It's that time of year!  Valentines yes! and Baby dove love time.  

I have spent the whole year tricking my lovely doves, gently replacing their real eggs with "fake" ones.  I do this even though it makes me sad.  If I let nature take its course, I would probably own around a hundred more doves then my loft would hold!  Also, my doves would be exhausted and depleted with rearing too many children.

Now that the winter is almost over, I am timing this event just right (hopefully).  I have 8 pairs who all laid eggs at the same time two weeks ago.  Now in about 21 days total, I should have 16 new baby doves to join the loft.  They will be banded with their AU leg bands and my phone number band at around five days of age.  When they are about one month old, which will be at the end of March, they will be ready to learn how to get in and out of the loft!

Their first lesson will be gentle handling from "the lady" (that's what I think they call me).  After that, they will notice that every time "the lady" puts their seeds down she whistles a happy tune.  This will teach the babies that whistling means food time.  Whistling will also bring them in when they are flying around outside.   They learn "the lady" is calling them in to fresh water, a soft nest, and their dinner.  Once they learn this, they come in fast!  (hopefully fast, that's why its called training :)

So another team of youngsters to train which I am excited about!  That means I will get to visit some of my nearby neighbors and hang out on their lawns for daily flights of youngsters.  I start out close by in some perfect settings down the road a little ways- thank you Dolores, Shorty, Sandy and Ron!

Look for more baby pictures soon! 
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(The picture above is of Pretty Boy, he has a number two written in chalk to remind me that he is sitting on real eggs)

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One morning, while working in the loft, I was watching Brownie take a drink of water.  I watched him a lot.  This morning, he had a line of water down his neck.  I thought, that is strange, why would he have water on his feathers there?  I picked him up and while I gently spread his feathers apart on his throat, I was able to spread open a new hole there.  In the hole, there looked like little yellow maggots.  Gross and sad!!!  On better inspection, I realized it wasn't maggots, it was little tiny bird seed!  Poor little guy, he must have had his crop damaged and the food and water was coming right out.  The outside scab had healed, but underneath had not.  It was a torn crop.  Most likely from a hawk attack and that was what had probably sidelined little Brownie.

I gave a call to his original benefactors, the Gunston Flower Shop.  The ladies there told me about a veterinary hospital that would take in wild animals in need.  I called them immediately.  The reason I won't give there name here is because they told me that their group wasn't supposed to take in any type of animal except for wild animals, but that they would take this little bird.  When I got there, I had to sign a form saying I gave up any rights to Brownie and that I would not be able to call or get any further information once I turned him over.  Before I did this, I waited while a veterinarian (I'll call her Angel) took Brownie in the back and told me what I had suspected was true, a torn crop.  She told me that it is typical for the crop to heal on the outside, but to still be torn on the inside.  After awhile it would open again.  The good news was that she was willing to do surgery on him that night!  Hearing that, I signed him away and sad goodbye.

What luck that this veterinarian turned out to be a compassionate woman.  Unlike what the form that I signed said, she told me she would call and let me know how he did.  She asked if I would be willing to take him back afterwards, and of course, I said yes.

A few days later we spoke.  She said she had taken him home after his surgery and he was living in an incubator still very weak.  She asked me if he had been shaky with me and was worried he might have eaten some poison and his kidneys were ruined.  It turns out she had to do the surgery one more time before it would ultimately heal for good.   Two weeks later she called me to say he was ready to come home to my loft. ​

When Brownie got back to the loft,  the white doves once again were unsettled by his hawklike appearance.  This time, it only took about a month for him to look beautiful and strong and sleek.  Here is a picture of him taken two weeks ago.  He even looks better now!  He is sweet and kind and has beautiful eyes.  I often wonder if his owner lies awake at night wishing for news of him like I would.  I hope to be able to tell him how lucky his little plucky bird was to have landed at Gunston Flowers because they love animals. How lucky it was to find the Angel vet who didn't give up on him.  Now I am lucky to enjoy a good story and a beautiful bird.

I just met a new friend!  I was helping my bestie in California  (who was not in front of her computer) by making phone calls for her.  She is looking for some Bantam chicks to put under a brooding hen, but did not have time to call around.  I did a quick search and ended up calling Deborah Kunic of Kunic Ranch (hyperlink to her ranch web page).  She is a rancher who raises goats, chickens, horses and guess what!?  White homing pigeons!  That is so fun because, I am here in Virginia, and she is all the way out there in California.  Boy did we have a lot of fun talking with each other.  Check out her amazing artwork here: Beautiful Art
Deborah is building a new loft and requested a look inside mine.  That is the reason for this video: