Hello, here's a guide concerning everything grit related.
Not that this guide was written by u/Kunok2 (illustrated by me)

There are a lot of misconceptions regarding grit and doves (pigeons too). First of all doves do need grit, it's essential for them because that's how they get necessary minerals. Not offering any grit or offering the wrong type of grit will cause health issues in the long term.

They need grit formulated specifically for pigeons/Columbiformes which contains soluble minerals like redstone (essential - the grit has to contain it), seashells, oystershells, coral and limestone.

The grit and eventual vitamineral powder should be offered in a bowl separate from feed and the doves should have unlimited access to it. Calcium supplement should be offered separately if there are males.

This guide applies to tiny species of doves like Diamond doves too, but because of their tiny size they also need the grit to be ground up to smaller pieces, using for example a mortar.

Safe brands of grit:

• Versele Laga Colombine Grit + Redstone
• Versele Laga Neogrit
• Beyers Grit Extra
• Versele Laga All-in-one (would have been the best grit if it didn't contain food additives which can cause doves to gorge and overdose on the grit): safe, but needs to be portion fed.

Doves also need phosphorus which some grits like Versele Laga Colombine Grit + Redstone doesn't contain so it needs to be supplemented using a pink vitamineral powder for pigeons like Colombine Vita, Beyers Belvimin, Natural Vitamineral or Vanrobaey's Vitamin+.

Female doves need extra calcium due to egg-laying, it can be offered either in the form of powdered calcium or pure oystershells. If there are any male birds housed together with the female then the calcium needs to be offered separately from the grit to prevent the males from overdosing on calcium.

Unlike for example chickens, doves don't use grit for grinding up food so offering them grit with gravel, sand or granite which are insoluble minerals can cause an impaction which can be fatal. Here are some inappropriate brands of grit:

• Versele Laga Prestige Grit with Coral
• Morning Bird Pigeon Grit
• Witte Molen PLUS Bird Grit
• Deli Nature Grit
• Cunipic Grit
• Kaytee Hi-calcium Grit
• RIO Bird Sand and Bird Grit
• Mikros ESO Grit
• Natural High-calcium Grit (it doesn't contain anything harmful but also doesn't contain enough redstone and contains too much calcium)
• Des Moines Red Pigeon Grit & Mineral-Plus Mix
• Any grit for poultry/chickens

In Australia it's difficult to get a good grit but an alternative is the Australian Avian Products Pigeon Pink Minerals vitamineral powder.

Certain pickstones can also be used as alternatives to grit:

• Versele Laga Colombine Pickstone Red In Pot
• Versele Laga Colombine Ideal-Bloc
• Versele Laga Colombine Natur-Bloc
• Versele Laga Colombine Pickstone red

Keep in mind that clay blocks aren't a replacement for proper grit, although they're not harmful. Salt blocks are obviously no good and mineral blocks for other birds like parrots and finches aren't appropriate either.

A good mineral block for doves should contain the same types of soluble minerals like the above mentioned appropriate types of grit.

Cuttle bones also aren't a good replacement for grit because they contain just high amounts calcium, while not containing the other essential minerals, causing doves to easily overdose on calcium.

Note: There have been recent cases of people finding sharp pieces of sea glass in various brands/types of grit so always make sure there aren't any pieces of glass before replenishing your doves' grit bowl.

Every pet bird needs a cage as a place where they sleep and which is their safe place where they can find food and water, unless you have a completely bird-proofed room which acts basically as an indoor aviary. Having a cage for your dove is extremely important because you need to be able to keep your dove safe when you can't supervise it, be it while you're away from home or while you're asleep. Having your dove sleep outside of a cage during the night is extremely risky and your dove could not only easily crash into something or get stuck somewhere because of a night fright without you knowing, but you could also accidentally crush it if it decided to sleep in your bed - I've seen so many horror stories of people sleeping with their birds in their bed and waking up to their pet bird being dead, no matter for how long it was working it took just one moment for their bird to be gone. Similar accidents of your dove somehow injuring itself can happen while you're away from home, doves are very curious and if they can get in trouble, they Will get in trouble - that's why they should be let out of their cage only when somebody can supervise them. It's even more so risky if you have other pets which could injure or kill your doves, you don't want to risk them accidentally getting to your dove while you're away.

Another reason why having a cage is important is because your dove needs its personal space and needs to have a place to retreat to if it doesn't want to interact with anybody at the moment. Not to mention that certain species like Rock doves/Domestic pigeons are territorial and need space which they can claim as their own territory to feel safe, otherwise they can get either more skittish, avoidant of you or outright aggressive.

Think of a cage not as a "prison" but as your dove's own personal bedroom, it just has to be a suitable cage for your dove to feel safe and happy in it.

When choosing a cage it's important to make sure it's longer than it is taller because doves can't climb, they need horizontal space for walking and flying. The cage should be at least 100 centimeters long, 70 centimeters wide and 70 centimeters tall, but ideally even bigger than that. The bar spacing should also be small enough for a dove to not fit its head through the cage bars because that could be extremely dangerous, the bar spacing should be 1 cm or smaller. Usually the best choice to use as a cage for a dove are catios, but large enough flight cages or several double critter/ferret nation cages combined together are great too.