AboutStacie G. Expertise I can answer questions related to health, care, behavior, and breeding. If you have an emergency situation, please take it to a veterinarian with avian experience. Unfortunately I do not know much about actually racing pigeons, but I do show exhibition king pigeons.
Experience I have raised pigeons for approximately 12 years now. I got started in the hobby by rescuing an injured feral when I was 12 years old and successfully rehabilitated him. Unfortunately, he was not releasable and so I kept him until he passed about two years ago. From that feral, I actually realized that pigeons were great companions and I had dismissed any previous misconceptions I had heard about them.
Now I am focusing my attention to the show king although I do have a few racing homers, utility kings, and MFC helmets.
Organizations National Pigeon Association
American King Club
Education/Credentials Mainly self-taught with my own experiences, but I have supplemented my knowledge with books and information from NPA and AKC.
Awards and Honors Numerous Best of Breed and Reserve of Breed in 4-H shows; Two Best in Shows acquired while in 4-H. (7 years ago!)
Best of Show and Reserve of Show in county fair
Expert: Stacie G. Date: 7/19/2008 Subject: Baby doves
Question QUESTION: Hi, my name is Tricia, I am 14 years old and a first time dove owner. I have two doves, a male and a female, that recently had a clutch of two eggs. Every thing was going ok. The eggs hatched at the right time and they were being fed. They lived to be about one month old when all of a sudden the 2nd born died. Then about a week later the other died too. But what was weird was that the second one to die started to sit with its legs splayed out in front of it and couldn't walk. I don't know what happened and why. Also niether of the chicks showed any sign of starting to fly. I heard that they can be taken away from their parents at one month so I don't know how that's possible if they can't fly.Could you please help me?
ANSWER: Hi Tricia,
I am very sorry to hear about your baby doves. Since they were about a month old, were they eating on their own or did they ever start eating on their own? Were they always fed by the parents? What kind of nest did the babies live in? Did you notice any other unusual symptoms? Are they kept inside all the time? Dove babies grow pretty quickly and by the time they are about a month old, they should be able to live on their own. Also, were the babies growing well or were they pretty small compared to the parents? Were they active at all? Sorry for asking all of these questions but I can come to a better conclusion with more details. Again, I am very sorry to hear about this!
Stacie
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QUESTION: Well, sometimes they would peck at the ground where some seeds were, but they mostly begged for food. The thing is that the parents would just ignore them and fly up to the perches to get away form the babies. Oh, and the nest that they were living in was a small/medium sized basket that contained twigs, pine needles and some dried leaves. No, I didn't see any other symptoms and yes, they were always inside. But one thing that was unusual was that the babies were different sizes. One was small ever since hatching and the other one was almost twice the normal size. But as for active, neither of them really was. And thank you so much for helping me. :)
ANSWER: It was good that the babies were at least interested in food. At a month old, they should have been leaving the nest and eating more on their own. I believe the parents were just trying to wean them at that stage. The nest sounds pretty good. The only thing I can think of that would cause the size differences in the babies is that the bigger one hatched first and the parents were feeding it and so it was quite a bit stronger before the other one hatched and it might have just pushed the smaller one out of the way when the parents were feeding. Also, if they were inside all of the time and had no access to sunlight, they might have developed a Vitamin D deficiency. Vit. D is required by the body to actually use calcium and it is obtained by UV light. Growing birds especially need this and without it, the body cannot use calcium, even if it is plentiful in the diet. Without calcium absorption, bones cannot form properly and become weak and can bend and produce the splayed legs, just as you describe. Calcium is also required for nervous system function and that might be why they never were really active. Hope this helps!
Stacie
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QUESTION: Thank you so much! I have a bearded dragon that uses a uv light, so could I buy one of those and hang it above my doves cage? YOUR THE BEST!
Answer Actually, if you let the doves just sit outside in their cage a few hours a day, it should be sufficient. They love to soak up some rays quite like people do, but don't leave them out in the heat of the day and just make sure they do not over heat (and there are no predators around) and don't leave them unattended. You can place the cage (if possible) to where half of it is exposed to the sun and the other half is in shade, so they choose when to sit in the sun or shade. But if you can't take them outside, I suppose the lamp would work OK, although I have never done this! I think there may be bulbs specifically made for birds, but you can find out if you decide to buy one. You can place it about 18" above the cage and see how they react. I am not sure if this type gives off heat or not, but just make sure they do not over heat if they do! I hope this helps and keep me updated!
