Crushed Oyster shells prevent calcium deficiency. Very important. And adding a nutient suppliment to the food mix of course.

All the best.

True True True....WOW - magician 336, you got a lot of advice huh? *smile* Got anymore questions? *haha*

Hey Jlevey - check your other post on the ribbons.....

Morningstar, those are my grandkids but I take no credit for how they are but they are cute and cuddly and a bit spoiled. Yeah right.

I don't use meal worms very often but when I did, they just pecked at them like a bird in the wild would do, then they swallowed them down in pcs. Suppose to be good for vitamins and nutrients. I wouldn't know though. I never ate a meal worm.

Never used the red grit. In fact I don't think I've ever seen it. I used to use real oyster shells but they are impossible to find in New Jersey. All that is available is crushed up powdery shells. I found a good nutrient grit in the pet shop. It is green and smells a lot like licorice. They seem to like that. Regular egg shells are good too and they're cheap. I just keep the shells from the eggs we eat, let them dry out a bit and then crumple them up.

Thanks for the compliment on my doves. They are slightly old pictures but my other 20 birds look that same.

Thank you for that information ill get a new cage as soon as possible.one of my doves is starting to molt and hopefully will grow the feathers back perfectly.ill check out that red pigion grit because I wasnt shure what a good treat the doves would like is.this worked out great almost all my questions have been answered and I have a ferret cage that is about 5X4 and 3ft high with plastic bottom would that work?

Magician336, we are all just super bird lovers and want you to have good bird advice

The ferret cage sounds like a real winner. Send me a digital photo of the cage and I will tell you for sure. The more space, the less the feathers get scruffed. The higher the plastic bottom the better.(Where did the ferret go? Y'a know ferrets love to eat birds.)

Spend your money on regular grit for now and treat them with the fresh veggies. They love them equally as well. When you make some extra bucks on the show get some red grit (it is like $25 for 50 lbs) but still give them the veggies along with seed. Just put the grit on top of their seed.

Dave, thanks for the mealworm instructions. (ack.) As for the grit, try a real "feed store" that sells to people who have chickens and other critters. They would probably have the oyster shell grit, too. The red grit is in white woven poly bags and you have to ask for it. Only comes in 50 lb bags. Also has tiny charcoal mixed it so it helps them if they eat some rancid seed.

Mealworm huh? hmmm...haven't tried that yet. My doves are so picky with what they eat though, and I don't think they would like mealworm. They get enough nutrition though the way they eat right now. Its amazing how picky they can get! *smile* And they aren't even all female!! *haha* OK, bad joke huh!

My ferrets passed away some time ago,but I held onto their cage because I thought it would come in useful.ill also fet some green veggies for them to eat because ive needed some kind of reward for a while.also I'm going to my gandma's this weekend and that's where the cage is at so ill send you a picture.thanks again!

Oh, Alpha...bad joke...Hey, I have seen guys snarf down things worse than mealworms! (arg!)

Magician336, I look forward to the photo

MorningStar - you are right about that one...I don't care to admit it, but was a teenager once myself...*haha* Grown man for that matter!! Ugh - Anyhow -

Here is a question, instead of starting a new thread - I seem to have attracted Wild Doves to the area where I keep my tame doves. Actually, my doves are indoors, but I think with all the "coos" they have attracted the wild doves. The Wild doves are building nests on the outside of the room where the current ones reside. Is it possible, and this is ONLY Hypothetical (I would NOT mess with nature) that a youngling from the wild mix of doves be incorporated with the tame, handled doves, somehow. in other words, if it were possible for the wild doves to get into the area of my tame ones, could they mix younglings/eggs for that matter? Could a 'Strep' (white dove) hatch a wild 'stool pigeon' egg?

They could and would mix if they are those brown wild mourning doves. They are closely related and I have read that the white dove (aka: white ringnecks or java doves) is a white version of the mourning dove/ringneck. These will not mix with pigeons like you see in the park or on statues.

Pigeons are cousins but not close enough. You said "stool pigeon' so I just wanted to be clear. Plus, if you raise a baby pigeon with doves the pigeon will peck the doves badly. Pigeon eggs put with dove eggs will hatch, but it will be a disaster because mom will just exhaust herself to feed this HUGE baby. I am not sure she could successfully raise such a large youngster.

A pigeon is very messy in a smaller cage and needs lots of room, a true aviary to live properly. It also needs to fly. Pigeons are really cool. My dad and I used to race them. They are really smart.

The only physical danger of bringing in a wild dove to your loft is introducing parasites or illness. If you brought in an egg this would not be the case, but the parents would peck the stuffings out of you when you tried to take it. Plus, it is cruel to cage a wild being (I know you know this from your post.)

I have had mourning doves in my cage and they do NOT make good birds for a show. They always stay wild and they fly off the minute you produce them. (I did not catch mine, I bought mine and they were domestically raised.)

But I never ever could use them in a show. They just do not tame down. I also have pied doves. These are beautiful and rare even when you mix a brown and a white bird. Only 1 in every 500 hatchings is pied: white with brown speckles. They are also very wild acting but they are a bit calmer than the pure mourning dove/ringneck. I hope this answered your question? If not, post again.

I am going to give everyone here a dove link soon and it is a really good dove organization that I have not seen elsewhere. Keep your eyes open for a "new topic post".

Look forward to the link MorningStar!!

The Doves I was speaking of were the brown mourning doves....they seem to love my doves. Kind of funny too to watch them try so hard to get to my dove families. My males are trying to entice the mourning dove females, but they ignore them pretty well....amazing how true the same is to humans!! oh, did I say that? *haha*

I have two doves breaking and losing tail feathers and I realize now, because of this thread, it's because of the small cage with metal sides.

All my birds normally stay in an aviary but I removed a new young bird and a single (unbonded) female and put them in the cage in my main living area. The young bird wasn't doing well with the male birds in the aviary and the female bird seemed to be the best suited companion to the young bird.

I often leave the cage open so they can fly to a large perch area in the same room and the female bird will fly upstairs to me when I'm there.

Thanks for the information.