Monday, July 18, 2011

Found baby mourning dove (possible premature)?

The bird should be fed every 3-hours. When in the wild, they feed constantly, but that would be very hard for a human to do. I would put the baby in a 10 gallon glass fish tank with shavings in the bottom. I would also put something soft in there like a soft towel, blanket, stuffed animal, whatever you may have. They need to be warm as they have no feathers. You also need to put a heating pad under the tank, start it on low and if it does not feel warm after an hour, turn it up to medium. That would be the highest I would go. The baby needs to eat a formula fore baby birds called Exact. It is sold in most pet stores. Directions are on the can. I usually mix the powdered formula with water, use a thermometer so that the temp of the food is 104 degrees give or take a degree. If the food is too hot, it will burn the crop (this is on the right side of the baby's neck, you may see it get larger when feeding, it is like a bubble.) If the formula is too cold, your baby will develop infections, sour crop, it will basically stay in the crop and won't get digested and rot inside. This should help. I am glad that you and your parents are taking care of the baby. Alot of people in this world are just cruel and would not bother.

No comments:

Post a Comment