Week 14: mini-research; before writing--

Five weeks ago I got a phone call from my best friend, up in the county. As soon as I said my normal "Hellooo sis" she proceeds to say...

"Hi… Can you take more birds?"

“Umm, no. I have my Cockatiels and that is enough, but thanks for asking!” At this point she proceeds to tell me that she had been made aware of a breeding pair of Doves and their chick from 2008. The pair had ‘accidently’ gotten together again and mated. The woman who owned the Doves had made it clear that she no longer wanted the birds and planned to let them go.

“Give me her number, and don’t call me anymore about this stuff. I can’t afford it!”

Forty five minutes later I began the hour and a half journey to go get my new wards. Upon inspection of the living conditions of the birds it was all I could do not to drive the woman’s head through the wall. The three birds were in two cages. The cage for the breeding pair was divided into two sections. The bottom of each section was almost entirely covered with feces, and the water in the dishes, well… it was pretty slimy. The chick from 2008, which is now almost four years old, was in a cage so small, he could not turn around without his tail feather rubbing the side of the cage. The bottom of his cage had to have had at least a solid inch of feces. His water dish was empty and dry and there was no food dish in either cage.

“What does their diet consist of?” I asked the woman, Angie or something like that. I really didn’t care enough to remember. She looked at me as if puzzled for a moment.

“Oh! The mamma likes black sunflower seeds, and they get bread and a few wild bird seeds once in a while. I’m all out though.” I look at her trying to maintain my temper.

“I don’t want the little cage. I have a clean one in my car. I need to take the big cage though. I only have one big enough at home.”

“Oh, are you sure you don’t want the little cage? I’m just going to throw it away.”

“Honestly that cage is better off being thrown away in that condition.” I transferred  the birds into the smaller cages I brought from home and cover them with blankets. After battling the big cage into my back seat I head home.


Much to my surprise two days later the Mamma dove laid an egg. My expertise in birds carries only to Cockatiels, not Doves. Scrambling to find where I put the nesting material I make a half assed nest and place the egg into it. Mamma just looked at it, computer time. Getting online I start searching everything I can about Doves, their diet, housing, breeding, chicks… If it had to do with Doves I probably searched for it.

An experienced pair of Doves will lay their first egg and actually let it sit until the second egg is laid. At that point they will begin incubating the eggs at the same time. The incubation period for Doves is about fourteen days. A Dove can starve to death in a matter of twenty-four hours, and they definitely need more than black sunflower seed and friggin bread. Doves do not husk their seeds, therefore they require grit. This had never been provided for them. How they had managed to survive as long as she had them is beyond me. They feed their chick’s crop milk for the first few days then gradually add more and more seed to the mix. They enjoy millet sprays (boy do they ever) and fruits and vegetables, especially corn, spinach, and broccoli in this case. Broccoli consumption should be moderate because it affects how the bird will absorb calcium.

The chicks will fledge the nest, generally, around three to four weeks of age. Again, in this case, it was about two and a half weeks, with much prodding from daddy. Mamma began attacking the chicks yesterday, at just over three weeks of age and I had to remove them from the cage.

Still working on the re-homing. The issue will be finding someone who will really take care of them and can afford to do so.