# Fledgling Dove not eating on his own



## katiedid

Hello everyone, 
I'm located in the SF bay area. I found a baby dove in our garden on the 19th of July and I've been feeding him Exact formula, which worked well. After a few days I then headed over to our local feed store and purchased some duck feed, which I was told was used successfully in the past to raise pigeons. I have been using a syringe with the tip cut off so that the formula and duck feed fits through. When I transitioned to feeding him seeds, I have been trying to mix seeds in with the duck food and feeding him that. He will take it from me, but I have to hand feed him. He has all of his feathers and is almost completely feathered on his tail- I'm estimating that he is about 3 weeks old. He can fly, but isn't that great at landing yet! I strongly suspect that he was kicked out of his nest, since one of his little feet doesn't work. 








This is Herman when I first found him.








A couple of days later- he grew fast!!!








Just 2 days ago. What a big boy! 

I give him seeds and duck food, mixed together in his cage, as well as provide a dish for water. When I come in to check how he is doing, he rushes up to my fingers and sort of pecks at them, as if they are going to provide him food, but if I hold up seeds in my hand, he ignores them. Sometimes I see him unsuccessfully picking at the seeds on the ground, but I've also provided him a deeper dish for seeds. Should I continue to handfeed him?

What should I do???


----------



## Msfreebird

Bumping this up!
Have you tried playing with the seed (kind of pecking at them) with your fingers, that works for pigeons that are learning to eat.
I would pick up some "no-mess" (shelless) wild bird seed for him. That is closer to his natural diet. But definitely supplement feedings until he's eating on his own.


----------



## Ede-bird

I just went through this with Cooter - the first pigeon I have ever raised - he was a 12 day old orphan when I got him. At this age ( 3weeks or so) he started refusing the formula and wasn't great at eating seeds on his own either. The wonderful members here literally walked me through everything. You can feed him defrosted and slightly warmed frozen peas and corn ( Cooter got 30-50 twice a day) just gently open his beak and pop them to the back of his mouth and he'll swallow. Offer him easy seeds like canary seeds ( from Walmart - not great for canaries but awesome for teaching baby pijies) if you scatter some and peck the ground with your fingers he will copy you. Phil taught me to gently guide his nuzzling beak into a shot glass of these seeds and he will eat them that way too. Cooter is 40 days old now - he has a dish of mixed seeds and grains, a dish of grit ,a dish of pellets, and a water dish. He uses all of them, but one of his favourites is the peas and corn that I still give him in the evening. Hope this helps - lots of pros will be along to and they have the best advice.


----------



## Pawbla

Don't worry, my dove STARTED eating on his own when he was about 7 weeks old if I remember correctly. He was really slow though. But what I mean by that is that he still has time. Maybe it helps putting it in a dish. My dove would eat from the bag but not from the ground.

Question: How is it that his little foot doesn't work? Maybe it's a splayed leg? http://www.pigeons.biz/forums/showpost.php?p=159495&postcount=1


----------



## Ede-bird

Sure is a pretty little guy


----------



## katiedid

Thank you everyone! Sorry it took me so long to get back to you all!! 

He is doing great, and even though he has a gimpy foot, he gets around fine on the bottom of the bird cage and he LOVES flying! 

Here's a recent picture of him:


----------



## Libis

He's gorgeous, but his tail looks roughed up. Perhaps he needs a bigger cage? My ringneck dove had a hard time keeping his tail nice until I got him a cage twice the size of his old one.

Oh, are you giving the little guy any calcium and D3 (to absorb the calcium)? He needs it in crushed form. My doves get calcium in their grit--Kaytee Hi-cal Grit, and they get D3 in their seed--Kaytee Supreme daily blend for doves.

Looks like a mourning dove. Just do be aware that this species is federally protected and you may be wise to be careful who you tell or to seek a license.


----------



## Chiki

The tail could be roughed up due to the leg "malfunction", since he can't use the leg correctly he might be using his tail to aid his balance.
On the other hand I would also recommend Calcium and D3, the leg might be like that due to a lack of calcium.
Could you take a picture of his little foot?
He should be starting practicing eating by himself, right about now, but my Eared Dove, Palomiti, took 6 months before he started eating on his own, so yeah, it can take a while, in nature they would die of starvation, but in captivity, they can act like pampered little babies all they want


----------



## Libis

Chiki said:


> The tail could be roughed up due to the leg "malfunction", since he can't use the leg correctly he might be using his tail to aid his balance.
> On the other hand I would also recommend Calcium en D3, the leg might be like that due to a lack of calcium.


You're right, I didn't think of that being a possible cause for the tail.


----------

