# Advice for weaning stubborn dove



## Seijun (Apr 14, 2010)

Does anyone have any advice for weaning a young dove onto seeds who does NOT want to be weaned? 
Fijit the Collared dove is a month old now, and is even less interested in seeds than he was 2 weeks ago! I have been trying to get him to eat a seed mix that has various small finch seeds mixed in with larger stuff like cracked corn and sunflower seeds, so he has lots to choose from. I can peck at the seeds with my fingers and he will look interested, but he won't come down from his perch to get any (a week ago if I did this, he would at least fly down). If I take him off his perch and set him near the seeds, he will peck at the ones on the floor and in the dish but he doesn't eat them, just picks them up and flings them to the side. After about a minute he gets tired and flies back up to his perch and wont come down again. Even when I let his crop empty and he is hungry, he still wont come down to the cage floor to eat anything! I've tried soaking the seeds in water and even mixing them with a little formula and he will eat some of it then, but only so long as it stays warm, which is about 1 minute. I also tried putting wet seeds in his feeding syringe instead of his regular seed/formula mix, and he refused to eat it. 
What else can I do?


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## pdpbison (Mar 15, 2005)

If hand raised, and untill they are into the last phases of fledgling-independence stage, they really do want to be fed...even if they have long since learned to peck and self feed.


You could gently guide his Beak ( assuming he will 'nuzzle'? ) into a little deep Cup of small whole Seeds, and if he is Nuzzling, he will 'gobble' the Seeds.

The best way to do this, is to have him on a folded Towel, on your lap, as you sit...little deep cup of Seeds, in front of him.

Have your finger tips warm and slightly moist, and keep them on the sides of his Beak while guiding it into the Seeds, and, keeping them there as he 'gobbles'.


This may take a few tries, for you to get it right.


This, after a few sessions over a day or two, will see him begin pecking the Seeds in addition to 'gobbling', and, on from there, with him pecking, and no more need of your fingertips on his Beak to get him onto it.


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## Seijun (Apr 14, 2010)

He does nuzzle a little bit, but he's not really serious about it anymore. He knows food comes from the syringe, not my fingers. I got him to stick his beak through my fingers once into the seed cup, but as seen as his beak hit the seeds he pulled back and now he won't do it again.


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## Tayzi (Apr 10, 2010)

Even now Splat still flings the seed round with his beak, and isnt an expert at picking it up, compared to watching the adult Doves in the garden, it took a long while to totally ween Splat and even now if one of us is mixing something with a spoon and a bowl he shivers and sqeaks like mad thinking its syringe time. 
I am confident it will come naturally eventually but when hand reared they are attatched, if in the wild it would be tough love by Mun and Dad. 
Can you take him into the garden/outside in his cage and scatter seeds round for other birds to come close to feed, to show him what to do.
Splat always flys down to the bottom of his cage if other birds are feeding.
Rachel


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## Larry_Cologne (Jul 6, 2004)

Remember that a baby sees the parent as safety. As long as the parent is around, they are safe. So, it makes sense that some infants will cling to the parents and do anything necessary to keep them nearby. An abandoned baby, or one left alone even for a short time, is often eaten. The baby has good survival instincts, then. He's not interested in prepping for medical school, learning to outfly hawks, whatever. He wants mom or dad nearby, then immediate concerns are alleviated. He may act more helpless than he really is if necessary for his needs.

You have to consider his needs, and your own needs. You have two priorities where a baby is concerned. He comes first, and you come first. You sacrifice everything but your essential self for him. If you're dead or totally incapacitated and prostrated, then you cannot be there to sacrifice everything for him. I find that for me, when I have established and reviewed these basic principles for myself, everything else falls into place, every solution to every contingency comes a bit easier. 

When I raised rescued baby feral pigeons, since I had the resources (not a lot of money, but enough patience and plenty of time since I am on a disability pension), I let the baby or squeaker dictate the terms as much as possible. Some took to feeding very quickly, and from one day to the next went from being totally hand-fed to avoiding being fed even one seed. 

Each baby is different in some ways. When I pay close enough attention to the individual needs of a bird, not just the physical but also the emotional needs, I feel that when he is weaned at his own pace and feels secure in his surroundings, he will be confident and independent and more ready to interact with other pigeons more quickly and more surely than if I rush things because of my imaginary agenda, or if I rush things because of a very real and necessary agenda dictated by others and circumstances beyond my control (such as discontent landlords, natural disasters, whatever). This is not to say that "tough love" or encouragement does not have its place. Some babies and teenagers need a push; some need to be restrained. Mistakes will be made either way.

I had the best experience with my rescued-as-a-baby and hand-raised male pigeon *Wieteke*. I let him set his own agenda for observing at the window, venturing outside, spending his first night on a window ledge across the street where he could see me in bed, then going out for the day to hang out with the local street pigeons, coming in to eat when he wished, finding a feral mate, making a nest inside, raising several sets of babies. I last saw him when he was almost three years old. He and I had been through a lot together.

Larry


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