How to Hand-Feed Turtle Doves

Turtle doves are docile birds with an appearance similar to pigeons, though they have a longer neck and smaller head. These birds live and travel in flocks, often choosing a lifelong mate. Turtle dove chicks are helpless when hatched, requiring the parents to feed and warm them, until they are able to care for themselves. Orphaned turtle dove chicks may be hand-fed while they are young.

Things You'll Need

  • Canary-rearing food
  • Supplemental foods
  • Vitamin supplements
  • Feeding apparatus (baggie, tube or syringe)
  • Feeding nipple
  • Scissors
  • Clean, soft cloth
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Instructions

    • 1

      Create a mixture of food for your chicks to eat. Canary-rearing food mixed according to package instructions; combined with bread crumbs, added water, yogurt, milk, millet and vitamin supplements; makes a suitable meal for turtle dove chicks. Ensure that the food is lukewarm, not hot or cold, before feeding.

    • 2

      Pour the mixed food into a strong plastic baggie, plastic tube or syringe. Fit the end of the bag, tube or syringe with a feeding nipple with an enlarged hole -- or if using a baggie, simply cut a small hole into the corner of the baggie.

    • 3

      Hold the chick gently, but securely in your warm hand to prepare for -- and throughout -- the feeding.

    • 4

      Place the chick's beak gently into the nipple or feeding bag, allowing it to suck out the soft food mixture.

    • 5

      Allow the chick to feed until its crop -- the area near the chest and slightly into the chick's neck that swells when it eats -- is full, but not taut.

    • 6

      Wipe excess food gently from the chick's beak after feeding, to avoid problems with dried food on the chick's body and to keep the chick breathing clearly.

    • 7

      Place the chick back into its incubator after feeding to digest its food.

    • 8

      Repeat feeding every 30 to 60 minutes as the chick becomes hungry. Check the chick's crop to determine feeding time. If the crop is empty and unswollen, it is time for the baby dove to eat.