# Teen Mourning Dove STILL Unable to Fly??



## Nummie (Aug 21, 2017)

Hello, PT. I am quite new here. I consider myself quite knowledgable when it comes to birds, but, I just need some help here.

I have a Teen Mourning Dove which is currently molting. Yet, it <i>cannot</i> fly still. I take it outside every day on my fist (it's a habituated wild one) and give it flight training but all it wants to do is walk up on my arm and sit on my shoulder. Tossing it off my fist, it only seems to kinda of "hover" to the ground, and it fails to land. And when it takes off on it's own it can probably only get about maybe 5 inches or so in the air. So I'm kind of at a loss right now.

It seems to have the proper feathers, it's wings make the right sound of air going through them, it's wings work fine. It just <i>cannot fly.</i>

As much as I'd love to keep Tofu (the bird) it is ultimately it's decision if it wants to leave or not. But if it can't fly, it will surely never make it. What should I do? What <i>can</i> I do? Is this little bird just never going to be capable of flight?

Thank You.


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## Marina B (May 5, 2011)

He's much too young to be taken outside and being given flying lessons. He feels safe on your shoulder, and that's why he prefers to stay there. Rather keep him inside the house for another month, and let him start practicing at his own time. Make sure he's able to fly well and eat all kinds of seeds. Then keep him outside during the day in a little cage so that he can get familiar with the area. Do that for another 2 weeks. If you think he's ready, just open up and let him go. You will need to supply him with backup food for he might return.

If too tame, then he won't be a good candidate to be released. In nature the parents teach them where to find food, escape from predators etc. Being raised by humans, he won't have that survival skills.


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## Nummie (Aug 21, 2017)

Marina B said:


> If too tame, then he won't be a good candidate to be released. In nature the parents teach them where to find food, escape from predators etc. Being raised by humans, he won't have that survival skills.


I have been trying to introduce it to other wild birds and such. At this point I am preparing to have to care for the little one for the foreseeable future, and possibly forever. Which I do not mind, but I really don't want to depress the bird and keep it if it does not wish for that.

I really do not have the means to build an aviary right now...anything I could use besides my current big dog cage to let it freely have space to flap around?

EDIT: I forgot to mention that there is another mourning dove Tofu's age that I always see flying around. This truly confounds me...


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## Marina B (May 5, 2011)

A big dog cage will do for now inside the house. Give him time to explore outside the cage (in the house). Then later on, move the cage outside during the day for him to get used to being outside. Put food out for the other doves and see how he reacts to them. He's still young, probably in nature the parents would still have been feeding him. No need to rush things, as he gets mature he would want to start spending time with other doves.

How old was he when you found him?


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## Nummie (Aug 21, 2017)

I want to say it was a month old or so. It started molting two weeks after I found it. I'm just very confused that I see another mourning dove it's age flying already. And supposedly, mourning doves are able to start flying at Day 15 of their life? So why not Tofu?

I'm just really confused is all, mostly.


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## Marina B (May 5, 2011)

Just give him more time. How is his walking ability? Maybe a lack of calcium can also affect his flying. If he's being kept indoors, he will need extra vitamins and calcium with added Vit D3.


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## Nummie (Aug 21, 2017)

It walks just fine. I think it just doesnt have the right wingspan yet. But it walks amazingly well. It walks with the normal pigeon / dove swagger. It can even run around when it feels playful.

It only likes to eat safflower seeds, if that makes a difference. I do add sand to it's seed dish, though, so no worries there.


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## Jay3 (May 4, 2008)

Please don't add sand to the seed dish. He doesn't need sand. He needs grit, and in a separate dish so that he can take it when he needs it. They only take it when needed.
Eating only safflower seed would be bad for him as it is very high in fat, so too much can cause him health problems. Maybe he just doesn't see the need for flying yet. Put his food or something he likes up higher on a chair or something to give him a reason to fly to it.


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## Nummie (Aug 21, 2017)

Sorry, sand is the wrong word. It's sandy soil. It seems to do fine with it in there. But I will put it in another dish, as you suggest! (It likes to try to bathe in the piles of it I place in it's enclosure, too!)

As for the safflower seeds, it's the only thing it wants to eat. I had given it a seed mix of dried fruit, oil sunflower, and safflower and it only at the safflower seeds. I've even tried giving it a raspberry, I even picked it apart into the small outer pieces, and there it sat for days.

I've tried the food dish thing. In it's cage there's a wooden "shelf," and I left it up there to no avail. It just couldnt fly up there.


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## Marina B (May 5, 2011)

Do you have the sand in the bottom of the cage? Keep it there, but you must get grit for doves and that you can put in a separate dish. Try to get a good dove food mixture with plenty of smaller seeds, give him less safflower seeds so that he have to start eating the other. For greens, you can give him chopped up spinach.

I think you just being impatient with him regarding the flying. At least for now you don't have to feel guilty about keeping him.


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## Nummie (Aug 21, 2017)

I'm not impatient, I am just concerned and worried for the little one.


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## Marina B (May 5, 2011)

Is he at least flapping his wings like a young bird does?


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## Nummie (Aug 21, 2017)

Oh yes, it will flap a lot. But just can't fly. Birds younger than it should be able to fly.


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## Jay3 (May 4, 2008)

He isn't going to eat the dried fruit, and the safflower seed isn't good for him in large amounts. A regular wild bird seed, or a dove mix you can get at pet shops is what he needs.

He is flapping his wings to exercise them. One day, if he has an incentive to fly, he will. Try putting something he wants on a chair or table. Make him want to fly to it. It probably isn't that he can't fly, but that he has no reason to.


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## Nummie (Aug 21, 2017)

I don't know. I guess I'll just have to give it time. Thanks, all.


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