Care Sheet for BirdsAverage Rating Given To This Care Sheet Is 4.25 (1=lowest, 5=highest) Last Updated: 08/05/2005 |
Main Category: | Non-Reptile/Amphibian |
Sub Category: | Birds |
Care Sheet Submitted By: | Reptilesrock |
Years Experience: | 5 to 10 Years |
Species: | Ringneck Doves |
Other Species or Phases this Care Sheet May Cover: | All versions and mutations of ringneck turtle doves. |
Sexing and Characteristics: | There are many mutations of ringneck doves now available including white, pied, and varing shades and tones of the common brownish cinnamon collor.
Ther are not sexually dimorphic which means that the sex of the bird cannot be told from appearance. DNA sexing is the only deffinite way to tell. But experianced dove breeders can tell by feeling the pelvic bone of the bird. I’ve also noticed that male doves will coo louder and more often than females. |
Mostly Active During: | Day |
Substrate and Water Needs: | These birds to extremely well in an outdoor flight pen or aviary. They can be kept in a cage made for an amazon parrot or macaw, but I don’t recommend it. In my aviary, I use straw as the substrate and they will use it to line their nests. In a cage, the best substrate would be newspaper or aspen shavings.
Water should be provided in a dish. In an indoor cage, the type of dish that locks to the side of the cage works the best. These birds generally do not bathe often like cockatiels and parakeets do. However, in the summer I will put the sprinkler on so it goes sprinkles into the pen a little and they will sometimes go take a shower. |
Lighting and UVB: | They need at least 10 hours of daylight every day. In an aviary, this is easy to achieve. In an indoor cage, the cage is best put near a window or put outside for a few hours. Pure direct sunlight is also necessary for a doves will being. Again this is easy to achieve in an aviary. Just make sure that the whole cage or pen is not in direct sunlight and that the bird can retreat to some shade if it gets too hot. |
Temperatures and Humidity: | Doves are very hardy creatures. If kept on a well fed diet and given adaquate higing places, a dove can cope well to just about any type of weather as long as the temp doesn’t get below 29 degrees. I keep my doves out year round and they do well in all conditions including freezing 32 degree weather, wind, rain, downpours, and hot weather up to 108. |
Heating and Equipment: | No heating is necessary. |
Caging Provided: | All my doves are kept in two 7 foot high, 6 foot long and 5 foot wide outdoor aviaries. Two of the sides are open with 1/2 inch chicken wire and the other two wooden. Both pens have a roof. They also have boxes, and other hidey holes made from wood to retreat to if they wish. |
Diet: | N/A |
Description of Diet: | Ringneck doves should be fed a staple diet of a quality dove or pigeon seed mix. The seed mix should be available to them at all times. treats can also be given. My doves enjoy wheat bread, romain lettuce and spinach. |
Supplements, Nutrition and Usage: | No supplements are necessary |
Maintenance: | Very easy to care for. The substrate at the bottom of a cage trey should be cleaned weekly. A flight pen only has to be completely cleaned out about once a month depending on the size of the pen and number of doves.
Fresh water and food should be available at all times.
Perches of varying degrees of type and thickness should be provided. Generally a perch for a ringneck dove can be no smaller than the thickness of a standard wooden broom handle. Square perches and fruit tree brances can be used to exercise the toes and provide variety. All doves should have a ledge made out of a 2x4 to perch and rest on. Ledges are prone to being pooped on so they must be cleaned off and scraped weekly. |
Some Words on this Species: | These are very gentle and somewhat timid birds. Youngsters that have just been weaned are easy to tame. Adults can be more of a challenge, but it’s still possible. They can even be handfed as babies for maximum friendlness and excellent companions. Although this is difficult for the unexperianced.
They can be territorial though.but they can sucessfully share an aviary with pigeons as long as the aviary is big enough for each dove to have it’s personal space. I wouldn’t recommend putting doves with finches though.
Another interesting aspect about the dove is it’s cooing. They can coo much louder than people believed and mine like to put their heads in an almost empy food dish and coo so it seems louder. And although they are active in the day and sleep at night, they coo at night too. Mine will regularly coo at 11:00 at night and 2:00 in the morning. When I had a pair indoors, they even cood if the cage was covered.
Another note is that a dove doesn’t have to be covered at night. They are very hardy birds that can adapt will to just about any climate. |
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