How can you feed and care for a baby dove?

Answer 1

FEEDING

Adult doves are seed eaters but the baby do need alot of protein in their diet. You can feed them Gerbers newborn baby single grain oatmeal mix with pulverized meal worm. I mean very very pulverized make sure that they only crunch a teeny tiny bit before you mix it with the baby food. Make sure you prepare the baby food with water NOT MILK. The food should have the constisy of water. Buy a bird puppet or a stuffed animal bird that will (feed) it while you hide under a sheet. Alot of baby birds will open their mouth when they see their new stuffed momma but some will not if this happens then whistle or blow on the baby. If that doesn't work then put a finger on eigther side of the baby's beak, like a down ward V, but stay hidden under the sheet, don't come over or talk to the baby because you will scare him/ her, remember they don't know that you are trying to help. If that doesn't work then gentle pry, while still under the sheet(you can cut holes for eyes), the babys beak open by sliding your finger nail into his/her beak, but be gentle! Once you get the baby's beak open, using a large, needleless syringe, put the syringe at the back of the baby's mouth, past the tongue, squirt a bit into his/her mouth. He/she should want more, you know when to stop when his croup (on the chest) is full and distended. This should be done every 3 hours but it varys by age so look up pics of baby doves at certain days old to see how often he needs to eat. 7-10 days- every 3 hours, 11-13 days every 5 hours. Eventually thicken food by adding less water and at the age of 12 days add in small seed and ground, shelled, sun flower seeds. At the age of 15 days offer finch seed and water.

CARE

The baby needs to be kept in a nest of junk towels or soft paper towels in a shoe box. Put the shoe box on a towel that's on a heating pad. Set the heating pad on about 2 or about 98 degrees F. Make sure that the baby is comfortable and not too hot or cold. Change his bedding daily but try not to let him see you too much. You can leave the puppet or stuffed bird with him as long as it isn't heavy enough to squish him. You could put it next to him and droop the wing over him.

FLEDGING

At the age of 16 days, your baby should be fully feathered, you need to fledge him. Find a room, like a bath room, with a door and no places were he could hurt himself, close the toilet lid, and baby proof it. Cover the room in junk towels and put him on the floor. Put his fake momma on something easy to land on that is about 3 feet off the floor, where he can see it. Leave him alone. Let him fly to his fake momma, if he doesn't at first make sure he is eating seeds and drinking water if not feed him seeds by a spoon. Once he can fly chase him around to get him scared of people and making sure that he can fly. Set up a bird feeder and water source in your back yard and put him outside on the feeder, on a tree, or on the ground. Watch him from inside to make sure he is okay. Make sure he knows about the feeder and water. Alot of baby birds won't go far from your property, you may see them in the future. Happy Bird Raising!