|
|
Post by zena on Oct 8, 2013 13:42:41 GMT 10
Hi everyone, My Diamond Doves chicks have left the nest- well one was ready and its sibbling followed it! I did put it back in the nest, but the parents have kicked him/her out of the nest because they want to lay eggs again  The younger one is only half the size of its other sibbling and has been pecked a bit by the parents. This one is about 3-4 days younger than the other one... If I do hand feed it would I have to use the syringe or could I use the spoon like for other birds? (I've never had to handraise a dove before...) If I do handraise it (and the hen stops feeding it- she was this morning...) I would be keeping it- maybe it can be Cloud's new friend...?  (I was trying to get another budgie for him... but I wasn't allowed... and they wouln't be in the same cage) |
|
|
|
Post by zena on Oct 9, 2013 14:46:44 GMT 10
the baby dove died before I could get to hand raising it... |
|
|
|
Post by avinet on Oct 9, 2013 15:45:49 GMT 10
Sorry I didn't get back to you before - was kind of busy yesterday so didn't have time to get on the forum, and sorry the baby died.
For future reference baby doves are difficult to feed and I have never developed a technique I am happy with. They tend to feed naturally by putting their beak inside their parents beak. I have seen descriptions of cutting the end of a syringe and the baby will put it's beak in the end of the syringe to eat but I have always found that very messy. I preferred to have a small feeding spoon squeezed into a narrow funnel - a normal type of parrot feeding spoon but squeezed more. The baby can then learn to put his beak in the funnel and eat the mix. Also messy but it does kind of work. I have also crop fed them with a crop tube but that isn't for the faint hearted!
And normal parrot hand rearing mix is fine - I use Vetafarm's Neocare these days mainly because it is easy to get around here. By choice it would be Roudybush or Kaytee but no one stocks it locally.
cheers,
Mike
|
|
|
|
Post by zena on Oct 9, 2013 19:29:40 GMT 10
I do have the handfeeding spoons I will try that with the spoon if I have this situation again... I have the parrot hand rearing mix- the Roudybush one... a pet shop near me sells is for about $30-$40 I think that maybe if the baby had hatched closer to its older sibling it would have had more of a chance- it was only half its older sibling size! |
|
|
|
Post by avinet on Oct 9, 2013 21:26:03 GMT 10
I do have the handfeeding spoons I will try that with the spoon if I have this situation again... I have the parrot hand rearing mix- the Roudybush one... a pet shop near me sells is for about $30-$40 I think that maybe if the baby had hatched closer to its older sibling it would have had more of a chance- it was only half its older sibling size! Vetafarm Neocare is a lot better than their Parrot Hand Rearing Mix - the Hand Rearing Mix tends to thicken up fora while after mixing and if that thickening occurs in the crop it can gum up the crop. Neocare doesn't have that problem and is the mix I was going to use if my African Grey eggs had been fertile. I have just had a nest of Diamond Doves - actually the first time I have bred them at home! Bred them quite a few time sin the shop but never at home before. The male had been here on his own for 3 years before I finally got a female for him in June. Took him a while to remember what a female Diamond Dove looks like but he got there in the end. I had the same issue with size, one baby was half the size of the other when the older one left the nest. However the parents continued to feed the smaller one and he left the nest about 5 days after the first and is doing well. cheers, Mike |
|
|
|
Post by zena on Oct 10, 2013 8:26:18 GMT 10
I will see if I can find/order some of the Vetafarm Neocare one... I haven't had a problem with my doves before- usually they left the other younger baby in the nest and fed it... the other baby is doing well |
|
(I was trying to get another budgie for him... but I wasn't allowed... and they wouln't be in the same cage) 
