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F.A.Q's

F.A.Q's How To Care & Look After White Fantail Doves


(Q) - How many doves should I buy to start with my dovecote which can hold 6 pairs of fantail doves?
(A) – I personally would start off with 4 young doves so they go into their new home and can start a life together and also as you would have to home the doves for up to 8 weeks having 4 is the perfect number.

(Q) – Do you delivery the garden fantail doves or do I have to pick them up?
(A) – You can pick up the garden fantail doves but you must make an appointment first or we can deliver as we have teamed up with a DEFRA Approved Courier service that only delivers Pigeons and Doves and we can deliver the doves to your home or work.

(Q) - When do garden fantial doves mature?
(A) - Garden Fantail Doves reach sexually maturity after about five to six months old.

(Q) – How do you send the dove food and accessories if we buy it from the Dove Central Website?
(A) – All items sent from the Dove Central website apart from the garden fantail doves are delivered by ParcelForce and EVRI. I try to send all items out the same day so you receive them next working day.
 
(Q) – How do I pay for the items from your Dove Central Website?
(A) – You can pay through the integrated Dove Central website which uses the PAYPAL’s  Secure Payment Gateway, or send a cheque but no goods will be sent until the cheque clears, so its best to pay through PAYPAL. You can use your VISA, MASTERCARD and other Debt Cards through the PAYPAL Payment System.

(Q) - How can I tell the difference between a hen dove and cock dove?
(A) - There are many different opinions in sexing garden doves from there size of beak, shape of head, width of neck. In my opinion the cock fanatil doves do tend to be larger than the hens and the hens do appear to have slimmer more feminine necks and heads. The only definite way to tell the difference between a hen and cock dove is for a DNS sample this can be carried out by your vet.

(Q) – If I bought garden doves somewhere else can I buy food from you?
(A) – Yes you can buy anything we sell on the Dove Central website and if you need to ask any question regarding your garden fantail doves please email or telephone.

(Q) – Do garden fantail doves need any health treatments like dogs and cats do?
(A) – Yes your garden fantail doves need treatment for Canker, Worms, Coccidiosis and Mites, Lice and fleas. You can find more information regarding dove treatment by Clicking Here.
 
(Q)  How much food should I give my fantail doves per day?
(A) – I give my doves 1 tablespoon of dove food in the morning and another tablespoon late afternoon (1 x dove = 1 tablespoon, 2 x doves = 2 tablespoons, 3 x doves = 3 tablespoons and so on.
 
(Q) – How much water should I put out for my 6 garden fantail doves?
(A) – I would have a water dispenser were your garden doves can drink out of and there should be fresh clean water available to them at all times. If you have 6 doves I would recommend the 3 litre water dispenser or the 6 litre water dispenser both are available to buy from the Dove Central website.
 
(Q) – How much grit and minerals should I put out for my garden doves and when?
(A) – Dove Grit should be available for your doves at all times and dove minerals could be given to your doves every few days. I have put grit and minerals stations on my wall, so my doves know where to find the minerals and grits at all times and I just keep these topped up. I would recommend the wall mounted grit and mineral station or the ground grit and mineral station.
 
(Q) – I do not want any more baby doves how do I stop them from laying more eggs and hatching?
(A) – The easiest thing to do is to buy some plastic dummy, false, pot dove eggs and once your doves lay 1 or 2 of their own eggs remove these and replace them with the plastic dummy dove eggs. Click here to buy dummy dove eggs from Dove Central.
 
(Q) – What bedding do the doves need for the dovecote?
(A) – I use straw that has been chemically treated so that the straw should be clean from Lice Mites and Fleas etc. You will find that once the doves are able to fly free from the 8-week homing period they will bring other nesting materials into the dovecote like twigs, grass feathers etc.

(Q) – What is the best way to home my garden doves, a homing net or a homing box during the homing period?
(A) – I recommend the homing net as the doves are able to fly and excise much more rather than a homing box as this is a bit restricted.
 
(Q) – Will my doves fly away once I the homing period is over?
(A) – That is a hard question to answer and the answer should be NO, but as long as you have kept your fantail doves in for the 8 week homing period and have feed, watered and they have had grit and minerals they should stay. You should also ensure that your Doves feel safe (i.e. the dovecote is high enough off the ground and far away from walls and trees to avoid cats etc.).

(Q) – I have bought a dovecote from a garden centre and it has 6 holes but does not have separate compartments.  Is this suitable for keeping garden fantail doves?
(A) – In my opinion, you have just bought yourself a fancy garden bird table. To make this fit to keep doves in, you will need to make sure of the following:  create separate compartments so that there is only one hole to enter and leave from. Make sure that the hole is not too big.  Up to now, I have not seen any dovecotes that are suitable from the garden centres. If you find a dovecote that you think is suitable you can e-mail me the link and I can advise you if the dovecote will be suitable to keep your garden fantail doves to live in.

(Q) – Can my garden fantail doves survive the winter in the UK?
(A) – Yes as long as there have the correct dove food mixes, shelter and water available there will survive the cold winters of the UK, I would give them extra fatty foods like the sunflower hearts, peanuts and high energy dove food mixes, and make sure there have clean bedding.

(Q) – How often should I clean my dovecote out?
(A) – When there have no young doves to look after in the dovecote I would clean them out once a month and after putting new bedding in I would then spray a bit off Harkers Duramitex Plus in the dovecote. If there have young doves I would wait till the young doves are about 3 weeks old before cleaning them out again spraying Harkers Duramitex Plus after putting new bedding in the dovecote.
To give the dovecote a really good clean out while the doves are not bringing up young doves, I would use Harkers Harka Mitex mixed with water in a spray bottle. 

 
(Q) – Do garden doves need any vitamins and if so what is the best one to use?
(A) – Yes Doves need vitamins’ and the best vitamins we sell are the MAGIC Stock Nutrition and the Harkers Omni-Vit these are added to the water and should be given once a week or when the doves are stressed or recovering from an illness.

(Q) – I am looking for a new dovecote and need it to be custom made to fit onto the side of the house, to house 2 pairs of garden fantail doves and I want 3 separate compartments?
(A) – Yes our craftsman can make any garden dovecote that you require.

(Q) – Do doves need water baths to clean themselves?
(A) – Yes doves love to have baths and you should put a dove bath out for the doves a couple of times a week we sell dove baths just fill the bath with water and watch the doves wash bathe and enjoy themselves.

(Q) – I have been homing my 2 doves for a full 8 weeks and when I let them loose their disappeared and came back for a couple of days and then the doves go again for 3 to 4 days. I want my doves to stay in the dovecote what do I do?
(A) – It may be worth trying to catch your doves and start the homing period over again it may be a good idea at this time to get another 2 doves as you may find that with a total of 4 doves you have a better chance of them staying and if you had them in a homing box then try a dove homing net also make sure the dovecote is at least 6ft of the ground and away from walls trees etc were cats or any other possible threats my get into the dovecote as if the doves do not feel safe there will not use the dovecote to roost.

(Q) – Do other wild birds bring diseases and could my doves catch them and what should I do to prevent this?
(A) – Yes other birds do carry diseases so I would recommend giving your doves a preventative treatment for Canker, Coccidiosis, Worms, and Mites and Lice once every 3 months, this will help your doves from getting these diseases, always make sure you have fresh water and clean dry food for your doves and go and buy proper water dispensers, food, grit and mineral containers.
 
(Q) – My doves have just laid 2 eggs how long will the eggs take to hatch?
(A) – Doves will lay 1 egg one day and another egg 1 or 2 days later then the hen dove will sit on the eggs overnight and the cock dove will do the daytime sitting after approximately 18 days the eggs should hatch it may be a couple of days later when there hatch, if the eggs have not hatched after 30 days I would remove the eggs from the dovecote that’s if the doves have not thrown the eggs out already, make sure you throw the old eggs out as there may of laid another 2 eggs check and make sure you throw the cold eggs out and leave the warm eggs in the dovecote.

(Q) – How do I treat my Fantail Doves for worms?
(A) – Very easy buy Harkers Harka-Verm wormer add to their drinking follow the instructions on the bottle will kill the worms in the doves within 48 hours for more information on worms in garden fantail doves Click Here.

(Q) – I have seen lice on my doves what should I do to get rid of the lice?
(A) – Depending what types of Lice I would spray all your doves with Harkers Duramitex Plus and clean out the dovecote and spray with the same Harkers Duramitex Plus after putting new bedding down. I would then use Harkers Harka Mectin Spot On 2 drops per dove between their shoulders and this will kill all the lice and mites I would spray the doves and the dovecote again with Harkers Duramitex Plus about 7-10 days later to make sure all the lice and mite eggs are dead.

(Q) – How long do Garden Fantail Doves Live?
(A) – Good question I believe there can live up to 20 years I know a couple of my garden doves are 11 years old. 

(Q) – How can I get my doves to feed out of my hands?
(A) – This is what I do to get my doves to feed from my hands, in the morning I put the some of the dove food in a clean bake bean tin and rattle the tin for a minute so the doves know that this sound equals food, I do this also for the evening feed, remember not to overfeed your doves and  after about 2 weeks the doves will be in a routine every time you shake the tin the doves will come to you. At this time you can put the food in your hand and the doves will come and start eating the dove food from your hands but you must be patient.

(Q) – If my doves get lost how would there get back to my dovecote?
(A) – At Dove Central you can buy leg rings for your doves with your telephone number on so if your fantail doves get lost the person who finds your dove will have a better chance of contacting you and hopefully you will be reunited.

(Q) – How far can garden fantail doves fly before they get lost?
(A) – Garden fantail doves do not have a good homing instinct and are not like racing pigeons’ who can fly 300 miles plus and return home, garden doves I would say have a homing instinct of about 10 to 15 miles, my doves fly around the village and I can always see my doves and their never fly out of sight, I think this is because there have food, water, grit and minerals around the dovecote so there is no need to fly to look for these.

(Q) - What is the correct way to hold my garden fantail dove?
(A) - The correct way to handle your garden fantail doves. There is an accepted way that works better than many other ways when it comes to holding a dove, and it works to prevent your garden dove from accidentally escaping or being injured while handling.

Holding your dove this way is for a right handed person. If you are left handed, simply reverse the procedure.

(1) Take your right hand and turn it palm up.

(2) Open the first and second fingers of your right hand like they were a pair of scissors.

(3) Slide your right hand, palm up and with the first and second fingers open, under the doves, its left side. Slide the doves legs between your open first and second finger and close them down to comfortably catch the doves legs. (Be careful as the doves feet are extremely fragile so be extra careful not to bend them or they may break).

(4) The dove is now in your palm and facing you. Slide your right thumb up and over the doves's wings to hold him or her secure as you pull your right arm into toward yourself with the doves's head near your chest.

(5) Use your left hand to help keep the dove in place.

(6) This should provide a secure and comfortable hold for you and your garden fantail dove also try talking gently to the dove to reassure it while you are holding the dove.

There is also a second reason for this dove hold, not only is this secure, but by holding the dove if it decides to go to the toilet it does not land in the palm of your hand.

(Q) - Do you sell dovecotes?
(A) – Yes we do sell dovecotes and all our dovecotes that we have for sale are all handmade by a quality craftsman and the dovecotes are not the ones you would buy from a garden centre, I personally had my dovecotes made by a gentleman called Henry who builds all my dovecotes if you need to view his work then just go to our dovecotes for sale page on our website or Click Here.

 

 

 

 

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