Companion for a pet Mourning Dove

My parents have a pet mourning dove named Cocoa that they have had for about 10 years. He is even older than that - some friends of ours rescued him from the mouth of their cat and rehabilitated him. However, one of his wings was dislocated or something (it just hangs down, and he really can't use it at all), so they kept him in a cage for a couple years before the husband forced his wife to get rid of it after finding out they can live to be 30! (He hated the "hoo-ing" sound they make, which I find so weird because most people think it is so pretty!) So that is when my parents took him. All this time he has been alone, but I am wondering if he would be happier with a friend... any thoughts?

He has been a temporary pal to a number of injured/baby poultry and birds who come into the house for special care (cages side by side), and always seems to enjoy that, but has never had a long term cage mate. Would it be a good idea for me to encourage my parents to get him a friend, or at that point is it really not needed? What got me thinking was I got some roller pigeons and they are not much bigger than Cocoa.

Its always worth trying as long as theres good supervision at first.

I had a single white dove given to me by a friend that I kept with a ground loving Indian Fantail. They made an odd couple but they accepted each other as mates and it was a good solution for those two birds.

I also had a mourning dove once that I hand raised from a bald little baby. She never did learn to accept any other bird as a friend, mate etc. She loved my hand and would happily hang out with it all day if she could and she'd attack any dove I tried introducing her to. I waited too long before I tried introducing her to her own kind.

Your birds old enough that it might not like a friend, but if it does accept one of the rollers....what a happy treat for Cocoa! Just keep a close eye on them until they show signs of interest or affection.

hey i was in the same boat as you a little bit ago i had a mourning dove i had saved and after awhile he seemed lonely so i got a ringneck dove well two but not at the same time first i tried a male then a female both of them would try to chase him from the food bowl or peck his feathers out but the female wasn't as bad and he seemed to enjoy her company/abuse i did separate them but he could see her and the neatest thing was one mourning i awoke to the sound of him doing a classic mourning dove coo id imagine a smaller dove like a diamond dove would be a better companion due to closer size what gender is he if you don't mind me asking

i wouldn't recommend a pigeon tho i personally haven't had experience with mixing them but pigeons are much much larger then a mourning dove and i've seen them interact in the wild but that's just what i've seen

A dove and pigeon often works just fine. Best to pair them with the opposite sex though. They can and do produce sterile hybrid babies as well.

As always when introducing new animals to each other...use good supervision and watch to be sure they accept each other. Remember to be patient and don't panic if its not love at first sight...but also remember to keep them safe. If ones extremely aggressive, then you separate them and place them in cages side by side for a few days to a week and then try reintroducing them. With pigeons and doves, they usually don't need that though unless you're trying to add a dove into an established pigeon flock.

yeah that would help if it were of opposite gender because i have seen male pigeons can be aggressive id imagine a female ringneck could work or even just a recently fledged individual which from what i've seen aren't aggressive