# At what age does a male dove bond to its owner?



## Sheather (Oct 13, 2015)

I have a single male ringneck who hatched in mid June and has been handled, petted, and socialized since his eyes first opened. As a result, he is hand-tame, tolerates some petting, and has no human fear. However, he is completely indifferent to people, will never come to you on his own terms, and most always prefers to be by himself. I understand that doves form mate bonds to their owners. Is it likely then that Sparky will become friendlier and more interested in interaction with people with sexual maturity?


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## kiddy (Feb 5, 2015)

Hi,
Usually hand reared pigeons /doves are very familiar and tamed but all depends on them. Some like to be petted and handled but some do not. Still when they feel like they fly to owners because they know and recognize them very well. 
It is all their choice. When they are growing up to adults, their behaviors change and they usually like more to be untouched. Less likely they get tamed at that stage. 
What you can do best is to give him time and also feed in your hands. Don't leave the food with him all the time. when they are hungry they will come to you and recognise you as a source of feed. I find this as the best technique to tame them. 
All the very best for you little fellow.


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## The Blue Barred Loft (Oct 1, 2015)

With enough time and patience you can get any aged pet bird to bond with you. If you wish for the bird to eat from your hand I would not do as Kiddy said about removing the food until they are hungry and come to you for food. Behavioral shaping will work without removing food. Find a favorite food for example I have an indoor pigeon who will do anything for some rice or safflower seeds. Only use that favorite food as a treat and only offer it by hand. Eventually the bird will realize that if it comes up to you then it will get what it wants. It is techniques like this that create the amazingly friendly parrots you may see and it can be used with any bird or even many other animals. It is easiest to teach birds things while they are still young before they've reached sexual maturity but you can do it with older birds also, it just takes a little more time. I for example trained a 9 year old parrot who had been nicknamed by people "the flesh eater" because he was so aggressive and now he is very friendly and loves to be held, petted, and scratched on the head. Just do not get frustrated when something doesn't go right, birds can detect this and they do not like it at all, it requires a lot of patience.


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## Jay3 (May 4, 2008)

I also agree that the food shouldn't be taken away. When you do that, you are forcing a bird who does not want to, to come to you or starve. That doesn't seem fair to me. I too use their favorite treats to get them to want to come to me. Better when you are tempting them rather than forcing them. I use safflower, sunflower kernels, and chopped peanuts. Just go easy on these things. They love them, but are high in fat. You want them to want to come to you. And yes, takes a lot of patience.


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## kiddy (Feb 5, 2015)

Thanks for the inputs, I am always happy to read everyone's posts, agreements /disagreements are a part of discussion forums.
I think I should elaborate my point so to not starve the bird which I didn't mean of course. 
If it seemed like birds would chase humans for feed when hungry it is almost impossible unless they are very tame.
To tame them we have to offer them food several times a day from our hands, even sometimes a few seeds can be given in mouth. 
When my hen flew, my cock was a lone bird. He was afraid of me as well being new to my place. I wanted to get him a mate but that had to take one week so I wanted to tame him so he can share some of his time with me and don't feel that lonely, he would search for his mate in my whole room exploring every corner and cooing and that seemed awful. I read online that offering seeds in hand is a good technique to tame them. I offered but he didn't eat, I took it back but since he was in my room, I kept on talking to him so he feels unafraid. Even I feel bad when he didn't eat but I was trying to help in his loneliness. I didn't have a desire to force him to come to me but I wanted he doesn't feel lonely. So again I offered him after half an hour(not from far but going near to his nesting box where he would sit) he didn't eat again, I kept it back. I must mention that I kept holding the feed in my hands almost 10-15 minutes just in front of him and he was watching it but wasn't eating. Then I tried again in half an hour and he didn't eat again, this time I didn't take it back but I left it with him and I too sat near him. He started eating from the bowl. Next time I tried again the very same way but he didn't eat. I must say that I would get tired holding feed in my hand for long times but I was trying to tame him as he was a lone bird. 
Next day in morning in my second or third attempt(as I remember it was second but not very sure) he started eating in my hand but still I kept continuing the same and he kept eating that way. After a few days I kept a bowl near my hand with feed and he preferred eating from my hand. 
Then after a week I bought a mate for him, she was completely wild but when she saw my cock eating from my hand she too would come to me for feed but then she laid eggs and the feed was available all the time because they had to raise kids. 
I didn't try to tame my hen because she had a mate since start and so she is still the same wild. 

I have handled their kids since start but to one I had to hand feed due to some reasons, is very tame, the second one whom I handled but didn't hand feed is just like his mother and I didn't tame with feed etc because they are all happy together. 
My cock is still tame and never refuses to eat if I offer feed in my hands, rather prefer it even if I don't offer him for many days, he doesn't change. He doesn't fly away also when I approach him.

Just wanted to share the whole thing so no bird starves because of me. All in all giving them time and patience is the key. Feed calls play very important role in training as well as in taming which I read almost everywhere.

Still it is all up to us( if we understand their behaviors and follow a better way) , how we feel like to do because everyone is different and think and feel differently.


Also, giving the treats too is a good option, chopped peanuts work great in taming them, just to be given as treats as excess of fat is harmful.


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## The Blue Barred Loft (Oct 1, 2015)

The two previous posts mentioned feeding peanuts as a treat. I would not do that. As was said they are high in fat. They do contain some healthy monounsaturated fats but fats are still fats. They can build up in the liver over time and cause fatty liver disease which all birds can get with certain kinds being more susceptible to it than others. Peanuts also can contain aflatoxins produced by certain strains of the aspergillus fungi which humans take in daily usually without any effect but birds can get aspergillosis from it much more easily than humans which can kill them and is difficult to treat. Roasting peanuts can kill the fungi but it really isn't good to give roasted nuts to birds. If you wish to feed peanuts make sure they are food grade for humans. Small amounts of aspergillus is still allowed in food grade peanuts but it will greatly lower the chance of your bird getting sick because the allowed amount is so small. I personally wouldn't want to risk it when there are plenty of better and healthier things that can be fed as treats. 

Kiddy, sorry for the misunderstanding, the way you said it made it sound like you were denying them food to get them to come to you when you said "don't leave the food with him all the time". With a birds high metabolism that wouldn't be a good thing, there's a reason why they eat so often during the day.


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## Jay3 (May 4, 2008)

Safflower seeds are also high in fat, not quite as high, but high none the less, so you would have to be careful with giving them too many of those also.


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## The Blue Barred Loft (Oct 1, 2015)

Jay3 said:


> Safflower seeds are also high in fat, not quite as high, but high none the less, so you would have to be careful with giving them too many of those also.


I realize that. I don't mean to sound like I am trying to prove you guys wrong here. I have spent a lot of time over the years studying animal behavior and just like many humans, when given the chance, they seem to prefer fatty foods even if they aren't part of their natural diet. That is why I feed them as treats and since they are fed as treats they are kept to a very small percentage of the diet. My main point with the peanuts was the disease risk, not the fat but you're right safflower is still high in fat. 1 oz of safflower seeds still has 11 grams of fat which is close 1 oz of peanuts has 14 grams of fat.


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