dove release/ pigeon lobbing today

Hi,

I have just read about your venue problems, I really hope you get something sorted soon with them x

Now onto the doves........ No I don't like it, not one bit sorry. I personally think of two birds, shoved in a basket surrounded by people that are all slightly hyper/noisy possibly tipsy due to the nature of the day, then man handled by people who don't really know how to handle birds and then they are "lobbed" in the air I just don't like plus I think it's a bit cruel and a bit corny.

That's just my opionion though and it's entirely up to you if you want them or not !

Suze x

For the older Hitchers I wonder if Barry the Birdman will be on to comment !!!!!

Thankyou for replying , i love the fact on hitched you can ask a question and get honest answers , to answer a few of the bits, we r only having 25 ppl, there will have been no alcahol b4 they r released and we r going to day to meet the birds and learn how to handle them .

and who on earth is barry birdman lol

The Infamous Barry the Birdman posted on here a while back about his birds and as bird releases aren't something that's popular on Hitched it kind of descended into 50 pages of anarchy !! The thread was pulled but it made for hilarious reading at the time !!!

Hope I didn't offend, bird releases are just on same par as goldfish centre pieces lol !

Hope it goes well today, aren't you worried they may poop on you lol !

Prepare for a long respense (maybe not as long or controversial as the birdman one though lol)

Eek , was just trying to figure out why ppl didnt like them , not worried about poop at all, that is why we r going today , if you hold them correctly they shouldnt poop (fingers crossed) did look at a butterfly release but when i read about how they r packaged etc i thought that was cruel, plus birds fly home to a nice meal and their mates , butterflys die ☹️ i know all butterflys die but they get to live , not get stuck in a tiny box for god knows how many days

im on the fence with goldfish in bowls lol, dont see the difference in them on a table at the reception or sat in ya kitchen as long as they were handled correctly , had enough room in the bowl and there were no kids around or drunk ppl

Re Goldfish - how can you be on the fence on that one? Its a wedding and people will drink and people will throw things in the gold fish bowls and daft waiting staff will knock them over, and the heat in the room wont help, and kids will stick their fingers in. Some daft pillock will have abet to swallow one and someone else will think 'wonder what happens when I pour lager into the bowl.....' Not to mention the sound of people laughing and speaking reverberating through a glass bowl of water.... tis a bit scary. Its not right. ....

When we have lots of people round we even put the cat away, lol! Even the koi in the pond wont come to the surface to feed if theres people about..... animals are animals and should be treeated right.

as for pigeons/doves. I prever doves over pigeons. Two in a hamper of a good size is perfectly safe.... hell, I wonder where magicians keep theirs till the times required?! have nothing against the using of them, I just think its tacky...

what does it symbolise for you both?

Well generally I am of the opinion that live animals should not be used as party favours i.e. merely for our entertainment. I also think it must be distressing for them surrounded by lots of people in a confined space.

If you are insistent on doing it then you need to ensure they are a 'homing' style as a lot of doves released are not and end up dying in the wild.

HeeeHeee, pigeon lobbing. Love the terminology.

As long as your not going to arm your guests with guns and then shot the doves I don't have a major issue with it, and even if you were, as long as you ate them for dinner I still wouldn't mind.

Live centre pieces does seem extreme, I'm going to stick to candles personally.

I did say no kids or drunk ppl, with the goldfish comment

for us the 2 doves we r releasing are for my other halfs father and my nan who not so long ago passed on

i can think of a lot more tacky things but each to their own i suppose

they are deffinatly homing pigeons , they do training runs from the venue starting a few weeks b4 so they all get home safe and sound and nope we wont be arming anyone with shot guns , cause if we did it wouldnt be the birds ppl were aiming for lmao it would be each other

Then if they symbolise something then theres a good reason

Are they pigeons or doves?

I'm genuinely interested in this question so I'm not taking the p*ss. How do you train doves to go home? It isn't like someone can fly with them on the first flight and then they try themselves so how do they know where to go? This question has puzzled me for ages with pigeons.

I don't like the idea but since they are your fil2b's then it isn't like you are paying someone and I'm assuming since they are a pet of sorts they will be treated better. It's also a nice thing because it's related so your nan. I don't believe dove companies do try them correctly. I did a wedding exhibition and had the unfortunate experience of the stand 2 away from me being a dove company. I felt uneasy all day because the poor things where stuck in a tiny cage all day. I was roasting at the venue so how the feck did the doves feel. At least I could walk outside for some air and to stretch my legs and they couldn't. I was quite upset about the whole thing and if I hadn't been set up already before they arrived I would have asked to be moved so I couldn't see them.

Initially I thought goldfish were a great idea...before I came on here. I didn't think of the cruelty aspect stupidily.

Not sure how you can guarantee your guests won't be drunk. Doesn't matter there are only 25 of them as some will still drink surely?

I hate birds!!! i can't think of anything more terrifying as to hold one of these horrid creatures, i'm just scared of them and think they are gross with there pointy beaks and scratchy claws, it doesn't matter what kind of bird they are....apart from being scared of birds i'd be thinking what if they crap on your dress or on you head?

apart from being terrified of them it just seem a rather weird thing to do....kind of like realising homing pigeons at your wedding, i just think its stupid.

I'm with you on this one Cola, birds are my biggest fear!!

If i wasn't scared of birds and considered this for my wedding i think after they'd been released i'd drive myself mad worried if they had survived in the wild or if some nasty bigger bird had got hold of them, lol!

Grace, strange thing is i'm not scared of anything else just birds! it doesn't help that at the back of our house there is this huge fir tree and i'm sure it has 100 birds living in it waiting to get me....and there are birds in the loft!

Ah Barry the Birdman, that was a funny thread...I miss him. ?

Personally, I wouldn't have a dove release, but I have nothing against them, if they mean something to you then go for it. Goldfish centrepieces, however, I don't get. I didn't even realise people did that until I joined here, and it was on Four Weddings not long ago.

I just don't understand the point of a dove release. Being cooped up and having to travel by box isn't the natural state for a bird. It just screams 'tacky Hallmark card/nouveaux riche' to me.

That coupled with the Urban Dictionary definition http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=release%20the%20doves just leaves me a bit cold on the whole thing.

Just my opinion though.

?

If my geeky biology knowledge if correct, birds can navigate from almost anywhere using the earths magnetic field but they also learn land marks near their home to get exact positions. The reason they always fly home is because they will get some rumpy pumpy as a reward, oh and food.

Right we had our trial run and it was lovley , they arnt my fil2bs, hes dead as is my nan , we went to see the loft where they are kept and it was lovley and airey and clean , the birds seemed very happy from what i could tell , we were shown how to handle the birds in the right way , and they were so relaxed, no struggling etc, , then the ones in the very large hamper were released and they took off and started flying around, and around and around, apparently they do this for fun , then they started to return to the loft quite happily, they are not doves , they are white racing pigeons with a very good homing instinct , we asked how they are trained, they are taken 1 mile from home and released , then 2 miles , then 3 miles etc until they actually release them from your venue a few times so they deffinatly know the way home , he really seemed to care for his birds and was very happy to answer all our questions , i still cant believe how happy they were to be handled, turns out they are all home bred and so happy to be handled, and watching them fly around together and swoop up and down was actually quite a sight to see.

i can guarntee no body will be drinking at the wedding as we are only serving orange juice, ppl can drink at the reception , which is obviously after the birds have been released

i was worried about some of these things , and so asked questions , as to training see above post, the birds are transported the same way as when they are on training runs, we saw the boxes and they arnt little, the birds will be in cages out side the venue , they have water pots in the cages , they will arrive at the venue just b4 the guests arrive so will be in the cages for a little over an hour and a half, the hamper the other birds are kept in is huge , they are not squashed in and have plenty of room to move around and as it is a hamper there is enough air circulating .

the bird guy said he has know of companys who dont train their birds to return home, they just release the birds , who stay by where they are released and eventually starve , he seemed really upset that ppl will do this sort of thing , he breeds his own birds and to him they are pets , not just a money maker , im glad i took the time to find somebody who cares so deeply for his birds , even my oh was impressed , and it really is a lovley sight when they all fly round together x

Good for you, if the birds are kept well i think its a lovely gesture to the ones that can't be with you x

Mrsjbw2b, I think this is a lovely idea and you have obviously chosen a breeder well. My brother in law is a pigeon racer and so is his father (he has raced from before my brother in law was born), therefore when my sister and brother in law got married they released a basket full of white pigeons; it was very beautiful. The birds (and also the ones you have chosen to release) are more than used to travelling in baskets and being handled and will quite happily find their way home from anywhere new (my brother in law regularly sends his as far away as Belgium with only the odd one getting a little lost, but they all have identity rings on so they generally get back eventually). Like you say, the birds are pets and well cared for (they have to be looked after the amount some of them cost!). I agree with the concerns about goldfish as fish need a lot more specialist equipment over a short space of time (filters etc) whereas birds will be quite happy with some food and water and a bit of a petting. Will the owner of the birds be there until after the release? If so, then he can make sure they are alright so you won't have to worry about them. The difference between having goldfish and birds is also that the fish will more than likely be there all day and night with nobody to look after them but the birds will only be there for a short space of time and then be flying back home for some grub!

I understand it's not everyone's cup of tea but the world would be boring if we all liked the same thing! I think you've done the right thing in researching it thoroughly and making sure the birds are well cared for. Also, a very touching sentiment.

Im not overly fussed with them- I just find them slightly tacky.. on par with goldfish, balloons and magicians...

(cue a load of upset hitchers!)

The bird man has a web site , and when he does the training runs he posts how many hes relseased and what time they got home, and if one goes walkies he posts when it does get home, he has so far not lost any for more than a couple of days , he stays at the venue the entire time, and he passes us the birds they way we practiced , so they are held correctly , and contory to popular belief they arnt chucked into the air , you just raise your arms slowley as you let go

and be4 this the theme of my wedding was me and otherhalf getting married , that was all , may have to rethink this to tacky , lmao im having balloons as well , i dont mind , it was never a huge budget affair , think in total we have spent about 5 grand , but we are doing what we want so yeah for tacky ?