Earlier this May, my spouse found a shocked white dove lying on the grass in our neighborhood. She brought it home to ensure that it would not become someone’s lunch, which unfolded into a new chapter in our lives of fostering a dove. She warmed up to us gradually and now she is very social and seems quite happy, although we are very aware of doves social needs and are in search of another dove we can foster to give her the company she deserves.

Finding a dove has proven to be difficult so I figure that this thread is among our best bet to locate a friend.

We live in the Chicago area, which has the Great Lakes pigeon rescue, but they almost exclusively have pigeons.

Any leads or information is greatly appreciated!

Hi! This is my first time taking care of a little animal like this, and I’d like to know how to look after it. A friend rescued it from a dog or something like that, but he can’t take care of it, so I’ll be looking after it for a while, at least. I don’t know how old it is; AI told me it might be around two weeks old, but I’m taking that estimate with a grain of salt.

Whenever I bring my hand closer, it moves around a lot and runs away. Yesterday, it couldn’t fly (I found it at around 11 p.m.), but today, at around 11 a.m., I was cleaning the paper underneath it when it flew all the way up onto a couch, so it seems to be relatively healthy.

I fed it a little oatmeal mixed with water using the back of a syringe, and it did manage to peck at some of it. The thing is, I’m not sure if that’s a good diet for it. I also put out some canary seeds and millet, but it doesn’t seem to peck at them, or at least I haven’t seen it eating because it’s always curled up.

What should I do until it can leave on its own? How can I get it to start eating seeds on its own?

P.S. I’d really appreciate any tips on how to care for it on my own, since a vet consultation is very expensive.

Hi!! I'm unfortunately in a situation where I cannot provide the care or attention needed for my lovely boy anymore. I got him when I was much younger and very uninformed and have been trying my best to learn and improve ever since I realized just how uninformed I was. Due to many life circumstances, things have been getting much more difficult and I can't keep up with both life issues and caring for him even though I wish I could. I love him so much and am extremely sad even thinking about having to do this, but it's much more depressing to imagine him living an unfulfilling or sad life with me when he could be somewhere that could give him a happy one.

I have absolutely no idea where to start. I live in the northeastern part of the United States in an area that unfortunately seems very far from rescues that would take him from what I've found while researching.

Any help or advice would be greatly appreciated! I apologize if I take a while to respond sometimes as there are many personal things I'm working through at the moment. Also apologies if this is formatted incorrectly? I've never used reddit before, so I'm not completely sure I'm doing this right.

Hello, today I noticed a long looking bug on my doves chest. I have never seen any on him before, I am still thinking about getting him Pyrethrin spray, he seems preeetty itchy to me. Could anyone help me get a good one? Which brand? I just want to be sure:) thank you<3

He finally got done molting into his adult plumage. Before and during his molting, he hated me. He does not like my hands. He would lunge and wing slap my hand if I reach in. But after his molt, he got pretty clingy to me, and he finally flew over to me when I put my arms out.

Georgias spending the night at the avian vet :( She was throwing up this morning so I brought her in to an avian emergency vet and found out she has and infection in her crop. The vet said it was pretty bad and her bacteria percentage was at 50% when it should be closer to 5.

I know doves tend to hide their symptoms but she’s acted so normal that I was shocked when the vet told me they had found her crop full of fluid. I honestly figured she had eaten something weird and had an upset stomach, but I never expected it was something this bad where I’d have to leave her overnight. Even when I was saying goodbye she was her usual sweet self, preening and alert. (I added a pic of her in the fish tank they put her in when I was saying bye :P)

As soon as I got home I deep cleaned the bird room and sanitized the food, water, and grit bowls. If the vet says she’s good to go I’m going to pick her up tomorrow, and I have it scheduled to bring her wife for a checkup just in case it’s contagious.

I just don’t understand how this happened and would love any advice on how to prevent it in the future. Are crop infections something that doves can bounce back from pretty easily? Does this normally develop quickly or have I been overlooking symptoms?

Does anyone feed sprouted seeds and legumes to their doves? My Ringneck, Prince gets some daily. Do your doves like them, too?

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Here's my official first pet dove, we think he's a boy.

So a little back story, I am a vet tech and one of the docs i work with sees birds (mostly wild birds, not pets) and people drop off injured birds at work. So this little fella was found at a park unable to fly and i fostered him for a weekend since he needed injectable meds and we have no staff to do it at work during weekends (hospital is closed) He had spots where he had wounds and bald spots, which are now healed and growing feathers.

After awhile, i officially decided to adopt and take care of him. Since the doc said he looked very well after the weekend i had him and he kept asking me if im taking him. Lol

So here we are now, he is currently molting and it scared me cause i thought he's sick but after seeing some posts here i guess its normal.

I am learning so much about him and doves of his kind in general but if you guys have any tips or advice for a new dove owner i am down to soak my brain with info. Lol

Also, if he looks like a she, please let me know. I am having trouble sexing Snowflake because of it being white.

Thank you if you made it this far. ❤️

Can anyone offer any advice?
My sweet girl Phoebe is very interested in nest building, we have plenty of materials for her. However she won’t stop trying to build it on my partners head 😭 at first it was cute but she just won’t stop all day. We have tried to encourage her to build elsewhere by putting sticks etc in other places she likes to perch/ in her cage. (She free flies all day but does have a cage). Any tips would be greatly appreciated ☺️

This is Nina bird. She is my heart.

Hello,

I've had a male Collared Dove since late may, but just recently I got another one, who is most likely a female.

They live in a 106 x 69 x 77 dog crate. From what I saw it is a bit under the recommended size, but most of the days I let them roam free in my room for several hours, so they don't sit in it 24/7.

There's one question I have. Do you think this setup is okay? I'm attaching photos of how it looks but just to point out, they have:

- Three metal bowls (seed mix, grit, water)

- Soft blanket flooring from which I clean droppings everyday

- Two branch perches attached to the walls

- One wooden platform with a blanket on it

- Elevated nest with a soft pillowcase inside

- Foraging basket with toys and sprays

- A metal swing with a wooden base

Soon they will also have a bowl with calcium, but I just ordered, so I am waiting for it to arrive.

ALSO they usually have a big bathing bowl but for now the female has wounded her head and the vet told me to take it away for now.

Hello everyone. I joined this group after finding a baby white-winged dove on the ground. I couldn’t locate his nest, so I took it upon myself to raise him. I’ve had birds before, but this little guy was so special. I became attached to him almost immediately. He needed frequent feedings as a baby, and I loved watching his little wing shakes whenever he ate.
As he grew up, he became my little companion. He was always perched on my head or shoulders, or sitting on my computer while I studied. Then he learned to sing and dance, and waking up to his little songs became one of my favorite parts of the day. He came into my life during a really difficult time and meant the world to me. I thought we would have so much more time together.
I had a 12-hour clinical on Saturday, and when I came home, he had passed away. I’m completely devastated. His seeds are still scattered everywhere, and there are even little droppings stuck to some of my furniture. All these tiny traces of him are still here, but he isn’t. I can’t imagine how quiet the mornings will be or how I’m supposed to get used to studying without him beside me.
His body is currently in the freezer because I haven’t been able to decide what to do. I can’t bring myself to bury him, and I don’t want to cremate him. His feathers were so soft and beautiful, and he had that lovely little bird smell. It breaks my heart knowing I’ll never get to hold him close and sniff him again.
I want to make a beautiful memorial for him, but I don’t know where to start or who to reach out to. Trying to look things up myself has been too painful. I appreciate taxidermy, but I don’t know whether seeing my own baby that way would be comforting or too difficult.
If anyone has ideas for a gentle, meaningful way to remember him, or would like to share what they’ve done for their own birds, I would really appreciate it. He was such a special little soul, and I just want to do something that feels right for him.

so im honestly not sure how much food to offer or anything like that. i usually fill their bowls a bit and sprinkle a little around for them to find every few days. but i feel like my Eurasian collared dove is getting chunky!! obviously i dont want this, i worry im overfeeding but i try not to. do i feed just a meal a day? how do I portion their food? im newer to birds.

BTW we ended up getting blue a friend so... meet honey!! i actually found a dove breeder 3 hrs away from me and was able to make the drive!

also today is cleaning day. until theyre more hand trained i do weekly cleans not daily spot cleans to lower stress, thats why theres so much poop on that stick, thats her poop stick.

I adopted two rescue ring necked doves several weeks ago. They came from a hoarding situation in which they were in a small cage with ~16 other birds.

They are timid and won't let me get near them. They won't eat anything I hand them. They even shake sometimes. I want to let them out of the cage but I haven't yet because I'm worried I won't be able to catch them to get them back in, or that I'll upset them more. Luckily their cage is big, but still:(

I got spray millet and they still won't come closer when I hold it out. This week is the first week I've seen them really foraging and/or playing though so that is some progress overall.

Any advice would be amazing