FEATURE
“WITH ANY BIRD THAT IS DIFFICULT TO BREED AND IT APPEARS THAT CAPE DOVES FALL FIRMLY IN THIS CATEGORY, FOSTERING WITH A CLOSELY RELATED SPECIES NEEDS TO BE CONSIDERED.”
one for breeding stock which should be provided 6 weeks before the start of the breeding season and as long as the season continues; and a general purpose mix which has been designed for the remainder of the year. With any bird that is difficult to breed and it appears that Cape Doves fall firmly in this category, fostering with a closely related species needs to be considered.
I continued to use the outside parakeet aviaries in 2008 and 2009 but both these years were not particularly good breeding seasons and I was coming to the conclusion that to make any real progress with this species I needed some additional stock as I was very determined to be successful with Cape Doves, they are beautiful birds but obviously need a suitable diet and the correct housing. In 2010 I changed tactics and provided them with a fairly large and dry indoor aviary measuring 12’ long x 4’ wide and 7’ high, this had a double glazed window which I wired over and could open on warm sunny
Doves received 1/2 a tablespoonful of this mix each morning around 7.30 a.m. For those not familiar with Pet Chef this is a supplement powder designed to provide essential vitamins, minerals, trace elements and amino acids to ensure peak condition within your stock; there are two formulas,
“TO THIS I AM CURRENTLY ADDING A LEVEL TABLESPOON OF PET CHEF, TO THIS DRY MIX I THEN ADD 1/2 A LARGE CUP OF WATER, THIS MAKES A NICE CRUMBLY FEED (BE CAREFUL, DO NOT ADD TOO MUCH WATER OR YOU WILL GET A WET HORRIBLE MIX THAT NO BIRDS WILL CONSUME!) ”
BIRD SCENE 39
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