# new and saying hi :)



## Arryndel (Sep 12, 2008)

Hi I just found this site and very glad I did.

This is our first pet bird and thanks to the internet I'm learning alot 

My father in law decided to cut down the pine trees in his back yard and sadly a nest fell out of one as it fell, in the nest he found one very small bird and immediately called me (I hand raised a puppy that his female rot gave birth to, sadly she killed the rest of the litter and only one was saved in time).

I've hand raised puppies and kittens and I suppose I was the only person they knew of that has ever hand raised anything so they thought of me first. When I first got Pudgy home I had no idea how to hand raise a bird or even what type of bird she was ( I did know that how she fed depended on her type and I had to find out quick)

Well thanks to sites like this one I found out that she's a white wing dove and I got lots of advise on what I needed to do, and now I'm the proud owner of a very spoiled pet bird 

I'm extremely proud of how well she's done in my care and look forward to a long life with her at my side, and I know I'll still need lots of advise 

We really have no idea what Pudgy's sex is, we assume it's a girl right now because her markings are rather subtle, but this causes me to worry about eggs if Pudgy is a girl. 

She has full run of our house and sleeps on a towel next to my bed (except for last night when she insisted on sleeping on my hand all night which made it really hard for me to sleep since I couldn't move that hand all night).

She's coming close to 3 months old now and I'm not sure when I should start looking to see if she's left me any "unexpected gifts". I take her outside once a day to get some sun (read that it helps with her digestion) but she refuses to associate with any of the "wild" birds out there, in fact if they "look" at her too long she "gives them a wing" (same thing she does to us if we go to pet her and she wants to be left alone). So I certainly wont have to worry about her mating, in fact it makes me wonder if she might consider herself already "taken".

I've read others speaking of their female laying eggs even without a mate because she considers her caretaker to be her mate, is this something we might be facign if Pudgy is a female and if so around what age?

Any and all advise is most welcome 


Arryn and Pudgy


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## Maggie-NC (Jun 22, 2005)

Arryn, welcome to the forum. I think you will love it here - lots of nice people and tons of information. 

Pudgy sounds adorable. We have only the brown mourning doves and I have never seen a white winged dove. I bet she is pretty. It is too early to tell if it is a female but both males and females can "select" a human as its mate and females can lay eggs regularly. You may want to get a couple of dummy eggs to keep on hand just in case and if Pudgy is a girl, you can let her sit on the eggs for 17 to 19 days just as she would if the eggs were real. If it is a female, make sure she gets sufficient calcium to keep the shells firm.

You mention taking Pudgy outside. I wanted to caution you that if you intend to keep Pudgy as a pet, it can be very dangerous to let her be loose on the outside. Pudgy can get spooked and fly away and may not be able to find her way back to you. We have several horror stories of this happening.


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## Feefo (Feb 8, 2002)

Hi Arryn and welcome. We look forward to hearing more about Pudgy and seeing photos.

I just wanted to endorse Maggie's concern about letting Pudgy loose outside. There was a heartbreaking case on this forum of a pet pigeon being snatched from under its rescuer's nose by a hawk. 

Cynthia


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## Arryndel (Sep 12, 2008)

*thank you!!*

thanks for the warning!!! there has only been two times that she has taking flight while outside and both times she stayed close, but the idea of her not being able to find her way home scares me to death. I wont even let any one turn on our ceiling fans any more for fear of her getting too curious and getting hurt. 

I don't think I'll be taking her outside any more, she doesn't seem to like it out there any way 

where would I get dummy eggs? 

Here are a couple pics, then and now 







Aug 1, 2008 (second day with us)







Sept 12, 2008 (all growed up lol)


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## Feefo (Feb 8, 2002)

Oh, wow! She is such a darling!

Cynthia


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## Charis (Feb 11, 2007)

cyro51 said:


> Oh, wow! She is such a darling!
> 
> Cynthia


She sure is.


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## maryjane (Jul 15, 2006)

She is really cute. Yes, definitely keep her inside, or you can always set her out in a safe place (a porch or safe spot in the yard) inside a large cage. Then she can get her sun and be safe too. If you do that, just make sure the cage has bars very close together so no predator could reach in with a paw or a claw.  It would be best if she was supervised even in a cage. Just trying to cover all the bases hehe. Hope to hear more stories about her.


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## Arryndel (Sep 12, 2008)

haha this little girl taught me very early on that I can't leave her sight, especially outside. In the house, if I go into another room, she follows me and if a door is closed she will fuss at me till I let her in. The only time I ever took her outside and didn't stay at her side, she fussed at me for a good 30 mins, and I was only out of sight for 3 seconds. She started crying right away and I turned right around and went back outside of the storage shed. 

She is in full control and she knows it LOL

She even controls our dog, which I find amazing! From the first day we brought her home we have never let the dog be in the same room with her without some one being there to keep her safe. And she has taken full advantage of this fact.

She will frequently fly to where ever the dog is laying, inch her way closer to him (moving towards him sideways, with small steps) and once she is next to him, she will begin pecking at him (tail, nose, butt, doesn't matter to her) untill he finally gets up and gives her the spot. She will then settle herself into the spot he just gave up and will take a short nap. 

She pecks at my bf's mouth untill he opens it, then she will "drink" from his mouth till some one gives her water. And we can't just leave her water dish where she can get to it, oh no!! We must bring the water to her so that she can drink.

I have a dish of seed mix for her, but twice a day (breakfast and before bed) she still demands the "wet" mix that I used to ween her from the baby bird formula ( which is a mix of 1/4 tsp Exact hand feeding formula, 1/2 tsp Lafeber's premium daily diet, 1/2 tsp seed mix, and 1 tsp water), this she will only eat if I am holding the dish and talking to her while she eats. 

She is completely spoiled and we can't imagine life without her 

She is always near one of us, if we are on the computer, she's somewhere on the desk, on the monitor, on our head or shoulder, or even on the keyboard or our hand while we "try" and use the mouse. If we are on the sofa, she is either laying on one of us or she is on the sofa some where close by. And she wont go to bed till we do, if we try and put her on her "nest" next to our bed but don't stay in the room she will quickly come flying out to find us.












As you can see here, I'm on my pc while bf is playing on his, Pudgy is on his desk between the two pc's.

She's a mess and she constantly amazes me! And I love her to pieces!!!


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## spirit wings (Mar 29, 2008)

What a sweet little friend you have...she/he is so cute!...I saw this pic not long ago of one eating..nectar? i guess but thought it was a neat pic. I wonder if they would mate with a ringneck dove? not that you would want to do that, it just popped up in my head...ummm. love your baby!


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## Arryndel (Sep 12, 2008)

They eat the fruits and seeds of cacti and I guess there would be some sort of liquid that they drink from then also. Not much water to be found so it makes sence that they would get that from the cacti also.

I've always wondered if pigeons/doves cross breed. Near my mother in laws there are tons of white wing doves and morning doves, and near my house there are white tip doves and white wing doves, do they never cross breed? Can they? What would the result look like? Would be really cool to find out!


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