# Diamond Dove Question



## dembirdz (Apr 16, 2015)

So I have been a bird fancier for almost 1 1/2 decades, specifically owning Doves. Within the past year my elderly pair of ring-necked doves had to be euthanized and very recently, had no feathered friends living with me.

Earlier this week I made some trips to some local pet stores, only to find that they don't sell Doves anymore (I'm sure there are people on this forum who will disagree with buying Doves from pet stores, but my mated pair I bought from the pet store lived to be 13-14 years of age). One pet store I went to had a lone Diamond Dove sitting in the cage, so of course I wasn't going to leave that Diamond Dove alone at the pet store.

The Diamond Dove (I don't know whether the bird is male or female yet, despite the fact that you can apparently tell by the diameter of the orange ring around the eyes?) is sadly, all alone.

I guess my question pertains to whether I should try hunting for another Diamond Dove or not? This bird is all alone; I am not sure if this Dove was always alone at the pet store or if there was another previous Diamond Dove that was purchased singly instead of purchasing both.

The thing is I will be acquiring some Finches (who will be housed in a separate cage from the Diamond Dove, so I'll essentially have two cages), and the Finch cage will be within sight/hearing of the dove's cage (roughly 2-3 feet). I know doves prefer other doves, but I feel like I don't have another option at the moment. I bought one of those small toy mirrors for birds and put it in the Diamond Dove's cage; the bird appears to be mesmerized by this mirror and constantly perches near the toy mirror. I still kind of feel sad that the bird is being fooled by its reflection but I figure it's better to curb the loneliness (if it exists).

I'm assuming that the Diamond Dove is most likely a female. If I were to get a 2nd Diamond Dove I would prefer getting another female. The problem with obtaining a second Dove though is that I don't have a clue as to really determine whether that dove will be male or female; and I definitely don't know how to introduce a dove to create a "mated" pair. The people working at the pet stores are pretty clueless when it comes to animals, especially birds.


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## kalel (Oct 14, 2008)

They do better in pairs but even if you got another dove and it turned to be a male, its not really a problem. If your worried about them laying eggs you can replace the real eggs with dummy eggs.


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## dembirdz (Apr 16, 2015)

Two questions I do have now that I have owned my Diamond Doves now for a couple weeks (one male and one female; both quarantined):

1. My male dove is currently being treated for his stargazing behavior. Right now he is taking a vitamin supplement with two separate medications. One real issue I'm having is trying to hold his beak open while trying to using the dropper to squeeze 0.2ml of the vitamin supplement (or the other meds) into his mouth. The vitamin supplement is an oily liquid and I've had the mishap of my male dove getting the liquid on his feathers while trying to give it to him via the dropper. 

You can either put the vitamin supplement in the seed food or give it to the dove in liquid form. Should I just quit giving it to him via the dropper and just continue putting the vitamin supplement in his food?


2. My female dove (who I also bought from the pet store) is apparently overweight-she weighs 46 grams (my male weighs 34/35 grams), so my vet told me she needs to lose weight. However, when I have asked two vets how birds are supposed to lose weight I'm never given a straight or conclusive answer. Does anyone have any experience with trying to get their doves to lose weight and how? I have no experience with exercising or limiting the diet of doves. All I remember was that my vet told me that my male dove is ideal in weight so I'm assuming she would need to lose around 5-10 grams of weight with diet restrictions?


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## kalel (Oct 14, 2008)

Hi I don't have much experience with stargazing but I think if you give the medicine directly you know that the bird is getting the right amount. Putting it in the food might mean he might not get enough by himself.
I have never had an overweight diamond dove. Maybe she was stuck in a cage and could not exercise. My birds are free flying in my room and just have perches for them to sleep on and other things. Do you let them have time out of the cage?


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