Doves as pets

My interest in doves was stimulated when I was a young person. They used to be associated with the Holy Spirit and the picture or sighting of a dove elicits these memories of a bygone era. Doves are clean birds and they don't seem to get a spot of dirt since they spend most of their lifestyles on trees. In my region, these birds are increasingly rare and I think its time conservationists, I being one of them brought this to the attention of the powers that be for worthy intervention. Doves can make nice pets though I have discovered that they are shy birds and flee at the first sign of disturbance. I saw a certain fella in an urban area feeding hundreds of doves who had come to adopt him as their master due to his feeding program. I also got acquainted to the fact that the birds are edible though this negates the essence of keeping them as pets. They feed on castor oil seeds and their droppings are valuable ecologically because they contain guano phosphates which are useful as fertilizers. They also feed on maize and other cereals. The interesting thing is, I have never seen a dove's nest.

While it is not one of the most common pet species, I have personally had a neighbor who had a flock of doves when I was a kid. He kept at least 20~30 of them in a large bird house. Every day he had to "kick" them out to get them some exercises. They would always come back after flying just a circle around the neighborhood. I remember he was feeding them raw rice and mung beans. Not sure about the details. I heard my dad said his doves had won some kind of dove competition. In my opinion, it is a lot of responsibilities to have a flock of doves, but it is also a lot of fun since they are one of the few pet birds that you can let out. They always remember their way home.