I am looking to take my act to the next level and offer some dove magic. Don't get me wrong here I don't plan on doing this tomorrow, it is something I am just getting started and may take me up to a year to work in to my show. I just purchased a couple of dvds (Tony Clark's Unmasked and Tony Clarks behind the seems) I am going to review these two dvds and go from there. I haven't purchased any doves yet I figured I would start by learning about the in and outs before buying the doves.

Any advice you can offer would be great... I have been reading a lot of the posts here on the Café and learned a lot however there is so much more to learn so any advice to get me started would be great.

Also where are you buying your doves? I am in an area of upstate NY where there is not a lot of local pet stores so I think it is going to have to be off the net but I don't find a lot of places to buy them... Again any help would be appreciated.
Bob

Bob, you're headed in the right direction. Kudo's for learning first and then buying the doves. You might want to get Andy Amyx's doves 101 video as well as he does go into feeding and care quite a bit.

Doves can be shipped through the US mail. When you are ready to purchase, here's a link to get started. I'm not sure if Herb is still around as this is several years old but it's a start. When you are ready, post again or PM me and I'll get you some sources.

http://www.dovepage.com/breeders/herb-bammel/index.html

Don't buy them from a pet shop. There are many reasons why not and they are posted throughout the Polly forum.

We have at least 4 doves we are willing to give away for free to anyone who would like to come and get them in south central Ontario. We do not want to ship them or deliver them.

PM if interested.

I wish I was a little closer to you.

RJE thanks for the offer If it was a bit closer I would take you up on it however I do have a friend who has a camp in Canada and goes about every weekend I will have to see where there camp is... Maybe I will get lucky and it will be in south central Ontario

Thanks for the Link Dave... I have been reading a lot of your post on Polly and you are very informative.

I also have doves available in Virginia. All are hand fed and fly to me from their cages. I guess that's the benefit of hand feeding.

Just an update on my progress: I recieved both of tony clarks dvds and watched them both twice. I Bought Andy's Doves 101 from a member at the Café and it arrived today, I hope to watch it before the end of the week (Busy week) With any luck I will be ready to get cages set up in the next couple of weeks and start the process of purchasing the Doves. I am excited about adding this to my show and I can't wait until I introduce the doves for the first time. As I mentioned in the original post it will take probably up to a year to do but it will all be worth the wait. Thanks for the help,
Bob

Definitely check locally. Local dove workers oftenhave birds for sale or free, some of them already tamed. In the Boston area I hear about trades, and salrs and I'm not doing doves.

Yet another Update: I find a dove Breeder in NY who I get in touch with (from your Link Dave) I tell her I am interested in purchasing a few doves in the coming weeks and her first question to me is will the Doves be used for Magic, My reply of course was yes.... She then notifies me that she will not sell doves to Magicians.... Has anyone else encountered this?

Sounds like she is a member of PETA or some other radical animal lovers group. I'm sorry my link let you to her.

Dave your link lead me to a Breeder who is no longer in business but they forwarded my email to this person who contacted me.

Not PETA because they don't even like people keeping animals as pets.

More likely someone who doesn't understand magic and imagines stuffing birds into things is hurting them. Just ignorance, I bet.

Mary, her's a brief description of what PETA is and does. Note the statement about entertainment. As I said, she probably belongs to this or another radical animal lovers group.

Possibly saw the prestige

The doves I used in three stage shows last week at the IBM Annual Convention in Nashville were at least 16 years old. Where do these "experts" get their educations?

Matilda, the Guinness World Record holder as the world's oldest chicken, spent 16 years jumping out of a dove pan. Is that mistreated? She received a Broken Perch Ceremony and a Governor's Commendation. Did anyone at KFC?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matilda_(chicken)

Matilda had also been on Jay Leno when she was only 14! (Exploitation of little girls? Shame, shame!)

LOL!

Bob Sanders
Magic By Sander