Expert: Roger Lederer - 7/30/2011

Question
I had my front tree trimmed, did not realize the nest at the top was an active dove nest.  Tree trimmer didn't notice two pretty well feathered doves.  When the limb hit the ground it took the nest with it.  One dove sadly died in front of me.  The other the nest cushioned the fall. I left the bird out all day with the nest. The bird was about 1 to 1 1/2 weeks from fledging i think. Felt its crop that night, nothing.  We have cats in the area so I brought it in.
I force feed it with a syringe and tube, Exact parrot food.
I have hand fed two baby parrots, to nice adults.  
I have been feeding with the tube direct into the crop for 5 days 3 to 4 times a day 10ml.(2tsp) I have an outside Avery, I have the bird in by itself.
I would like to start introducing seed. The bird can now fly around from perch to perch pretty good, not great, in the 8ft.x8ft Avery. I just put water in front of it and pushed its beak in the water and it gulped 3 big gulps. I'm sure I did not shove the nostrils in.
The bird is doing fine appears healthy.  My goal is to get it to eat seed.  I have some various small seeds around the cage.  On cloths and in a bowl I've seen it pick at them but spit them out.
Do I need to stop force feeding somehow.  The Parrots were easy.
It won't open its mouth on its own. Should I try prying and squirting some paste food a little at a time.  What about the seeds.
Obviously my goal is to release this bird when its ready. I know the parents are somewhers the second day I saw the bird flaping its wings like it heard one of them or saw one. I couldnt take a chance on release, lots of pools surround me, and I have one. It was not at that time flying very well.   What to do. Thanks in advance for any advice. Lynn Chandler, AZ

Answer
Sounds like you are doing things pretty correctly so far. If the bird can fly around the aviary, it should be released soon. When the baby starts to peck at things on the ground/bottom of its cage, it's ready to start trying grain.  You can feed the bird dove/pigeon grain...lay some in a flat dish/bowl and if the baby is old enough, it will start pecking at the food.  You may still have to handfeed it some until it gets used to completely feeding itself.  Also offer the bird water in a dish because doves/pigeons have to drink water after they eat grain in order to help soften the grain hulls.  The bird will also need dove/pigeon grit.  Some feed stores have pigeon food.

You can't just release this bird back into the wild after having tamed it.  The bird will not know how to find food/water on its own, i.e., it didn't have its parents to teach it what to eat/where and how to find water.  You need to gradually "cut your ties" with this bird so the bird will be able to fend for itself in the wild.  It would be best if you could also teach it how to find food on its own.  Otherwise, I would recommend you release this bird when it's a bit older with a flock of other doves/pigeons so perhaps it will learn from them.  

Good luck