/r/PetDoves

Photograph via snooOG

Anything and everything Columbidae! Whether you keep doves, have questions, or just like the idea of them, this is the place for you.

Welcome to /r/Petdoves! We're a community of people that love doves and pigeons. If you have questions about keeping doves then feel free to ask!

Subreddit Rules


  • Posts should pertain to doves, and pigeons of any species whether domestic, feral, or wild. General bird-related questions are fine as well if you are having trouble getting answers in other forums.

  • Respect should be offered to anyone posting in this forum regardless of their beliefs.

  • This is not a place to talk about pigeon hunting as a sport. The Sub itself does not hold a stance for or against the sport, but threads concerning it will not be allowed in order to keep content within the realm of pet doves and pigeons.

Dove Resources


Affiliated Subreddits


/r/PetDoves

12,570 Subscribers

19

little beautiful boy THRILLED at the prospect of a single piece of corn

he doesn't like the carrots though :/ (this is chesssquirt his leg is just Like That)

1 Comment
2025/02/02
17:51 UTC

68

Apollo’s favorite spot in the Kitchen.

2 Comments
2025/02/02
15:51 UTC

3

handfed Zebra Dove terrified of me. Need help taming.

it only eats formula and doesnt eat seeds yet but i think it needs to at his stage of development. how do i teach it to eat seeds if he wont even come to my hand, im more concerned of it not drinking water even if its literally in its cage. only comes to me when i have formula but is scared if i dont have it with me. im thinking of releasing it if it really hates me?? idk there are a lot of cats around and huge birds that spooked my cockatiel off my shoulder (returned safely, on a carrier when outside now) and there are no other birds like it around to teach it to eat seed/water, also an urban area so idk how it could feed itself in miles of concrete and roads.

5 Comments
2025/02/02
10:39 UTC

19

Help! is her foot okay?

Hello! I just adopted a 7 year old eurasian collared dove from an animal shelter.

she appears to be in good health but when I adopted her i noticed this toe nail (photo attached) and Im unsure if this may be an injury that needs attention or if its perhaps just the way she was born?

Your opinions are greatly appreciated :)

25 Comments
2025/02/01
21:30 UTC

97

he loves scritches so much

chesssquirt has recently learned how to beg for scritches. if i'm petting him and then stop he'll start making his little angry noises until i continue😭😭😭 i'm actually the luckiest guy in the world

4 Comments
2025/02/01
16:59 UTC

130

Update on rescued ring neck dove

Hi all

Just wanted to update on my rescued dove. Sorry I can't link the previous post as I'm on mobile doing the post

We named her Bambi, since she looks like bambi and the bag we carried her when we found her was a disney bag of bambi :)

We have been giving baby food, bird vitamins, and meloxydril 0.1ml/day for the inflammation (4 days today and will give up to 7 days)

Everyday we have seen her much more active, and moving legs much more. Her feet fingers are still a bit balled but less.

We will be making her some special shoes so her fingers are spread as it should.

She's looking so good, and she trusts us now fully, even calling for us for food. I'm hopeful she can regain control of feet, but if not, also hopefull she will be able to move in her own way.

We have another rescue pigeon who also had legs paralysed when we found him. He recovered 80%, can walk and everything but has some issue where she doesn't have too much strength, but is able to be independent just not releasable

Thank you all for your help. We will give this little one much love.

9 Comments
2025/02/01
12:28 UTC

9

how do you pet your dove?

I initially got my dove thinking it was a pigeon, so I was under the impression that I could pet her all over (except for her vent of course). I mostly would pet her head, front, and between her wings right below her head, but lately I’ve seen discourse about them having sexual problems like parrots. Is that true? can someone provide some clarity? I’ve only been petting her head lately, and I didn’t pet much of her for long before because she only started enjoying it recently, but if I slightly touch her back she pancakes and so I stop. She does the wings twitches a lot and cute little noises that sound like purrs. I’m wondering when it’s too much? what are the signs of a bird with behavioral issues from being pet wrong?

4 Comments
2025/02/01
02:52 UTC

13

Pet dove had an accident :(

So last night my dove pushed out her first egg of her second every batch. She’s pretty young so she’s still struggling when preparing to push another egg out. Last batch she was tired, and her breathing was a little heavier.

Today, she had a fall where she was behind the tv and was stuck for about two minutes.

Since then, she’s been sleeping and not going back to her eggs. She’s still eating, pooping, and drinking water— just looks to be sleepy.

At what point should I take her to an emergency vet? I’m thinking of taking her in 30 minutes if nobody responds to this post

3 Comments
2025/02/01
01:50 UTC

157

Her greed sickens me

9 Comments
2025/02/01
00:18 UTC

19

Baby ruddy ground dove

0 Comments
2025/02/01
00:06 UTC

89

Happy loaf on my leg

1 Comment
2025/01/31
21:49 UTC

7

Avian CBD? Pain management?

Hi everyone! My girl is about 14 to 15 years old. Everything seems normal except for one of her wings very, very slightly droops a little! I can tell because I’m monitoring my babies like a hawk lol. We went to the vet a few months ago because she would get sneezing spells & everything looked good, except for a slight redness in her throat. The sneezing has subsided for the most part - I didn’t really feel comfortable giving antibiotics when the reason for her sneezing wasn’t really pinpointed. However, with her age, I feel like she has to have some type of pain? She also very slightly hesitates when she’s going to jump. I want to make sure she’s living her best life. Has anybody given their dove CBD? Or any other forms of pain relief? Is there avian CBD? I loved it for my dog and for myself. I’d prefer a national natural way to manage pain, but I’m open to prescription medications to discuss with her vet.

My plan is to test it out - give her a little and see if there are any positive changes that would indicate potential pain before.

Thanks so much!

3 Comments
2025/01/31
20:54 UTC

4

Question

So whenever my ring neck dove hears something loud he always make a noise that sounds like “voo” does anyone know what it means?

1 Comment
2025/01/31
03:18 UTC

1

Hand-raising Granivorous Doves and Pigeons

0 Comments
2025/01/30
21:30 UTC

54

what does this mean?

rescued this spotted dove about a year ago by now and he makes this sound occasionally, should i be concerned about anything?

3 Comments
2025/01/30
08:34 UTC

48

My dove won't coo for me?

So I've been taking care of a wild dove who was hit by a car and can no longer fly. She's less than a year old and quite tame. The only thing is that she refuses to coo in front of me. When I have friends staying at my place she'll coo up a storm but the second I'm home, she is silent. She won't even let anyone record her cooing lol. Does anyone else's bird do this??

2 Comments
2025/01/29
20:58 UTC

4

What air purifier would you recommend?

5 Comments
2025/01/29
11:22 UTC

3

Is my cage ok?

Please dont shame me to much, I just want help. My cage for my dove isnt perfect, but I want to know if its at least ok. Its 13in deep 25 wide and 23 at the highest point. It's all I have. I let her out as often as possible, for hours at a time. she mostly only spends from when I go to bed around 10-11, to in the morning around 11 in there. so mostly sleeping time. I cant afford a new cage but if I have to I will.

6 Comments
2025/01/28
01:45 UTC

19

What does this mean?

My dove likes to sit on me. Doesnt matter where. Even though theres several spots for her to sit that are higher. Is it because she likes me? A sign of dominance? Should I fear for my life? She also coos a lot no matter where she sits and I dont know if that's bad or good, google doesnt help much. I need help to make sure my baby is happy please

5 Comments
2025/01/28
01:05 UTC

16

tips for neurologically disabled birds

hi all! I've had my dove for 6 years now, and she's an old lady. long story short, she recently suffered some sort of unknown trauma and has neurological damage. she is mostly fully functional now, but has a very hard time with keeping her head upright. she tilts and stargazes and spends most of her time sitting still due to difficulty with balance due to it.

I've fashioned a couple "neck pillows" to keep her head stable and they do excellent when I'm able to actually keep them on her. I'm terrified of her strangling herself so they're all very loose and fall off with any movement. my question is, does anyone have any advice and how I can stabilize her neck? she seems so much happier when she's able to sit straight.

before there's any issues I want to make it clear that she sees a vet and is well taken care of. the vet just wasn't able to provide any advice in this aspect. he said I'm doing everything right otherwise and she is healthy.

3 Comments
2025/01/28
00:46 UTC

8

Toy recommendations for doves

What kind of toys do your birdys like? I’m used to parrots liking chew type toys so I’m blanking on what to give these guys.

6 Comments
2025/01/28
00:31 UTC

52

Update!!! :D

Way to go champ! After 26hours of try and fails, he finally hatched at 11h17 (canada)!

0 Comments
2025/01/27
16:20 UTC

3

Pipping egg but no hatching, when to intervene in the process?

Hello reddit, I have a good experience in hatching eggs successfully, tho I wouldnt say I am a professional

I have a little squab that started pipping but theres some differences with my previous squabs;

  1. He decided to take the long way. Picture yourself an egg. Instead of going left to right, he decided to go bottom to top
  2. Only a small piece of the shell fell but not the membrane inside yet
  3. Its been past 24h while in general, Its beennunder that amount of time(between 12h to 18h)

I strongly believe in mother nature can take care of it tought process BUT I know that since the squab started pipping, I know it is fully developped and therefore if help is needed, it wont harm the chick in anyway So my question besically is when do you help out? (Ps; I know for a fact that you dont open it as a cooking egg lol)

Pictures of the baby soon!

3 Comments
2025/01/27
13:57 UTC

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