FAQs -- Miscellaneous

Our animals

Doves

I saw the picture of your doves, I think they are lovely. My mother has two of them but we don't let them out to fly around the town, how do you know they'll come back?

I've been looking for information about the collared dove on the net lately and I can't find anything to help me. I'm looking for stuff like what they like to eat, their habitat, breeding, you know all that stuff. Anyway, would you please be able to send me some info or let me know of a site I can look up?

We have about 20. I occasionally let them out to fly around. They usually come back, but sometimes they're too stupid to figure out how to get back inside the aviary, so they roost on top. I use a net and capture these stragglers as soon as it turns dark. They usually don't venture too far. Yes, occasionally I lose one, perhaps to a hawk or something, but they breed like rats (sometimes it seems that way, anyway). I certainly wouldn't let them out if I only had two.

From egg to chick takes about 14 days, I think. The chicks grow quickly, and in about 3 more weeks, the chick is almost as large as the mother, and can fly.

I feed them 'dove mix', which contains milo (sorghum grain), wheat, millet, and small sunflower seeds (in the shell). Our aviary also has chickens and ducks, so our doves occasionally also get chicken scratch (cracked corn, wheat, milo) and lay mash/crumbles/pellets.

I don't know of any web sites to look them up.

I do know that they can become naturalized in some locations. Apparently, somewhere in Los Angeles, there is a wild flock.

Howard Miracle Plum
I was searching for a source of Howard Miracle Plum and your site was one of the findings. I've had one of these trees off and on for years. I'm hopefully going to be here in New Mexico for a time and would like to plant some of my favorite plums. Can you tell me where you got the plum?

I too had been searching for Howard Miracle Plum for several years before I found it, as it too was one of my favorites when I was growing up.

I eventually found it at Green Thumb Nursery in Ventura, CA. I believe that they get their stock from Dave Wilson Nursery, a wholesaler.