About Our Doves.
The White Dove Company's loft is a purpose built state of the art complex which comfortably houses over 250 working birds and 30 breeding birds.
The White Dove Company's original breeding programme involved crossing the common white farm dove, which is petite in size and can home from just 8-10 miles, with the larger white racing pigeon which can home from distances of up to 700 miles.
Year on year the hybrid birds were paired back with farm doves until virtually all of the white racing pigeon blood was bred out, leaving the unique breed of petite homing doves that are used today.
Our pure white homing doves are the only breed of their kind in the world today. We believe that we are the sole company in the UK to provide pure bred white ‘doves’ for release and not a substitute white racing pigeon which most other providers use.
The White Dove Company’s colony of birds are petite and elegant yet can home from distances of 60 miles and at speeds of between 35-75mph. The doves are trained in all weathers and have the capability and strength to cope with most conditions after their release. The welfare of our doves is paramount - in adverse weather conditions it may not be possible to release them.
The doves undergo months of training to ensure they can navigate their way home after release. While the birds require sufficient time to return home before dusk, the timing of the release is otherwise very flexible.
The bird's housing is divided into sections for nursery birds, yearlings, two year olds and older. They are used to living inside with all the home comforts and after exercise or after a release it is very rare for them not to return home. They work up to seven or eight years of age, then are retired into our breeding section. Most doves live until they are around 12 years old.
A white dove is believed to be a symbolic peace maker and a religious sign.
A freed dove is an emblem of harmony, happiness and will certainly
reflect inner peace.