# Help with a baby Mourning Dove



## Mstachitus (Jun 25, 2015)

I was helping my parents cut down a tree in their back yard, and about halfway through the process my mom noticed a baby Bird in the wood pile. It had fallen in at some point, assuming from a nest in the tree. It seemed extremely weak.

I moved it from the wood pile onto the grass in the shade while my parents continued working and went to get my wife. She decided that we would try to care for the little guy.

We didn't notice any open wounds, but the baby wasn't moving much. It is very possible that it could have been crushed or hit on the head from the falling wood. We made it a little nest in a small shoebox with some tissue paper, and laid that on a heating pad. Do you guys think that is enough heat? It is super hot outside and our house has been around 80 degrees anyway, since we have not been using AC.

We have never cared for birds before, and we had no idea what to do or what kind of bird it was. We noticed it had a long, skinny, black beak and eventually decided that it looked like pictures of baby pigeons. We think we narrowed it down to a Mourning Dove.

Google provided us with some information, some bad, some good. We made it some food out of some wet cat food and a little hard boiled egg blended up. We saw a YouTube video that showed how to feed it with a syringe and a nitrile glove over the hole, with a small hole for the squab to insert its beak, and it works very well. We unfortunately read somewhere that it needed to eat every 30 - 45 minutes, and we tried at first, but noticed it getting very full (we thought it was its stomach, but now know it is the Crop). We now know that the Crop needs to empty between feedings and that it needs to only eat 3 - 4 times a day.

We let the little guy alone for the rest of the night, and by morning the Crop had emptied. It had also pooped a few times, so I figure that is a good sign.

We found online a recipe called MacMilk: Crop Milk Replacement, and made up a batch of that to use today instead of the other food we made. We had to buy a couple of the ingredients.

We figure the bird is about 9 or 10 days old, according to some pigeon pictures we compared it to.

Our concerns are that the baby dove is very lethargic. It doesn't move much and we haven't heard it make any peeping sounds or anything, which we think is odd. I am not sure if it is having labored breathing, since I don't know what normal breathing should look like. Any signs of labored breathing that you can tell me?

We read somewhere that Mourning Doves are stressed very easily, so we just leave it alone in the warm, semi dark room between feedings.

Any advice? Is the bird supposed to be making chirping sounds? I'll post some pictures later.

By the way, we are in Mapleton Utah.


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## Skyeking (Jan 17, 2003)

*Can you post a picture of the baby?

The baby should be active and chirping for food, unless it is in shock or injured/sick.

Always be sure the baby is warm, the formula is warm before feeding. This is crucial to crop emptying. What feeding utensil are you using to get formula in baby? 

You should put a drop of applesauce in the formula to get crop moving quicker.

Please check this link for great advice on feeding baby pigeons/doves: http://www.pigeonrescue.co.uk/caringforababypigeon.htm *


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## Mstachitus (Jun 25, 2015)

Skyeking said:


> *Can you post a picture of the baby?
> 
> The baby should be active and chirping for food, unless it is in shock or injured/sick.
> 
> ...


As I indicated in my starting post, we have been using a syringe with a nitrile glove covering the hole, and the nitrile glove has a hole that the bird inserts its beak into. It has been working very well. We have been making sure the food is a little warmer than room temperature. Should we warm it more than that? We will try the applesauce.

The baby bird has not been active or chirping at all. There are no noticeable body injuries that we can find, however.

I'll post some pictures soon. I am at work and my wife is home. I asked her to send me some.

Can you tell me what normal breathing should look like?


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## Mstachitus (Jun 25, 2015)

Here are some pictures:


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## Mstachitus (Jun 25, 2015)

Well I arrived home from work, and it looks like the baby is doing much better. It has a little more energy and is not breathing so heavily. It also has been chirping when people go into the room, which is a huge improvement from when it was making absolutely no sounds.

The crop is emptying well and he is responding well to the food. Looks like he will pull through! I was surprised, to be honest, that he survived the night. He has eaten 3 times today and has been pooping regularly (as far as I can tell). The poop seems to be of a slight greenish, yellowish color, and white. Is that normal?

So what is normal as far as mobility? He doesn't have much ability to move around, it seems. His legs do not seem to support his weight. I figure perhaps he is calcium deficient? There is calcium added to the food recipe we followed (MacMilk).

Oh, and we think that it is possibly a Eurasian Collared Dove, and not a Mourning Dove like we originally thought. Hard to tell at this stage, and I have no experience with birds.


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## Skyeking (Jan 17, 2003)

*Thank you for the update! Good to hear the baby is better.

You need to get the baby in a small nest type bowl and use straw, pine needles so baby can grip onto it, before that leg splays out. Make sure the baby has traction under its feet, it needs to be able to grip the bottom so its legs stay neatly tucked under it while in sitting position. If the leg is left like that too long, it will stay that way.

Scroll down to splay leg: http://www.pigeonrescue.co.uk/legs.htm *


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## Mstachitus (Jun 25, 2015)

Thanks for the feedback. The nest I made was a small cardboard box. I laid down a small hand towel on the bottom of the box so that the bird can have better grip. I laid another towel in kind of in a circle to mimick a nest. I then lay tissue paper or paper towels on top of that for easier cleaning. The box itself is sitting on a heating pad. Does that sound sufficient?

The bird usually does not have the leg splayed out like that. It almost always has his feet under him. His legs don't seem terribly strong yet, but I don't know if that is normal. He doesn't try to move around much.

So we have been keeping the light off in the room we house him except for when we feed him. Should we be getting him some sunlight occasionally?


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## Skyeking (Jan 17, 2003)

*Baby needs warmth and it is crucial it gets calcium/D3 for now, but sunlight will do the bird good when it gets older, but bird should always be warm and out of drafts of air. If the macmilk diet does not have calcium/D3 & probiotics, it might be best to get a baby bird formula that contains it.*


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## Mstachitus (Jun 25, 2015)

Skyeking said:


> *Baby needs warmth and it is crucial it gets calcium/D3 for now, but sunlight will do the bird good when it gets older, but bird should always be warm and out of drafts of air. If the macmilk diet does not have calcium/D3 & probiotics, it might be best to get a baby bird formula that contains it.*


I am pretty sure that the baby has been sufficiently warm. Our house is usually around 80 degrees because of the hot summer right now, and then we have a heating pad below his nest.

There is calcium and other vitamins added with the MacMilk formula. I know there is Vitamin D is some of the ingredients of the food, but it is not added separately like calcium and vitamin C.

I posted another thread specifically about the splay leg problem, which I think he might have.


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## CBL (May 13, 2014)

It is normal at this age to NOT be able to stand and support its weight, same with baby pigeons. Is this macmilk a baby bird formula, if so it has everything it needs. Baby mourning doves fledge quicker than pigeons as well. Baby looks good to me. Also in the beginning when u found it, it is more crucial to rehydrate than feed, so good work. Warmth, hydration, feed in that order. Looks like u have that all covered. You also mention that he is feeding by sticking his beak into the glove, that means he feels good enough to want to feed that is a good sign. I would say give 3 to 6 feedings a day, the crop does not have to completely empty during the day, but overnight once is good. More pics when u can thanks.


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## Mstachitus (Jun 25, 2015)

CBL said:


> It is normal at this age to NOT be able to stand and support its weight, same with baby pigeons. Is this macmilk a baby bird formula, if so it has everything it needs. Baby mourning doves fledge quicker than pigeons as well. Baby looks good to me. Also in the beginning when u found it, it is more crucial to rehydrate than feed, so good work. Warmth, hydration, feed in that order. Looks like u have that all covered. You also mention that he is feeding by sticking his beak into the glove, that means he feels good enough to want to feed that is a good sign. I would say give 3 to 6 feedings a day, the crop does not have to completely empty during the day, but overnight once is good. More pics when u can thanks.


Thanks for the info. He is doing very well now, from what I can tell, except for the possible splay leg problem. I posted some updated info and photos here:

http://www.pigeons.biz/forums/f6/help-with-splay-leg-baby-77013.html

We have been feeding him usually 4 times a day, and that seems to be working out pretty well.


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## Isacr101 (Jun 5, 2015)

Please take to your local wildlife center. If not get Kaytee bird formula keep him warm and dry feed often and keep us updated


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