Ringneck Doves & Pine Pellets

[johnsonfarm]

I have a pair of ringneck doves indoors. Up till now I've used newspaper on the bottom of their cage. However, I have a bag of pine pellet bedding that I use for my rabbit's litterbox and I wondered if it would be good to use in the dove's cage?
My only concern is that they could eat the smaller pieces and get impacted?

 

[CatWhisperer]

I keep baby chicks > 3 weeks old on pine pellets and have had no problems.

 

[johnsonfarm]

Ugh, I wish there was more information out there. One of my doves is acting like it's impacted now, straining and dirty vent. So for lack of any other advice, I'm guessing from a hard learned lesson, that no, pine pellets are no good for doves.

 

[johnsonfarm]

This morning he finally passed it, a HUGE chunk of expanded wood pellets. I'm relieved he passed it, but wow, he definitely was eating it

 

[avjudge]

I would imagine - like our horses and llamas who tried nibbling on pine pellets when they first encountered them - they will figure out they're not food. But given that (from your experience) they obviously have the potential to cause digestive problems in something as small as a bird, if you do want to continue using them, probably safer to pre-moisten the pellets enough that they swell a bit.

I have tried pellets in a pigeon's cage when I was keeping him in, and while they made a nice clean bottom of the cage between cleanings (the droppings seemed to sink in and be covered), I ended up with sawdust ALL OVER the area around the cage because of the breeze created when he stretched/flapped his wings. I don't know if that would be as much of a problem with a smaller dove.

 

[Serin]

I started using them with my pigeon a few weeks ago. She does not eat them. They don't turn to dust unless they get wet. They clumping droppings and are easy to clean.

 

[Jehri]

I have a cage with a grate and use the pellets without a problem the birds don’t pick at them below the grate