Raising a baby mourning dove!!! NEED HELP!!!

[Hokum Coco]

Piper

My grand daughter's hand-raised, orphaned-homer failed to return on a 20 mile toss. It was one of the few times she did not accompany me on a release. She suffered tears and heartache when I told her of the loss.

Amazingly when I went to close up the loft at dusk what should come flying in but (her pigeon) Piper!

I checked him over and he was tore open from his neck to his tail feathers.

My first instinct was to put him out of his misery. I however brought him into the house for a better look. My wife flushed out the wound with a saline solution and I glued him back together with crazy glue. He was good to go in about 5 days

This is him incubating eggs after his ordeal. .

My grand daughter was On The MOON when I told her of Pipers return. Grand daughter has experienced love, loss, heartache. first aid, joy, responsibility, and kinship with yours truly. She has also developed special bonds with some of our doves who prefer her company over mine when she comes into the loft with me.

It has given her a good subject for presentation at school as well.

We also are starting up a small enterprise with white dove releases (Pipers parents were both solid snow white just for the record).




Piper's Parents

Grand daughter did her first dove release at a wedding last fall also another release for an anti bulling campaign at her grade school.

With the aid of the Internet she has also become somewhat of an authority on homing pigeons. She definitely knows more than the average 12 year old on the subject and can talk your ear off.

This was relayed to me by her teacher after she was forced to cut off a presentation she made when the question period looked like it was not going to end.

She would rather hang out with Hokum (her name for me since she was one) then any of her friends or parents (for that matter).



Picture of Back Yard

However she will be entering her teens next year (make-up and boys will probably soon shove me aside).

I know however that these birds have made her a better person regardless what comes in the future.

Plus I have another grand daughter who is only turned 4 and calls me Coco (since she was one).

As luck would have it we were up to almost 40 birds and then we were devastated by a raccoon attack and we lost all but 6 of our birds just a few days ago.

 

[Aina]

I thought your story was very cute
I have a BIG problem: I rescued Nestor and hand fed it then it flew away yesterday and keeps coming back. I have THREE cats... It flies well but today was on the stairs crying and battling its wings. I still give him baby formula and also seeds but it eats a few seeds and jumps on me for the syringe. I know weaning tasked some starving and they loose 10% of their weight. But how much should I starve him? Should I totally stop the syringe??? Should I mix the baby formula with the seeds and leave me in a plate? Nestor is so cute but doesn't seem to be scared of my cats! Please help!!!

 

[Aina]

This is Nestor

 

[Majd]

Oh thanks for taking him in!
Well i don't know by numbers how much you should starve him to be honest but i'd say feed him no more than three time a day with formula and offer him seeds aay before his meal... If he can eat enough seeds to keep him alive i'd say reduce the meals to only 2 per day and so on.... And by the way you shouldn't release him any time now as he is still young... Only realease him when he is fully eating/drinking independently and has strong adult wings... You know it's true that fledglings leave the nest arround this age, but they stay with their parents for longer to learn to forrage for food and to avoid danger....

 

[Majd]

Oh sorry i mean leave the seed dish with him at all time and then check if his crop has enough food to keep him well and healthy... If there is some food but the crop is not full, supplement with two or one meal a day... Because i guess you said he eats some seeds but wants formula right?

 

[Aina]

Yes thank you first for your precious help!!!
It seems like he eats the small millet size seeds. But Nectir acts like it is starving!
Tonight I incorporated the seeds with the formula in the syringe. He just swallowed it all... Now should I keep Nestor in the cage? It is actually pretty big as it it my hen's coop: 4x6x8 ft or should I let it go and just prey it does not come back when I am not around and encounter my three cats :-((

 

[Majd]

I would keep him in for another week to get the hold of eating/drinking and to strengthen those wings.... Besides he's still quite yound to venture out on his own... Give him more time so your rescue don't turn into a murder

 

[collie1470]

How cute. We came home today to an injured Eurasian Collared Dove right at our front door. So he's being cared for until he heals up. We thought at first his wing was broken, but it's just cut up and missing quite a few feathers (his tail feathers are missing too) so he's bandaged up and on some wood chips for now. Full grown, which makes food choices a bit easier (and things we already had, fortunately). My phone won't let me upload a picture, but he's a pretty little thing. And calmer than I expected, all things considered. He's cuddled up to a warm rice sock now.

 

[Majd]

How cute thanks for caring for the bird! Don't forget to sterilize the wounds! And udaye us!

 

[collie1470]

How cute thanks for caring for the bird! Don't forget to sterilize the wounds! And udaye us!

we did he ate some of the food and drank the water we gave him last night. So hopefully he eats more and gets better quick. We want him to be with his own as soon as possible.