Injured young collared dove

[Molliesmate]

Last night the cat brought a young collared dove into the house..Luckily it wasn't really injured,just in shock..We kept in in a box overnight with water and watered porridge oats(didn't know what else..!) Today I took it out into the garden(luckily was raining so cat stayed indoors!) and for quite sometime it sat on my hand..Then it tried to fly but only for a short distance(losing a few wing feathers(I think)..it flew over the fence but dropped to the other side..So now I've brought it back into the garden,and for at least 1 hour it's just sat there,,it has preened itself, walked arond a little and pecked around on the floor..but what do I do now? How long do I leave it, and do I bring it in again overnight? We have a small aviery(empty) but don't really want to keep it enclosed.. Any suggestions?

[~T~]

I don't see why you couldn't keep it in the aviary with food and water until it's strong enough to fly, as long as you don't have any contact with it as this way it will be safe from predators. The only other thing to do would be take it to a wildlife rescue centre.