Tuesday, September 8, 2009

September Fresh Country Air

My wife and I just celebrated seven years of blissful marriage. Every once in awhile, she will pull out the old wedding album and reminisce about our fancy wedding day. With plenty of help from our extended family, we did almost everything from the food to the décor for the big event and my attentive wife missed no detail -- except for one. We did not have doves.

According to Craig Miller, owner of Craig’s Releasable Doves in Allen County, the elegant birds add a special touch to a wedding or most any event. Miller, now 22, grew up raising just about every kind of poultry he could through 4-H. Back in 2005, he came across an advertisement that intrigued him. 



"I saw in a magazine that there was a dove business in Columbus and I thought that might be something good to have up here," Miller said. "Then, at one of the swap meets I went to, I got some white homing pigeons to start my dove business. We use the larger, white birds because they are easier to handle."

Miller was immediately excited about the idea. After all, what could go wrong with a business plan including animals that come back after being sold? Miller said the birds are pretty easy to care for and stay very clean.

He started out with four birds that reproduced prolifically. Now he has about 80 on his northwest Ohio farm.

"You need to have plenty of birds because you are going to lose some. Only about 75% of them fly back," Miller said.

Thus far, weddings and funerals account for nearly all of Miller's dove release events. Releases are either done by hand or simply opening the top of the cage.

"We typically release two for a wedding, one for the bride and one for the groom," he said. "The bride and the groom each hold one and release them at the same time. The birds usually fly up and do a circle then fly off. Everybody loves it."

Funeral dove releases tend to evoke even stronger emotions.

"In a funeral we can help with the healing process a little bit," Miller said. "This symbol means so much to some people that it is really amazing. At funerals, releasing the dove is almost like they're letting that person go."

At a funeral for a friend, the four children of the deceased each released a dove at the funeral. One of the doves, instead of returning to their home, went to the home of the deceased several miles from the gravesite and the opposite direction of Miller's home.

"The wife thought that was really special," he said.

Miller does not have a set fee, but bases his cost on the specifics of the situation and the amount of travel required.

"We have gone to events in Putnam, Van Wert and Paulding counties, and if someone hears about us and wants us to go somewhere else, we're willing to do some traveling," Miller said. "We really try to be flexible so we can meet everyone's needs. The brides and their moms tend to love the idea of releasing doves. The grooms usually aren't too excited about it. Getting the initial sale is the tough part. After that, it is fun coming up with ideas about how they want it done."

The business is fairly small at this point, with about one dove release a month, which is fine for Miller who is a senior in agricultural engineering at Ohio State University. His dad, Kenny, helps with the birds and the business while Miller is in Columbus. Miller does not release the birds in the cold winter months or in the rain to protect the birds.

For events, Miller shows up at the appropriate time dressed in a suit with wet wipes, hand sanitizer and the proper number of doves in an elegant looking cage under a cloth cover.

"I get them out of the cage and hand the birds to the bride and groom or whoever is releasing them," Miller said. "Typically they're really docile birds and they don't mind being handled."

Though my wife may lament the lack of doves at our wedding, all hope is not lost. Our young daughter will probably have a fancy wedding someday, and my wife may kill me for complaining about paying for it. Wedding or funeral -- either way, we’ll probably need some doves.

For more about Miller's Dove Business, please contact Craig at 419-233-8200 or e-mail kmiller179@woh.rr.com.

 

Matt Reese writes for Ohio’s Country Journal and lives in Baltimore, Ohio. For questions or comments, please contact him at mkcreese@yahoo.com

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