# releasing back to the wild, hand raised dove



## f4leggin (Apr 27, 2013)

I have a dove I have hand raised, she (I think of her as a she) fell out of the nest and was brought to me by a neighbor when she was still young, but almost fully feathered. She is doing well, eating seed at this point, and flying around my yard/farm. I keep wondering if she will fly away and not return... Or assimilate back into the wild. I have three dogs, 1 cat, I worry about her safety! Granted, my dogs and cats are well trained about birds, I have 20 chickens that free range - so they know birds are off limits - or at least birds that belong to me! The best would probably be if this dove just decided she was a chicken... But anyway, my question is what to do. Should I keep her as a pet, or continue as is in anticipation that she will assimilate back into the wild. When I get home from work, she lands on my head to say hi, if I call her she comes and lands near me. She's not real eager to be picked up, but around dusk, she will seek me out and let me put her back in her cage. I have a wild bird feeder in my yard,with lots of activity, I was thinking she will catch on and start feeding from there, but at the moment, she has a separate place I put her seed. Although I have hand raised wild pigeons in the past, I've given them away, so I never had a "wild" hand raised bird at this stage... Do they eventually go back into the wild, or is she doomed to failure if I continue along this path. Thx!!!


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## spirit wings (Mar 29, 2008)

If this is a wild dove, then what you are doing is a soft release which is good, a wild dove will not make a great pet and it is illegal, so at some point the dove will mature and seek a mate and probably fly off and return to eat out of the feeder like many doves we see do. Now if this is a pigeon, as you mentioned the name, raised from a young age they do well to keep as a pet as they are not wild but from domestic stock and not native, they are feral. If you only have the one pigeon it can be hunted down by a bird of prey ESP because it is a lone bird out there flying around and does not have a flock with more eyes to the sky, flocks all fly up high together for protection, so if this is a pigeon he needs to be sheltered in a loft/coop and perhaps only let out if you are there when hawk populations in your area are low, here that is in the summer, winter is real bad. Finding another pigeon if this is a pigeon can help keep it company as these are flock birds and they keep the same mate, finding a hen pigeon could work in case you have cock bird, if not two hens get along and can pair up, two cocks may not.


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## f4leggin (Apr 27, 2013)

Thank you so much for your reply. It is a wild dove, so, it sounds like I'm on the right track. 

Thanks again,

Jill


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