Dove Babies-URGENT!!!?

Question

Hi, my neighbor was gardening when a blue jay came and knocked out two baby doves, and attacked them. One was so badly injured they had to 'put it down'. I am known for caring for animals, so they brought the other one to me. They said it tried to flap its wings, but is not able to fly yet. It looks about 1-3 weeks from flying age. It is very alert and looks like its ok. I have it in a small cage, so I can help it. (The parent birds must have been away... and the baby was handled so it wont be accepted by its parents.) I am not sure what to feed the poor little guy. I am waiting to find out if it had any other siblings, aside from the one that was put down. Does anyone have any advice for caring for it? PLEASE HELP!!! I'm going to try to put it back in the wild when it is old enough to survive... HELP!

Answer 1

I was going to say feed it dry dog food that has been soaked in water so it is soft because that's what I fed to a baby mynah bird which was abandoned by its mother but that didn't sound right for doves so i went searching and I found this: it's a lot of info and I'm not sure how much of a help it will be but hopefully it will help save Ace...

Edit: I call him Ace...like a pilot that still tries to fly even though injured :D

http://www.diamonddove.com/q&a/feedingba...

Good Luck!!!

Answer 2

It does not matter that the bird has been touched.. the parents will still accept it ..this is just an old wives tale and there is NO truth to it. Birds cannot smell well and will not smell a humans scent on their chick.   Jays do not "take over" other birds nests..this would be highly unusual behavior.  You could try and put the dove in a basket with handle and make a "nest" inside it with grass, etc. for warmth and tie the basket up in the tree as close to the original nest location as possible.  The parents should still care for it as long as they can hear it's begging calls.  If the jay still seems to be lurking around..it may just find the new nest and kill the chick.  In that case, you should get the bird to a wildlife rehab...but it is always best to let the parents rasie a baby bird.  If you need a rehab...look here:

http://www.tc.umn.edu/~devo0028/contact....

Also keep in mind caring for this bird on your own is against the law..they are protected by law.

Answer 3

It's kind of a myth that handling babies will make mothers turn on them - especially with birds. You should really get the babies back in the nest if you can. Trust me this would be the best thing all round - young birds are not easy to bring up, they're best left to their parents.

If the parents are gone, you need to get some seed suitable for doves/pigeons for it and hand feed it. Might also be an idea to get some bird 'mash' from a pet store - you can get stuff for bringing up seeding eating birds, it's a powder you mix with water to form a mash. This would help build the poor thing's strength up. Seriously though, first thing to try is to get it back to it's parents.

Chalice

Answer 4

the only thing i can say is don't put it in the wild if it knows how to swim find somethingit can walk in and put water in it get it bread for it to eat crumble the bread so the baby dove won't choke.i'm not an exepert so  do your best!