I have never prepared a field for doves before. How soon before I plan to hunt should I top sow my wheat?

and another question as well.....do they only eat the seed or do they still feed on the wheat after it begins to sprout?

The best way is disc strips every week and sow wheat. A week to 10 days before season disc the rest of the field a sow unless you plan to have multiple shoots.

A week before for me.

Are you in an area with lots of ag already?

I've got a 5ac square shaped field in south Baldwin county with lots of ag around it and other dove fields too.

So Im not really worried about drawing birds to the area.
Im just going to pull them off of the other fields

My plan is to turn over the whole field, then "plant" wheat @ 200lb/ac in maybe a quarter of it a week before I want to hunt. If I do a quarter of the field at a time as long as I am in the date ranges I should be able to get 4 shoots out of it. My understanding is this is legal as long as you are not discing the "old" wheat under and "planting" over the top of it.

Ok. That makes sense. Thanks.

If all you use is wheat then plan on some rain...my experience FWIW....

I've got a field that I always hunt the last Saturday of September. Won't start until first week of September. This works partly because it's a naturally attractive spot with a pond and powerline. I hunt this field late because it helps to coincide with the goatweed popping its seeds. (Wooly Croaton). I have found that unless it rains a lot the bird numbers seem to peak about two weeks from final field prep. And no they won't eat sprouted wheat. I have heard of putting the wheat in the microwave for 15 secs will prevent sprouting but I've never tried it. Wouldn't be legal anyway.

Your best bet is stick it in the oven in a big pan and parch it. You can do way more at one time that way just saying.