Update on flock

[JessiMuse]

I haven't been here in a while due to college classes, so I thought I'd drop by and tell you guys what's up.http://trainedparrot.com/

Dudley's doing alright. My mom got a new food for him, which he loves. It's a strange homemade mix that someone in the local bird club made, and I can't remember all of the ingredients. She mixes it in with the kind we have been using for him, and he seems to enjoy it.
I've also discovered that he likes walnuts, even more than he likes peanuts. I'm going to use them for his training now, since he seems more motivated with them. My mom buys them anyways, with the shell taken off already, and since they're still kinda big, I can break them up to whatever size I feel comfortable with. That means I don't have to have him fill up too easily on pieces that are too big, nor would I have to feel afraid of him biting me with pieces too small. So that's a win-win.
Another thing I'm going to do with the walnuts, is teach him how to play. He's still afraid of toys, so I think I'm going to make some pinatas for him to shred, and get the food inside. Any suggestions on materials? (I'm thinking tissue paper, but I don't know)

Lucy is also doing great. She's basically the polar opposite of Dudley at this point, since it's almost like the whole world is her toy. She's so easily entertained, it's rather comical. I once got a shallow tub of shredded paper, and hid some of her favorite treats in it. She had too much fun shredding the paper, to find any of the treats. At one point, I also took her in the shower with me. She wasn't really sure what to make of it, but she did tolerate having water fall on her. Now, her feathers look so much better! Even her crest looks bigger (I'll post pictures later, when I find a way to make the images a decent size on this forum. For whatever reason, they look too big when I post from photobucket).

Now you might be wondering why I used the word "flock" to describe the birds I have, since there's only two of them. Well, about that...

I'm now a flock of five. I got a tiny diamond dove, and my mom bought two bronze winged manikin finches. The manikin finches don't have names yet, but I decided to name the diamond dove "Joey". I'm working on taming Joey, because he's not tame, but he isn't exactly untame, either. He's not afraid of me, unless if I'm trying to get him to step up, because he's not used to it. Lucy's been very helpful, since he watches her quite often. Because of her, I've gotten him to eat from my hand. (I'll post pictures later) She's quite patient with Joey, and acts almost as a big sister to him.

Rest assured, I won't be getting any more birds after this. I think five is enough for this family. You might not be hearing about Joey or the finches too often, since they're not parrot species! But I'd probably update on them occasionally, for anyone who's interested. I'm honestly debating with myself whether I should add them to my profile or not. I mean, they are birds, but they're not parrots, and this is "the parrot forum" after all.

With all that said, thanks for reading, and I'll talk to you later! Expect pictures soon, once I upload them to an image provider that works well for this forum (because photobucket doesn't resize for this one, for whatever reason).

[Pajarita]

Thank you for the update and I am glad that things are going well with you and your birds. Now, if I may, doves are not only highly social birds, they also mate for life and are not really companion birds AT ALL so, if I were you, I would forget about 'taming' a dove (they don't really need to be tamed, they are naturally sweet-tempered birds) and get poor Joey a mate. He can't be happy without one, you know...

[JessiMuse]

I have seen happy diamond doves kept alone, as they sometimes bond to their owner, and look at them as a mate. However, I'm starting to think that only occurs with those that were raised to be socialized. I'm most likely going to end up with a female diamond dove by next week.

[Wolf]

I really thank you for the update and will be looking forward to hearing more as well as seeing any pictures that you post. I also applaud you for thinking of your dove and that you are looking to give it a mate. I know little to nothing about doves, but I do know that it is very hard on anyone to be alone, we all need someone.

[Pajarita]

THANK YOU for seriously thinking of getting your dove a mate! I know that a lot of people say 'my bird is bonded to me' when talking of aviary species but the truth is that, in most cases (and I don't want to say in all cases because I suppose that there could be rare exceptions), they are not and the 'bond' is all in the owner's head. Not all species do well as companions to humans... I remember reading years and years ago something written by a lady who bred canaries (she was very well known, had her own website with a cam in the canary room -the first time I'd ever seen something like that- and called herself Robirda, instead of Roberta ) about a canary she had bred dropping dead at only two years of age and, when she asked the lady owner she had sold the bird to for details, she found out that this woman used to walk around her house with the canary in her hand. She thought the canary was bonded to her, that he needed company, and actually liked this but, in reality, she killed the poor bird with the stress she caused it by insisting on a relationship the poor thing could not possibly give. And something Robirda said lamenting what had happened stuck in my head: "You can screen for care but you can't screen for common sense".

Doves are the SWEETEST things ever and would eat from your hand and often perch on your shoulders and head out of their own initiative when let out to fly (I had five back in Pa) but they are not companion birds and they do need to be kept in pairs for them to be stress free so, again, thank you for been so thoughtful!

[JessiMuse]

I have seen some that were legitimately bonded to humans. One owner had to act as the role of a "father" to his dove's infertile eggs. Though all he really did was take her off the nest so she could go to the bathroom and eat something. More often than not, in these cases, the dove in question was either hand raised, or at least handled as a baby. I doubt this is Joey's case.

From what I've seen though, it actually seems that the larger ringneck doves are more likely to get used to being around humans than diamond doves, probably because of their size, and their slightly less flighty attitude. I've seen some that have been very "cuddly" so to say, as I know someone who works at a pigeon/dove rescue (yes, there are some rescues specifically meant for pigeons and doves), and some are in fact, very used to human touch. So while it's not commonly seen in doves, it is possible.

And indeed Wolf, we all need someone. I tend to forget that though, and end up trying to take up majority of my problems by myself. Probably why I get so stressed out sometimes.

So I had to crop these into an awkwardly slim portrait style. It seems no matter how small I make them, this website resizes them to be too big. So here's Dudley.

For whatever reason, I can't seem to get a clear picture with him. Either I'm shaky, or he moves at the last second.

For whatever reason, no matter how I crop this picture, it still ends up looking too big. So I'm just going to post the direct link as is. Here's Lucy, with her new look: http://i49.photobucket.com/albums/f286/ ... pwfp2d.jpg
That shower really paid off, because her crest looks so much bigger and better. Now I'm looking forward to how she'll look after her juvenile molt, since it seems she has a couple on her chest that grew awkwardly. They don't seem to bother her, but it looks like it might.

Here are my mom's new Mannikin finches.

They're so small! Smaller than Zebra finches! It's so cute when they're relaxing, because they get all fluffy and practically glue to each other's side.

And last but not least, here is Joey.

Trying to get him to step up is more than a little tricky. I have managed to lure him onto my finger before, even if it was just for a half-second to get to the millet. He's starting to get comfy with me, but not quite. He'll fly to me, as if he wants to land on me, but then fly off. He does seem happy, sharing millet with Lucy though. I'm sure he would much prefer another dove, rather than a parrot that's twice his size, though.
http://i49.photobucket.com/albums/f286/ ... 7bwppg.jpg

[Wolf]

I use " Windows Live Photo Gallery" to resize my pictures for this forum, It will resize down to the 640 pixel required for posting here.
That is one small dove, I have never seen one so small. Wow. I bet you are using a digital camera, mine gives me the same type of problem so I can't be sure that the picture that I see when I push the button is what I will end up with.
Thanks for sharing the pictures, I really enjoyed them.

[JessiMuse]

Yes, he is small. Diamond doves are the second smallest species of dove in the world, next to the "peaceful dove".

Actually wolf, I have used two types of cameras. One is a high quality digital camera, but it's a little sensitive to movement, and so without the flash, they can end up very blurry (and I never use flash on my animals), I've taken some great pictures with Lucy, though. Here's one I took when she was sun bathing in the window.
http://i49.photobucket.com/albums/f286/ ... q46ujd.jpg

In the pictures with Joey, I used my cellphone, which is a much lower quality. At the time, I wanted to take the pictures, but didn't have my camera with me, so I just used what I had on me at the time.

[Pajarita]

Awww, such pretty babies! Mine were ringneck doves and, yes, they would perch on you on their own initiative - but they would also fly off after a couple of minutes to join the other doves. Like I said, they are naturally very sweet-tempered and trusting birds... not at all like parrots!

As to the man taking the 'father' role, he needn't have bothered, she would have gotten up on her own to poop and eat. Birds don't commit suicide by starving themselves...