Help with young collared doves.

[Tracy_]

Yesterday I had to rescue a young collared dove in my garden. I went out to the garden and nearly stepped on the dove right next to the decking. It tried to get away but couldn't fly and couldn't even walk well. I managed to pick it up before the dogs saw it and brought it in. ( I dont know where the nest was to put it back). I have researched on line and have been feeding it weetabix and wet cereals as well as leaving it seeds. Its beak is really soft and in various places online I have read this is due to calcium deficiency. I went out today to put the usual bird food and nearly stepped on another one, so now I have two!
Does anyone know roughly how much food they should be getting? Is it safe for a young bird to have dry seeds yet? (they have most of their feathers but the collar isn't showing yet) Also is it possible to give the dove human liquid calcium supplements either in food or water and again how much?
Hope someone can help, thankyou.

[fairplay]

Hi Tracy,

There is a very important 3 letter word missing here - MUM, where is she ?

You say you couldn't find the nest, but surely a concerned Mum should be about somewhere ? I would fetch a pair of step ladders, climb up onto a large ledge or similar, as near as possible to where you found them, and place them in an old jumper to keep warm and hope Mum finds them. She knows best how to feed them.

Neil.

[Tracy_]

Unfortunately, neither bird was near a tree or other obvious nest site, both were in the open, although in different places. We have a number of doves in the garden but none showing any signs of looking for their young! I dont know if they're likely to search the whole garden for their offspring. I will try tomorrow with one of them but I think I would like to keep hold of the one with calcuim deficiency and try and build him up before releasing him.

[Jason Green]

Evening Tracy, and welcome to WAB!

I agree it's a young Collared Dove. However, and in common with Pigeons in general, hand-rearing may be a little difficult since the mother will feed the young a special milk known as crop milk, I believe. I dont know whether we can replicate it.

We do have members here who are vets and/or work in animal rehabilitation who may be able to run through any processes with you. Alternatively see this WAB page featuring a map of the British Isles and use it to find a centre near you.

Other than that I can only echo Neil's thoughts; there should be a mother around who, even if you can't see her, will be missing the youngster. Does your juvenile/s call at all, or have you noticed an increase in adult dove's vocals in the garden at all? They may be trying to communicate if so.

Take care,

Jason

[RKB]

The beak is soft becasue they are still young, not due to calcium deficiency, so don't worry. The beaks are pliable when they're young, and more 'duck shaped'.

Doves/pigeons are probably the easiest to hand-rear, if this is what you want to do. They have fallen from a flimsy nest somewhere just aboe where you found them. This often happens. But they are way too young to survive out of the nest (they needed another week or so), even if their mum is around.

Take a small teaspoon, bend the sides up to make more of a scoop, and use this to feed the wet sloppy weetabix. You will be able to see the food inside their crop, which is either side/in front of the neck below the feathers. At first you'll need to force-feed them - with one hand hold the head and try to hold open the beak, and with the other use the spoon to pou the food in. You need to get the spoon right back, and down behind the tongue. The gullet is behind the tongue, the hole that opens and closes above that is the trachea, going to the lungs - get food in there and you'll choke it, so dont over-do it with the wet food.

You can also use a syringe with a soft short rubber tube to feed diretcly into the gullet (not too deep), avoiding the trachea and choking risk.

They'll need about a table-spoon full 4-5 times a day. They'll need feeding for about another 3-4 weeks before they can feed themselves. For another 2 weeks they'll be totally dependent on you. Their tail needs to be about 3 inches before they're ready to be weaned. To do this, give them seed (wild bird food) that has been soaked overnight, made available in their box but also gradually introduced in their hand-fed food.

But this kind of committment isn't for everyone, and they'll be better off if you can get them to a rehabilitator who knows what they're doing. It's not an easy job. There are some on this forum, I think, and hopefully others will point you to them.

[Jason Green]

Originally Posted by RKB

But this kind of committment isn't for everyone, and they'll be better off if you can get them to a rehabilitator who knows what they're doing. It's not an easy job. There are some on this forum, I think, and hopefully others will point you to them.

These are the active vets/rehab staff...

Caroline: Wild About Britain - View Profile: wildliferescuer,

FoxtonWildlifeRescue: Wild About Britain - View Profile: FoxtonWildlifeRescue,

Valleyforge: Wild About Britain - View Profile: valleyforge, and

Owlmomma: Wild About Britain - View Profile: owlmomma

Sorry if I've missed anyone, they just seem the most active. Don't we have someone here from Tiggywinkles too?

[Tracy_]

I have put both the birds outside this morning ( in different places) in the hopes that a parent will come and feed them and I can perhaps see here they are nesting. They've been out for an hour now and the only interest is from one of the wood pigeons. Doves have been feeding from the table as usual but none are going near the young doves, one of which is right out in plain sight. While Ive had the birds I haven't heard a single squeak or peep. I haven't feed either of them this morning as I thought maybe if they were hungry they might call out.
an hour and a half later the second one has disappeared, hopefully safely in to the conifers I put it in, can't see it on the dangerous dog ridden floor! Still no sign of any parent birds though, I will just have to keep watch for a while longer.

[fairplay]

If people nearby know you are a bird lover, is it possible somebody just dumped these on you, as I still find it strange you could find no nest and no sign of a worried Mum.

Neil.

[rossbells]

you better make sure there are no magpies or crows about as they will kill them. watched 2 magpies destroy a baby collared dove out my front last year. Horrific

[kezzer]

any up date available Tracy?