage, then I recommend the smaller domesticated doves, like ring neck doves. Also the fancy breed pigeons naturally have very docile and tame personalities and come in beautiful patterns and shapes. These kinds of birds a super easy to care for and keep healthy.

Yeah I assumed something like that would happen for some of the species, and with the fruit dove, I was like their diet is in the name, I was curious as to which of the wilder species would be a little easier to keep then others (like I could see the blue, emerald, and golden spotted doves to be easier to handle than a fruit dove or a Victoria crowned pigeons)

 

[Takeylla]

I

like ur birds, today I bought 1 pair of Fantail pigeon, if u know any tips for breeding so tell me

I don’t know much, I was trying to narrow my list down.

 

[jak2002003]

Yeah I assumed something like that would happen for some of the species, and with the fruit dove, I was like their diet is in the name, I was curious as to which of the wilder species would be a little easier to keep then others (like I could see the blue, emerald, and golden spotted doves to be easier to handle than a fruit dove or a Victoria crowned pigeons)

I kept and bred zebra doves for many years... pedigree ones used in the bird singing competitions. I must have bred more than 100 of them.

They are beautiful birds, with the patterning and light pink / orange colour on their breasts. I found they were tamer by nature and calmer than my diamond doves, particualry if you handle them when they are young out of the nest.

Diamond doves, although more domesticated, are very easily spooked, at night they often get startled for no apparent reason and panic and bash themselves about on the cages sides, sometimes hurting themselves. I never found this so much with any other dove or bird species.

I also kept bleeding heard doves... which were very nice looking, but I found them quite boring in their behaviour as they spend most of the time standing on ground just looking into space lol.

I also kept Blacked Naped fruit doves. They were very tame, but as I said, messy.

 

[Takeylla]

I kept and bred zebra doves for many years... pedigree ones used in the bird singing competitions. I must have bred more than 100 of them.

They are beautiful birds, with the patterning and light pink / orange colour on their breasts. I found they were tamer by nature and calmer than my diamond doves, particualry if you handle them when they are young out of the nest.

Diamond doves, although more domesticated, are very easily spooked, at night they often get startled for no apparent reason and panic and bash themselves about on the cages sides, sometimes hurting themselves. I never found this so much with any other dove or bird species.

I also kept bleeding heard doves... which were very nice looking, but I found them quite boring in their behaviour as they spend most of the time standing on ground just looking into space lol.

I also kept Blacked Naped fruit doves. They were very tame, but as I said, messy.

That’s interesting