Baby dove lost and alone

[David323]

there is a baby dove that is all alone please someone tell me what i should with him

 

[wood&feathers]

First of all the bad news. If you can, put it back in the nest with mom. There is a likelihood she pushed it out. Here in KY, that is the extent of legal human intervention.

It is more legal to shoot doves (with a license, during season) than to "save" a chick. The logic makes sense in a cold, survival of the fittest way. Intervening means you are taking away from that mother dove the decision about whether the baby is worthy of raising. There may be genetic or anatomical problems that aren't apparent to us.

If for some reason you intervene, keep mum and try to find a licensed rehabilitator to take the bird to. Doves feed their young crop milk. In the near term you can try a runny, warm mash of chicken feed (NOT layer ration),maybe adding a little egg. Rehabbers use a lot of parrot starter, like Kaytee Exact. It is pricey stuff, but a good thing to have around for sick chickens sometimes.

 

[Ntsees]

Quote:
If you are referring to a mourning dove, there's a good chance that the "baby" dove isn't lost and alone. Chances are it flew out of the nest on its own free will because it was ready to leave the nest. The parents are not going to abandon the young and will come by once in a while (when no one is there) and feed it ~dove milk and so it's best if you leave it. I've seen it myself every year and I sometimes wonder why a dove so young (1/2 size compared to the parents but sometimes older) that barely has enough feathers has decided to leave the nest. But, this is just the way the species is. I remember going to a animal rehab center earlier this year and saw some "baby" doves that they were taking care of. When I saw those young doves, I knew that they were at an age where they would leave the nest. Guess what they were feeding them? Seeds. Just by looking at their age, they might have been able to take seeds but they will still need the dove milk produced from it's parents. Because someone thought they were abandoned and brought them to the rehab center, there's a good chance that those doves didn't make it (unless the feeders knew about the dove milk and fed them something similar as the supplement). If the feeders didn't know that, then the doves probably did not make it and were better off left alone and not brought in. What you should be more concerned about are predators that may come take the dove (i.e. cats, dogs, etc.).