Hi. New to doves with one about to hatch

Mine were seed at 4 weeks. I would give a syringe 1x a day but they really didn't want it. Just make sure you see him taking water too. If you notice any weight loss you can help out. I let mine go the way of "I see you can eat, I see you eating, when your hungry , you will eat". I'll assume there's an adjustment period for the baby.
 
Mine were seed at 4 weeks. I would give a syringe 1x a day but they really didn't want it. Just make sure you see him taking water too. If you notice any weight loss you can help out. I let mine go the way of "I see you can eat, I see you eating, when your hungry , you will eat". I'll assume there's an adjustment period for the baby.


I've not seen him drink at all yet. There is a small bowl in there for him but I'm thinking I might have to remove their other high up water so the parents have to use that too so he gets the idea.

I might check at lunchtime and see if he is still starving or if he has settled down because he got enough.
 
Hand feed him a couple times a day definitely! He'll get there don't worry he's still young!
 
I took some photos the other day, better get them off my camera.

He is growing like a weed :). Seems every day his tail grows longer! He is 5 weeks but was spending all day just sitting in the nest cuddled next to mum so I've done some renovations and have hung the cat carrier from the roof of their cage so he can run round under it as well. Now he jumps down in the morning and has to spend the day exploring till I put him back up there at bedtime. I am still very rarely seeing him get a feed from dad but mostly the parents are encouraging him to just eat the food. They both still give him little preens around his face though which is cute :)

I still haven't seen him drinking but I picked him up and put his beak in a water dish and he drank a little so hopefully if he didn't before he gets it now. He still runs up to my hand in the morning trying to get me to feed him which is quite funny.
 
What are your thoughts guys. Bubs is six weeks old tomorrow I think. He is going nuts every time I put my hand in there trying to get me to feed him. He comes running flapping his wings and buries his beak in between my fingers. Strangely when I lift him up into the nest (can't get up himself) next to dad he ignores dad and mum totally, but if I put my hand near he goes nuts again. I did hear dad growl at him the other day so I'm wondering if dad has said no more quite strongly to him so he isn't game to ask for food from him.

The strange thing is I haven't hand fed him except those couple days at the beginning, other than that my feeding him is just when I put a new batch of food in. So I'm a bit concerned he is really hungry to be trying to get me to feed him like this? I did see dad feed him after mentioning it last time but now wondering again. Is six weeks self sufficient time?

400
 
Last edited:
If he's not underweight, I wouldn't worry about it. Are you seeing him eat, drink? Are mom and dad bullying him? Does he want attention or time out of the cage?
 

New posts New threads Active threads

Back
Top Bottom