how to care for baby dove

Question
Today I found a baby dove on the sidewalk. I thought it was dead. It already had ants on it. I ended up picking it up and bringing its temperature up. It is now alive, but I don't know how to care for it. How many times a day do I feed it? I already gave it some mushy dog food (as an emergencty source of food), and it barely ate. I put the stuff in a straw and it just wouldn't eat. How do I get it to eat? I can't tell how old it is either. It is definitely a dove, it's grayish, it can hop around and spread its wings, but I don't think it can really fly yet. It is very small, but it already has some long wing and tailfeathers. How do I keep it warm?

If there is anybody to help me, your advice would be greatly appreciated!

Answer
Hi, Lauren.  Thanks for posting!

Good for you!  If you hadn't picked this baby up, it would have died from exposure (or due to predation).  I can definitely help, but I might need some more information.  Can you describe to me how feathered out this bird is, i.e., does s/he appear to have all/most/some of it's feathers (compared to a full-grown dove/pigeon that you might see flying wild)?  Do you see any "pin" feathers, i.e., they look like white sticks of straw coming from the body?  Does it "squeak" or cry like begging for food?  

You need to put this little guy in some type of cage or box or container where it can be kept warm.  The amount of featheration it has will dictate how warm you need to keep this baby.  You can put a heat lamp of some sort over the top and/or place a heating pad underneath the box/container/cage.  If you use a heating pad, turn it on low or medium, and only use the heating pad to cover 1/2 of the cage/box/container (so that the baby can get off/away from the heat when it needs to...don't want to dehydrate the bird).

The baby's approximate age (which I can estimate based on it's size and featheration) will determine what you should be feeding it.  Most baby doves/pigeons can start eating pigeon grains when they are about 21 days old...at this age, a dove/pigeon will be fully feathered, but may be small in size because of it's age.  If you can't find pigeon grain, which is what the bird actually needs, you can use wild bird seed, but the youngster likely won't eat any sunflower seeds (some doves/pigeons do, some don't).  You can put pigeon grain in a dish or sprinkle it on the bottom of the box/cage/container, which the baby should peck at/eat if it's old enough.  If it doesn't eat this grain, you'll need to use an eyedropper or teaspoon or parrot handfeeding syringe (doesn't have a needle!) and feed the baby a human liquid nutritional supplement, such as Ensure Plus, Slim Fast, or one of the generic brands, warm the liquid up to about 102 deg F (no hotter or you will burn the baby's crop/gizzard...you'll need to use a thermometer), and feed the baby!  You'll likely have to force open it's mouth, gently place the eyedropper/syringe, etc., over it's tongue so you can squirt the warm liquid down the back of it's throat.  Fill it's crop up...it will bulge...you've fed too much if you can see food backing up into the baby's neck (you should be able to see through the skin in this area).  You'll need to feed again whenever the crop empties.  What you need to purchase is Kaytee Exact baby parrot handformula (or some other brand of handfeeding formula for parrots) and use this instead of the liquid nutritional supplement.  I don't know what types of pet stores are in your area, but PetSmart usually sells parrot handfeeding formula (or a pet store that caters to parrots...you might also find a handfeeding syringe at the same pet store).  If/when you get handfeeding formula, I've heard some people say they have taken a styrofoam cup, punched a hole in the bottom of the cup right at the seam, and allow the baby to "nurse" the handfeeding formula right out of the cuup.  I've also heard some say they've placed handfeeding formula into a latex glove, cut the tip of one of the fingers off, and the baby can "suckle" food in this manner.  I've never tried the latter 2 methods myself, but as long as food is getting into the baby and the baby isn't aspirating, great!  

The baby will also require water.  You can either allow the baby to drink on it's own, if it's able to, or give it water via the same method you use to handfeed it.  Be aware though that the baby might not know how to drink water out of the dish, so you might have to teach it how to do this by dipping it's beak into the water (stop short of dipping it's nostrils into the water or it could drown).  Doves/pigeons always drink after eating grain (the drink helps to soften up the grains so they can digest).

You have to get food into this bird or it will die.  This means you might have to force feed it if it will not eat on it's own.  Dove/pigeon babies are tough little guys, so don't be afraid to force feed it.  By force feeding I mean you might have to force it's mouth open in order to get food down into it's crop by some method, IF the baby won't eat pigeon grain on it's own.

I know this is a lot of information, but if you need help, please come back.  I have much experience handfeeding/caring for baby doves/pigeons.  

Chrys