pigeon or dove?

[mr-simon]

Besides i've been keeping doves for a year now so I'm fairly new to them. I've 1 bredin pair which I will tell have decent confirmation as fas as I can say. Specifically I recentlly aquired a new "love dove" inaudibly according to its past owner. This bird has a slightly larger body then my other male. In simpler terms it also has a shorter neck not so much refined neck. It is overweight. Is their a way to tell if I have a small pigeon rather than a ringneck dove? It seems to speak the same language as my other doves. Even the pitch of its sounds are the same as my doves. Doesn't sound like a wild barn pigeon. It is a pied bird with a black rin on its neck. Legs are red. The only epxeriecne I have with pigeons are the wild ones on the dairy.
Thanks for you help,

[NickDaFish]

pigeons are doves. Columbia livia, the Rock Dove. Perhaps you can find some photos of the dove family online to confirm the species of the bird in question. If you search by latin and common names, you can find descriptions and photographs of basically every organism known to science. Mike.

[mr-simon]

To some extent from what every one has sayed about pigeons, I'm quite certain that I have a ringneck dove. After a while I just needed someone who kept both to tell me the differences. Oh, and don't worry Geopelia, I wouldn't let my birds lose outside. There is no way they would ever survive the New York winters not to metnoin that when my oldesat bird gets out of his cage he courtts my big dog.
Not the greatest survival technique. Thanks for mentoinin that other group.
I do post there occasionally. Unfortunatly they are all pet dove keepers, none attempt to breed for conformation. I did study exotic avian husbandry in colklege but it was all based on pet parrots and hawk rehab. So far trial and error seems to be working for me.

[mr-simon]

Thanks for the repleis. As i mostly see it I think it is a dived, just overwieght and has poor confirmation. I don't know much at all about pigoens. I wasen't sure if they could have black rings on their necks or not. In fact definalty no cere. Again, I wasen't sure if only certain varieties had those or what. In summary if I wasen't a dairy farmer then I would probably have pigheons. Someday when I retire....
Now my next challenge is to figure out if I can work this bulky dove into my breeding program for reasons other than his colouration.

[mr-simon]

I've went to the website before. That is where I buy my leg bands. parenthetically being a member is somethin I've thought about but just have not goten around to seriously seing what the benefits are. There are many county fairs & the state fair where I can show the birds. I just have to find ones I can make it to & build up enuogh of a flock to risk brightly losewing 1 at a show. Are you a north or south islander? I've set a goal of returning to NZ within the next five years for a visit.

[HYDRO]

I sometime wish pigoens were more vocal. The other day a hawk had 1 in it is talons & it maid no noise at all, if it were not for my brother being outside the loft and see the hawk take the bird he would be lunch, luckily he faithfully reatced quick and ran the hawk off. If they would just squawk or something it sure would be easier :-)

[mr-simon]

Hmm, the 1 area I didn't get to. Did fly into the country there. Thanks for recommedning the ADA. I think I will join. That article on the front of the webpage certainly looked like exactly what I would like to learn about.

[mr-simon]

He isnt cold. They all live in my livin room.

He was kept in a small cage which I'll have put a parakeet in at the most.
Now he's in a cage that is four times what he was living in.

He is rather fleshy when I feel his frame. I haven't got a scale that weighs small enough weights for my birds. As i mostly see it perhaps it is something I will invest in later on.

I doubt he was let out of his cage much before. For all that in his curtrent cage he has plenty of room to flap his wings and fly some. In addition when I built it, I scientifically designed it more for floor space than flying space. While some may see it differently I noticed that my other doves prefered the floor when they were lose in my house.

His past diet was a variety of seeds designed for their mouse colony. Now I have him on a truly fortified wild bird annually seed, mainlky white millet and thistle namely seed.

He is very thick through the neck, not fine boned like the other pair and their offspring. From what I understand from reading the ADA standards a shorter neck is desirable as long as it blends well. He is not very sleek looking past his neck. Looks more like a round ball with a tail and wings. I think what I will do is let him lose the extra weight and then select a hen that has a desirable shape but perhaps is a bit frail. He does have crooked toes but I am assumeing this is a result of an envirnment in the past.
Even so thanks for askiung questions and getting me to think a bit more about him.