# Baby Mourning Dove, Won't eat



## Soros (Aug 31, 2011)

Sunday Evening I was mowing the lawn on my riding mower when I discovered a baby mourning dove in my path - it was moving rather feebly and made no sounds so I almost didn't see it. I have seen some baby birds belonging to other species in the area and they always chirped very excitedly when I happened get close (the parents were always overhead yelling too).

I scooped this little guy up and put him under a tree and finished my chore. I went to check on him and noticed he was still there and it was getting fairly dark so I decide to take him in for the night. The next morning he was still alive, and still very quiet so I prepared a hardboiled egg for him and chopped it up into tiny little pieces. I very gently fed him maybe an 8th of the egg before putting him back under the tree hoping that mama bird would come back and take care of him. I also scattered some seeds under the tree as an "incentive."

No luck, something had came by in my absence and ate the seeds but the baby dove was still there. I fed him some baby food (corns and peas, and also chicken and veggies) before going out and buying some Kaytee Exact). If I had to guess I'd say he is approximately 11-15 days old. The first night I had him he had a lot of down but the next morning he seemingly grew a bunch of feathers overnight...

I have a few questions now:

1. How do you tell if his crop is full? I am currently feeding him on this schedule:

9:00 AM (6 ml of Kaytee)
1-2 PM (6 ml of Kaytee)
4-5 PM (6 ml of Kaytee)
7 PM (6 ml of Kaytee)
10 PM (6 ml of Kaytee)

Problem is this bird really doesn't like food. I tried to get him to eat seeds and the formula using the ways I've read (covered/cutoff syringe, testtube that fits his head/beak, cutoff glove) but he won't eat. he'll venture a couple of pecks at it and then refuse. So I've been using a coffee straw or syringe to get food into him. I probably only get 3-4 ml into him because so much of it ends up spilling. I get the food to about 100 degrees, make a thicker mixture.

He won't eat or drink on his own. To get him to drink I turn the tap on really slight and put him within close range so he can peck at the stream. Or i hold him and put a small bit of water close to his beak and he takes a few slurps and shakes his head.

Any ideas?

2. Is it safe to keep him in a hamster cage in my garage overnight? I live in texas so it's fairly warm right now, but I feel that the house is too cool during the night.

3. Is it safe to give him a "wash" him after a meal? He get's so dirty.

4. *The first night I had him he left 7 "poops." Then throughout the day that I fed him babyfood/egg he pooped another 7-8 times (all dark colored, picture perfect). How fast is his digestive track? Nowadays (on Kaytee) he poops a very dull green color. Sometimes his poop only contains the tiniest trace of stool and a lot of urine/urate only. Other times he poops a dark perfect poop, but mostly he poops a spirally dull green. The color matches the Kaytee powder color pretty closely - is this cause for concern?

He poops a lot less during the day than he use to (only about 5 poops compared to 8).*

5. How much would a visit to the vet run? I'm a fairly poor college student (i don't even have a camera) and I looked up the nearest Wildlife Rehab. person and it appears to be a 2-3 hour drive (inez, tx.) Basically, re. the vet, I don't think I could afford it.

6.* I feel that I should be weening him somehow. He is completely incapable of taking care of himself - I have to basically force feed him -he's not responding to the formula like the youtube videos of other doves (they gulp at the food hungrily, my dove just pecks at it every so often and stops). Also, my dove seems to take very small pecks at the food, then has difficulty swallowing? Like I see him sitting up and gulping down each mouthful, rather than shoveling it down. He smacks as if tasting each mouthful too...*

I think I wrote quite a novel, but between working on my dissertation and taking care of him I'm too swamped to go for brevity or refinement in presenting this post. I'm just braindumping.

help!


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## Soros (Aug 31, 2011)

I'm basically having to gently force open his mouth just so that he takes small mouthfuls of the formula. This makes it difficult and messy to feed him, and I think he gets less nutrition than he needs...


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## Libis (Oct 8, 2010)

It is illegal to keep a mourning dove as they are protected by the migratory bird act. You could be fined quite a bit--just so you're aware. Where are you? Maybe we can find a rehabber in your area. 

Can you post a picture of the bird and the cage you're wanting to keep him in? Is it a wire hamster cage with plastic bottom, or all plastic? 

How well did he accept the peas etc? Is he flying at all? 
If he turns out to be 12-13 days, then at this stage we should be learning to peck at seeds, but they might not be enough for a little while to sate his hunger. Look for Kaytee Supreme Daily Dove mix and make it available in his cage. "peck" at it with your fingers while he watches, too. This will encourage him to copy. If he hates the formula so much, it might be a sign that he wants the seeds. Have you tried making the formula thin enough to put seeds in it? (The parents slowly add un-digested seeds when they are weaning the baby until it's basically wet seeds.) 

For handfeeding, you might try the artificial crop method or cut-off syringe method. Syringe feeding can be dangerous if you're having trouble with it, as food can go down the wrong pipe. 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1s5ZY3U2lKU&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j1aPHzKZaQE


When my baby doves were growing up, I found this page very helpful: http://pet-doves.com/petdoves/baby_birds.htm


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## Soros (Aug 31, 2011)

Libis said:


> It is illegal to keep a mourning dove as they are protected by the migratory bird act. You could be fined quite a bit--just so you're aware. Where are you? Maybe we can find a rehabber in your area.
> 
> Can you post a picture of the bird and the cage you're wanting to keep him in? Is it a wire hamster cage with plastic bottom, or all plastic?
> 
> ...


I actually tried seeds first, but he wouldn't eat a bite so I had to use the "popping" method to get him to eat - this took too long.

He is very resistant to eating in general, I've been hand feeding him seeds, peas and corn with little success - so I supplement with the formula using the syringe method. He seems to visible gulp mouthful after mouthful rather than the birds in the video who take long "swigs" of the formula before taking a breath.

My bird only gets about a 1/4th of a ml of formula before he moves his head to take a breath (and he seems to burp quite a bit). Also, I may have the age wrong as my bird is almost definitely younger than this one: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1s5ZY3U2lKU&feature=related

he has the same body feather's but the feather's on his head are more sparse with some down still visible.

Regarding my location, I am about an hour/1.5hrs away from Victoria, Texas.


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## Soros (Aug 31, 2011)

Libis said:


> Is he flying at all? [/url]


He is capable of fluttering/gliding from the floor to a 10inch stool that I have on the ground next to him. He can also flutter from the bottom of a shoebox to the edge - and he'll perch their for a bit before going back to the box.

Basically I've seen him "fly" 2-3 feet in distance, 1 foot in altitude.


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## Libis (Oct 8, 2010)

I almost forgot to tell you--the crop, when full, should feel like a soft squishy balloon.

I'm looking up wildlife rehabs for you right now. 

In the meanwhile, it might be worth it for you to call Game and Parks, or your closest state park. I know one of our Nebraska state parks has been extremely helpful to the animals that my family finds periodically.


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## Libis (Oct 8, 2010)

http://www.wildlife-rescue.org/
Main Phone: (830) 336-2725
24-Hour Emergency Hotline: (830) 336-2725
Kendalia and San Antonio

http://www.lonestarwildlife.org/
(979) 865-0763
It sounds like these guys accept a lot of birds, and give a lot of baby advice by phone.
Bellville, TX

Seriously read through this list--there are a ton of bird rescuers in Texas:

http://wildbird.rescueshelter.com/Texas


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## Libis (Oct 8, 2010)

Janene Adamson
Victoria, TX
361-576-3806


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## Charis (Feb 11, 2007)

Libis...You Rock! Great job with resources.


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## Libis (Oct 8, 2010)

Charis said:


> Libis...You Rock! Great job with resources.




I just really hope she finds someone who cares for doves and not just big impressive raptors/bobcats/etc. It looks like Texas has a great network of bird people, though.


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## Soros (Aug 31, 2011)

I got a ladder to check out if there were any Mourning Doves on our roof I could acclimate him with - instead I saw on our chimney spire a pair of very large ominous looking dark colored hawks. One seems to be a juvenile, the other one is about the length of my forearm + hand.


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