Doves eat seeds. They spend a great deal of time in nature walking
around looking for seeds. Unlike the hookbills (keets, parrots, etc.),
they do not husk their seeds. They swallow them whole. This makes it
easier to tell when they need more food. They leave no trays of empty
hulls as keets will.
Commercial dove foods are not as readily available as other bird foods.
If you can’t find their food, the best substitute we’ve found is
vitamin-fortified parakeet food. Doves will switch instantly to
Of course doves enjoy a change of pace in their diets. Keet foods have
quite a bit of variety in them, but doves will appreciate different
treats – even a little bite of bread or cracker. Greens, bits of fruit,
and other little snacks go down smooth.
In the wild, doves come upon and devour an occasional insect. They like
bugs. In captivity, crickets, mealworms, and dried flies fill the
bill. But their main food is seeds.
eat their seeds whole (with the husks on), doves may need grit. They
use it to grind up their food in their gizzards. Sprinkle a little bit
of grit on their floor or provide a small cup of it -- as opposed to
mixing it in their food. Let them decide how much grit to consume.
Actually, they get along quite well with no grit at all. However,
calcium grit will help put calcium into their system. Egg-laying
females need extra calcium.
Bright eyes and an inquisitive look make the dove an appealing bird to
most people. They seem to look to their owner for attention. Doves
also quickly bond to their owner and like to follow you around.
People also like the cooing sound the males make. The phrase “billing
and cooing” comes from the mating activities of this particular group of
birds. They coo to attract their mates. The cooing sound also seems to
Doves prefer to pick their own mates. However, most are not what you
would call picky. One male plus one female usually results in a
Since they are such terrible nest builders, many doves will quickly take
over their food bowl as a better nest than they could ever build. If
you feed yours from a five-inch ceramic bowl, don’t be surprised to find
your female setting on a clutch of eggs in the food bowl. Some will
even lay eggs on the cage floor. A few randomly placed twigs complete
their nuptial suite.
Not all the eggs hatch at the same time, because the female lays them on
different days. The babies are small, poorly feathered, and helpless.
(They are also ugly.) She is an excellent parent, but not protective at
all. You can lift her up and scope out (or scoop out) the eggs and
youngsters without upsetting her much. Both the female and the male
feed the babies. The babies stay in the nest until they are almost as
big as their parents. This process takes less than six weeks.
Both parents feed the babies “pigeon milk.” The parents eat and
partially digest their seed diet, then regurgitate it into their kids’
open beaks. The babies grow quite rapidly on this special diet. You
can assist the parents by giving them extra “nestling foods” at this
time. Any extra nutrition always helps.
Because of their wide wing span, prefer a larger cage. Something in the
range of a cockatiel cage works great. You can house them uncomfortably
in a 14x14 cage. Much better – a 24x24-inch rabbit cage. They really
like bigger cages. If you keep them in a small cage, they absolutely
need an exercise period.
Usually a weekly cleaning will handle the situation. doves are not
particularly messy -- except for their loose feathers. Nor do they
throw out their seeds for entertainment as much as many small birds do.
Cleaning the cage on a regular basis will prevent most pest problems.
Adding one of the “cage protectors” also helps. It repels them like
moth balls. Maybe that’s why they smell like moth balls? If your bird
does get mites (evidenced by a scaly beak or feet), you can eradicate
them easily. Mites are not much of a problem these days. Cage spray
works. As does Ivermectin in serious cases.
You don’t need a cage cover. However, it could make your life easier.
If you tire of their cooing, that’s where the cage cover works. It
literally turns your dove off like a light switch.
Cool temperatures will not harm your dove. Drafts will. Keep
their cage away from open windows on windy days, from furnace and air
conditioner outputs, and from fans.
Although doves spend a lot of time walking on their cage floor,
they still need roosts. It always helps to give them a variety of roost
sizes. They cannot climb all over their cage wires like the hookbills
do. And position their roosts far enough away from the cage walls to
not “ruffle their feathers.” Tail feathers, that is.
Use one of the little wire brush roost cleaners on an as-needed basis.
Soaking them in a bucket of bleach water also helps.
Doves need “outside time.” They really appreciate flying around on a
daily basis. Doves don’t actually try to escape, they just like to “try
their wings” to keep in good shape. You won’t need to trim their wings
like you do on most birds. doves just do not try to escape.
Of course, you don’t want your doves to “try their wings”
outside. They could fly away. Escapees have a very short memory of
where they came from. Escapees also have little chance of surviving in
the wild. Cats don’t even have to sneak up on them. s are just not
afraid of predators.
Like all animals, doves appreciate the sun (or its equivalent).
Naturally, they can’t take full-time
exposure to the sun anymore than we can. If you do build an outside
aviary, make sure they get mostly shade in addition to sunning areas.
However, with all the wild bird diseases out there (Nile fever for one),
outdoor aviaries are losing their appeal.
Many manufacturers make artificial sun light these days. These are the
exact spectrum of sunlight but not at the same harmful intensity. They
keep the birds healthier and more colorful.
Healthy birds preen their feathers daily. Many like to take a daily
bath. Doves like a daily misting. It helps them preen and clean their
feathers.This keeps them sleeker and, of course, cleaner.
bottles. Doves drink from water dishes. Change their water daily
because they insist on defecating in it.
Doves molt (shed old feathers and grow new ones) once a
year – in the warm months. Baby doves
usually molt their initial feathers several weeks after birth.
Basic Care Plan for Doves
- Cages should have a minimum of 2 cubic feet per bird
- Separate dominate males in different cages
- Clean cages daily & replace floor papers
- Exercise birds daily by letting them out of cage to fly around
- I used to Feed a balanced diet of KAYTEE Dove Mix Seed and Whole
I tried pellet feeds and they did not work out well for us, seed
(I use about 275 lbs of seed in a year)....
I am now feeding Wild Bird Seed with a little Wild Game Chow added
to it for the vitamins. The birds seem to be doing fine on this
mixture and they also are breeding well. They hatched 5 chicks in a
Another suggestion is to feed Purina Nutrablend gold or green
Pellets, ground slightly, augment with wild bird seed. This didn't
work well with my birds however.
- Provide fresh water for drink and bath* each day
- Provide different levels of branches or perches for dominant
birds to help prevent fighting or separate birds
- Allow access to sunlight or Vitagrow Lamp light Daily
- Provide nesting boxes (4x6 to 6x6) filled with straw or shredded
* without providing a large bowl of water to allow
the nesting parent doves to bathe in, the dove eggs can dry out and
suffocate the unhatched chick, especially in dry climates such as in
Montana according to the WSU School of Veternary Science Ornithology
Professor, Dr Starbuck, whom I called to ask why my dove's eggs were not
hatching the first year I tried breeding white doves. Since then I have
bred well over 150 birds from the original 4.
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