# Very new to having a pet rock dove and having troubles HELP. :(



## davidhizon (Nov 13, 2011)

Hi. I'm new to this site and I wanted to see if you guys could help me out. I recently bought a white rock dove (those used for weddings) for a pet. She's been with me for a month now, but still, I'm confused with how she is acting. At the start, she never lets me hold her and never wants to go near me. But so far, she gets excited when I come home, and when released out of her cage to roam around the room, she just ends up climbing my leg and perching on my shoulder. I guess she loves company! But the problem is, she still wont let me touch her. Usually, she just runs away from my hand, and if cornered, starts nipping and biting aggresively, sometimes even hanging on to my finger with her beak. What can I do here?  Plus, I've read that grit should be available at all times, but I don't think she's eating her grit. It still looks like the same amount as I have originally put it. How do I introduce grit feeding to her? Thank you.


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## horseart4u (Jun 16, 2011)

WELCOME to PT............. first off give her / him time to get more used to you, he / she is coming to you so that is a good sign, my birds climb all over us too but there is only one we can actually pet..your bird may be a male as well. does it do any sort of dancing, circling, spinning & dragging its tail at you cooing and puffing its chest out and bowing? how old is your bird actually? do you know? has it laid any eggs before do you know? and he / she may be eating the grit and you don't see it, just leave it there..a few pic's would be nice too  we love pic's


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## Charis (Feb 11, 2007)

Pigeons don't see a hand as being part of the human they love but rather some alien thing that they need to kill.Hand raised pigeons tend to be more hand tolerant, in my opinion.
If the pigeon sits on your shoulder...that's pretty great!


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## davidhizon (Nov 13, 2011)

*thank you for respondin! *



horseart4u said:


> WELCOME to PT............. first off give her / him time to get more used to you, he / she is coming to you so that is a good sign, my birds climb all over us too but there is only one we can actually pet..your bird may be a male as well. does it do any sort of dancing, circling, spinning & dragging its tail at you cooing and puffing its chest out and bowing? how old is your bird actually? do you know? has it laid any eggs before do you know? and he / she may be eating the grit and you don't see it, just leave it there..a few pic's would be nice too  we love pic's



hey! thanks for replying!  

i see. how long do you think would it take my dove to get used to me? i've had her (she's a female by the way accdg to the vet) for a month now. and yes, whenever i let her out of her cage to roam around the floor, she ends up climbing my leg, then perching on my shoulder. and nope, she doesn't do any dancing and other show off stuff like that so she might surely be a female. as regards to the age, all the pet owner mentioned was that she's below a year old. how many months would it take for a rock dove to possess all its feathers? cause i got her with all her feathers so i think she's not that young. additional details: i got her without a partner as to let her bond herself with me. im still a student and living alone so i figured i'd go out and get a dove to have company. i've read around that when you get a lone dove, they tend to bond with you. so that's what im goin for. 

p.s. do you have any first-timer tips? warnings? 
it's really my first time taking care of a dove for a pet. i've had budgies before but that was when i was still young. so i don't remember much.


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## davidhizon (Nov 13, 2011)

Charis said:


> Pigeons don't see a hand as being part of the human they love but rather some alien thing that they need to kill.Hand raised pigeons tend to be more hand tolerant, in my opinion.
> If the pigeon sits on your shoulder...that's pretty great!


yeah! i can vouch for that! haha.  i've received nasty bites and pecks from my dove. but amazingly, in a month's time, i was able to train her to perch up on my arm. but i think she's very hesitant about that. it kinda takes me like 30 seconds rubbing and nudging her belly before she finally hops up my arm. but take note: my arm. whenever it's my palm or back hand, she runs away, or if cornered, starts biting. kinda weird, but funny at times.  then after she spots my shoulder, she jumps for it and perches there for the entire duration, preening herself or pecking at my ears and earring. what i wanna do now is to make her less scared of my hand and fingers so that i could pet her.


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## davidhizon (Nov 13, 2011)

horseart4u said:


> WELCOME to PT............. first off give her / him time to get more used to you, he / she is coming to you so that is a good sign, my birds climb all over us too but there is only one we can actually pet..your bird may be a male as well. does it do any sort of dancing, circling, spinning & dragging its tail at you cooing and puffing its chest out and bowing? how old is your bird actually? do you know? has it laid any eggs before do you know? and he / she may be eating the grit and you don't see it, just leave it there..a few pic's would be nice too  we love pic's




so yeah i forgot to mention, about the pics.  it's my first time takin care of a dove, so it's also my first time joinin dove forums. so im kind of a newb here. haha. i realy dont know how to post pictures and stuff here. but i've got a public album right on my facebook page which you guys can view and hopefully will love.  my dove's name is Prew, and she has lots of pictures posted here: https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10150331517461026.355996.731406025&type=1

hope you guys like it.


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## Libis (Oct 8, 2010)

Honey, your cage is quite a bit too small to keep a pigeon in. You might look for a large guinea pig cage to replace it with. 

As far as hands go--many birds see them as something they need to protect you and themselves from. A completely different entity than your face and body. 

One thing that can help is leaving seed in your hand flat on the bottom of the cage or couch or whatever and not looking at it and over time letting her tempt herself into eating from your hand. Over a very long time (use patience) this can help with the fears/protectiveness against hands.


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## Libis (Oct 8, 2010)

Also, it's not a great idea to take an untrained lone white pigeon outside. She's a sitting duck for predators and is very easy for them to see. I see that you jessed her--but a solid rope with no spring to it is not safe to keep a bird on--they can fly suddenly and hurt themselves when they get to the end of it. Also, what sort of leg device is that? I'm not sure a pigeon leg is a good anchoring point for a leash/jesse.

Generally, you don't want to take a pigeon who was born somewhere else outside anyway--she could try to go back to her birthplace b/c of instinct.


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## Libis (Oct 8, 2010)

Having continued looking through your pics--the bigger square cage is a bit better if she only sleeps in it.


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## davidhizon (Nov 13, 2011)

Libis said:


> Honey, your cage is quite a bit too small to keep a pigeon in. You might look for a large guinea pig cage to replace it with.
> 
> As far as hands go--many birds see them as something they need to protect you and themselves from. A completely different entity than your face and body.
> 
> One thing that can help is leaving seed in your hand flat on the bottom of the cage or couch or whatever and not looking at it and over time letting her tempt herself into eating from your hand. Over a very long time (use patience) this can help with the fears/protectiveness against hands.


Oh maybe you were referring to the first cage (house-shaped). That was the cage I used for my budgies before. I replaced it immediately. And everytime I am home, I always let her out. The cage is just her sleeping and eating place.  

Regarding the hands, I see. Really? It's funny how they can't see the connection of the hand to my shoulder and stuff.  Haha. And yes, I tried that one time, hand feeding her her seeds. But when the seeds were almost gone (some she ate, some she just threw around), she then started pecking at my fingers. So I din't try that again. I was afraid I might traumatize her. I think her fear of hands started way before, cause I got her from a pet store. And i saw how the shopkeep handled the birds. They just grabbed them with a glove.  None of the birds were happy to see her hand.


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## davidhizon (Nov 13, 2011)

Libis said:


> Also, it's not a great idea to take an untrained lone white pigeon outside. She's a sitting duck for predators and is very easy for them to see. I see that you jessed her--but a solid rope with no spring to it is not safe to keep a bird on--they can fly suddenly and hurt themselves when they get to the end of it. Also, what sort of leg device is that? I'm not sure a pigeon leg is a good anchoring point for a leash/jesse.
> 
> Generally, you don't want to take a pigeon who was born somewhere else outside anyway--she could try to go back to her birthplace b/c of instinct.


Okay, I think you're referring to the picture of my dove while she was perched on this improvised perch thingy with the piece of rope on her leg right? That was taken last halloween. Here in the Philippines, we celebrate the 1st and 2nd of November by visiting our dead relatives. So we were at the cemetery that time. I decided to take her with me so that she won't be left all alone in the house. And I thought she could use the fresh air. 

If it would change anything, an additional detail was that throughout the whole time, I just kept her on my lap. She was kind of freaked out by the number of people around her, so all she wanted to do was hop on my lap and snuggle in between my arms. I literally tested if she would run away if I let her loose on the grass, but she'll just turn around, look for me, then dash for my lap.  I only placed her on the perch with the rope on her leg to take a picture of her with my grandmother's tombstone (she loved birds). The rope, by the way, is the kind of leash they use for roosters. I busted all efforts in looking for a proper bird leash here in our place but to no avail. No one even knew that a bird leash actually existed. How sad.  To sum up my point, I don't use the leash actually. Just that time to make sure she'd not run away from panicking. And besides, when I brought her to the vet the day I bought her, I asked if they could clip her wings cause I had planned to make her an inhouse pet. So she doesn't have any lift. She could partially fly though, in a straight line or glide down. I hope this doesn't upset any of you. I'm just concerned that she might crash into stuff here at home. I've heard that rock doves are excellent fliers. And I've also read that clipping its wings can hasten the taming process, so that's what I went for. Not really to hurt her or anythin.


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## davidhizon (Nov 13, 2011)

Libis said:


> Having continued looking through your pics--the bigger square cage is a bit better if she only sleeps in it.


oh yes, don't worry. my baby's always outside her cage when I'm home. she just stays inside to sleep and eat. she loves that little nest box i made for her stuffed with wood chips. 

i have a question though. my dove doesn't seem to like eating all of her seeds. she just picks a few and throws all the other off the bowl. is this normal? i'm just afraid that she is not eating as much as she should. i really don't know which seeds she eats. i tried watching but most of the time, she just nibbles the seed then drops it right back in the bowl or outside of the bowl. 

she's really spoiled. my girlfriend always reminds me to stop buying too much seeds/vitamins/etcetera, but i'm just afraid that i can't get the right seeds she likes. as for the vitamins, i bought a multivitamins dropper, and a calcium + vitamin d3 tablet mixed in her water. she doesn't get much sunshine so i feel that she needs those tablets.


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## Libis (Oct 8, 2010)

davidhizon said:


> oh yes, don't worry. my baby's always outside her cage when I'm home. she just stays inside to sleep and eat. she loves that little nest box i made for her stuffed with wood chips.
> 
> i have a question though. my dove doesn't seem to like eating all of her seeds. she just picks a few and throws all the other off the bowl. is this normal? i'm just afraid that she is not eating as much as she should. i really don't know which seeds she eats. i tried watching but most of the time, she just nibbles the seed then drops it right back in the bowl or outside of the bowl.
> 
> she's really spoiled. my girlfriend always reminds me to stop buying too much seeds/vitamins/etcetera, but i'm just afraid that i can't get the right seeds she likes. as for the vitamins, i bought a multivitamins dropper, and a calcium + vitamin d3 tablet mixed in her water. she doesn't get much sunshine so i feel that she needs those tablets.


Oh yeah that's normal. Doves and pigeons love to be picky and eat their favorite seeds first. They will toss seed everywhere! Sounds like you have a happy healthy little one. 

It helps keep more seeds in the bowl if you give her a really big dog bowl (I use ceramic ones like you'd feed a German Shepherd from.) Then when they throw their seeds the seeds just bounce off the sides and stay in the bowl.
Sometimes I make them eat the majority of the seeds in the bowl before I re-fill it so that they are forced to get better nutrition (like making a little kid eat their veggies lol.)


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## Libis (Oct 8, 2010)

If the seed/pellet mix doesn't have added D3 then it's very good to be supplementing it.

How I keep my indoor doves healthy is I feed Kaytee Supreme Daily Dove mix and have a bowl of Kaytee Hi Cal grit available. With that together, there is a good mix of calcium, d3, protein, etc. Before I could get a formulated mix and had to still use wild birdseed I gave vitamins through the water and grit.


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## davidhizon (Nov 13, 2011)

Libis said:


> Oh yeah that's normal. Doves and pigeons love to be picky and eat their favorite seeds first. They will toss seed everywhere! Sounds like you have a happy healthy little one.
> 
> It helps keep more seeds in the bowl if you give her a really big dog bowl (I use ceramic ones like you'd feed a German Shepherd from.) Then when they throw their seeds the seeds just bounce off the sides and stay in the bowl.
> Sometimes I make them eat the majority of the seeds in the bowl before I re-fill it so that they are forced to get better nutrition (like making a little kid eat their veggies lol.)


really? great!  i'm just worried that she might not be getting the nutrients she needs. her favorite among her seeds are those crack corn. she just loves to gobble those up! i dunno why, but what she does to the other seeds is just nibble on them a bit then throw them out the bowl or back into the bowl. do you guys have any idea as to why my dove does this? does it have something to do with the softness of the seed? or the taste perhaps?

haha. i see. perhaps i'll do the same. so far, i haven't refilled her bowl yet. but sometimes, i worry when i see her not eating. so i just add more crack corn to induce her to eat. i'm kind of spoiling her too much.


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## davidhizon (Nov 13, 2011)

Libis said:


> If the seed/pellet mix doesn't have added D3 then it's very good to be supplementing it.
> 
> How I keep my indoor doves healthy is I feed Kaytee Supreme Daily Dove mix and have a bowl of Kaytee Hi Cal grit available. With that together, there is a good mix of calcium, d3, protein, etc. Before I could get a formulated mix and had to still use wild birdseed I gave vitamins through the water and grit.


yeah, i've heard about that D3. i've read that they get vit.D3 from the sun right? problem is, there aren't many dove enthusiasts here in the Philippines. we don't have, i think, other kinds of doves (like ringnecks and others). all we have here are rock doves (those doves with dark colors and green/violet shades on their necks, and white rock doves used for weddings like my dove here at home). what's famous here in the Philippines are roosters kept for cockfighting. all they have here are rooster pellet mixes and chick boosters, stag developers and stuff made for fighting cocks or hens used for laying. so i kind of have no choice but to buy different seeds and just mix them at home. they have standard pigeon pellets though, but i've read that pigeon pellets should only be 20% of their diet. i tried to search online for that Kaytee seed mix here in our country but there's none available. so i just add the vit.D3 and calcium through her water.


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## rpalmer (Mar 10, 2011)

You did not say what you are feed the bird so there might be a lot of filler seed that is often used in wild bird mixes in the mix. Make sure you have a proper feed mix for the bird as already stated. 

If you want to make your bird go crazy over the grit add a couple of drops of anise oil to it and mix it well. Have fun with what sounds like a new member of your family.


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## Libis (Oct 8, 2010)

davidhizon said:


> really? great!  i'm just worried that she might not be getting the nutrients she needs. her favorite among her seeds are those crack corn. she just loves to gobble those up! i dunno why, but what she does to the other seeds is just nibble on them a bit then throw them out the bowl or back into the bowl. do you guys have any idea as to why my dove does this? does it have something to do with the softness of the seed? or the taste perhaps?
> 
> haha. i see. perhaps i'll do the same. so far, i haven't refilled her bowl yet. but sometimes, i worry when i see her not eating. so i just add more crack corn to induce her to eat. i'm kind of spoiling her too much.


What is the mix you're feeding her? (Which seeds are in it?) Does the label tell the protein etc percents?

Is it getting cold where you live? My birds want more corn when winter comes naturally.


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## davidhizon (Nov 13, 2011)

rpalmer said:


> You did not say what you are feed the bird so there might be a lot of filler seed that is often used in wild bird mixes in the mix. Make sure you have a proper feed mix for the bird as already stated.
> 
> If you want to make your bird go crazy over the grit add a couple of drops of anise oil to it and mix it well. Have fun with what sounds like a new member of your family.



Hmm, what i include in her seed mix are crack corn (lots of it), groat oats, barley, trigo or wheat, sunflower, safflower, pigeon pellets, cannary seeds, a bit of beans, millet, sourghoum, popcorn, and a seed mix for roosters. are there seeds that i included which i shout not?

what's anise oil? where do i get that? all i can get from our feeds stores here is codliver oil. i hear adding some once a week to their seeds helps them. can i use that instead of anise oil? 

yes, she is quite the member of the family! she's really quiet though, never heard her coo. but i attached a toy bell in her cage, and whenever i'm out of my room, she just rings and rings the bell. i dunno if she's just playin with it or actually calling me.  i prefer to think the second one. haha.


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## davidhizon (Nov 13, 2011)

Libis said:


> What is the mix you're feeding her? (Which seeds are in it?) Does the label tell the protein etc percents?
> 
> Is it getting cold where you live? My birds want more corn when winter comes naturally.



the seeds i buy for her are crack corn (lots of it), groat oats, barley, trigo or wheat, sunflower, safflower, pigeon pellets, cannary seeds, a bit of beans, millet, sourghoum, popcorn, and a seed mix for roosters. there's no label since i just buy them separately. the vet said to try and feed her beans to add to her protein, but she doesn't like them. she just nibbles and throws it away.

the weather here's really hot. but when i'm in the room, i turn the A/C on. maybe that's the reason why she loves the crack corn? oh, don't worry. i'm not letting her chill or get cold. before i put her in my room, i bought a lamp with 60w bulb, warm enough to incubate eggs, and i placed it above her cage to warm her cage when i turn on the A/C. but when i'm not around, i open the windows and doors so that fresh air could get in and out.


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## Libis (Oct 8, 2010)

davidhizon said:


> the seeds i buy for her are crack corn (lots of it), groat oats, barley, trigo or wheat, sunflower, safflower, pigeon pellets, cannary seeds, a bit of beans, millet, sourghoum, popcorn, and a seed mix for roosters. there's no label since i just buy them separately. the vet said to try and feed her beans to add to her protein, but she doesn't like them. she just nibbles and throws it away.
> 
> the weather here's really hot. but when i'm in the room, i turn the A/C on. maybe that's the reason why she loves the crack corn? oh, don't worry. i'm not letting her chill or get cold. before i put her in my room, i bought a lamp with 60w bulb, warm enough to incubate eggs, and i placed it above her cage to warm her cage when i turn on the A/C. but when i'm not around, i open the windows and doors so that fresh air could get in and out.


How much do you change the temperature each day? It's better for birds to stay kind of constant in temp, with changes being very slow. The lamp might be overkill if it's that hot.


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## davidhizon (Nov 13, 2011)

Libis said:


> How much do you change the temperature each day? It's better for birds to stay kind of constant in temp, with changes being very slow. The lamp might be overkill if it's that hot.


it's not really a big change in temp, i think. i also turn on the A/C on fan mode only. and i make it a point that she is in the room when i turn on the A/C. so that the temperature changes slowly while she's inside. not like when i just shock her by bringing her in my room right where the temperature has already changed drastically. 

i don't think too that it's too hot. i try and put my hand under it and it's just a tad warm. she loves hanging out under the lamp. i'll try to take a pic of her now and show you guys.


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## davidhizon (Nov 13, 2011)

Libis said:


> How much do you change the temperature each day? It's better for birds to stay kind of constant in temp, with changes being very slow. The lamp might be overkill if it's that hot.


here are three picture of her taken just right now, just hanging out under the lamp. she's just finished playing with the bell so i think she's just resting a bit. she was standing on one foot (which i believe is a good sign of a comfortable bird), but then stood on both feet when i got up and took her picture. haha. 

pic 1: https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?...t=a.10150331517461026.355996.731406025&type=3

pic 2: https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?...t=a.10150331517461026.355996.731406025&type=3

pic 3: https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?...t=a.10150331517461026.355996.731406025&type=3


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## rpalmer (Mar 10, 2011)

davidhizon said:


> Hmm, what i include in her seed mix are crack corn (lots of it), groat oats, barley, trigo or wheat, sunflower, safflower, pigeon pellets, cannary seeds, a bit of beans, millet, sourghoum, popcorn, and a seed mix for roosters. are there seeds that i included which i shout not?
> 
> what's anise oil? where do i get that? all i can get from our feeds stores here is codliver oil. i hear adding some once a week to their seeds helps them. can i use that instead of anise oil?
> 
> yes, she is quite the member of the family! she's really quiet though, never heard her coo. but i attached a toy bell in her cage, and whenever i'm out of my room, she just rings and rings the bell. i dunno if she's just playin with it or actually calling me.  i prefer to think the second one. haha.



Anise oil is a plant extract. You might find it in a well supplied herbal shop. Pigeon supply houses here in the US carry it. It is very different than cod liver oil. Cod liver oil is meant for the birds to eat, anise oil is used just for the smell.


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## davidhizon (Nov 13, 2011)

rpalmer said:


> Anise oil is a plant extract. You might find it in a well supplied herbal shop. Pigeon supply houses here in the US carry it. It is very different than cod liver oil. Cod liver oil is meant for the birds to eat, anise oil is used just for the smell.


i see. thanks for the heads up! will try to look for anise oil in herbal shops downtown!


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