I have 8 doves, all under 2 years old. This morning I found one at the bottom of the cage dead. It had no marks on it and all my birds are well taken care of and healthy as far as I know. Can anyone tell me what a likely cause of death would be? I'm saddened but also very stumpped......

Take care, Bry

Bry,

A Vet may have to check it out, it does happen and has happened to me, you are not alone. Once I saw Lance Burton produce a dead dove and he is a pro.

Dove workers are always running that risk that we can hurt the birds we work with.

G0THIKE

Hi Bry,

Did you notice anything unusal the last couple of days? Like slumping over, ruffled feathers, diarhea, unusal breathing?? If not, then probably the others are all right. Keep an eye on them. If any look ill, isolate it from the others and either treat it with something like Ornacycline or take it to the vet. I always have a small cage I use as a hospital cage.

Hopefully, the others will be just fine.
Unfortunately, over the last 4 years, I have had a few birds die from unknown reasons. I hate that, but as long as you feel you have done your best at taking care of them, then you can't blame yourself. God's way, I guess.

Dakota Rose

Bry,

I'm sorry to hear that you lost a dove. It does happen. Sometimes Lucy and I will lose one for no apparent reason too. Usually it is in their first year when we lose them. A mature bird seems to stand a grand chance of becoming an old bird.

As long as there was plenty of fresh water and feed and the other birds look healthy, there may have been nothing you could have done. Living things just don't all come with the same warranty.

If you have some new information please PM me with it and we will see if we can help. Lucy is an MD but she also was the one who worked with vets in LA for years. We keep about a hundred doves here. So we a have little experience to mislead us.

Again, we regret you lost a dove.

Bob and Lucy Sanders
Magic By Sander

Thank you everybody with your ideas and thoughts...

Take care, Bry

Bry,
I am truly sorry to hear that. Have you been giving your doves vitamens and grit?

Kyle

Bry,
I'm sorry to hear about your dove also. I am just preparing to get started with doves, so I have been doing lots of research. I bought a book about dove care (written from a non-magical point of view) and there are just so many different things that can happen. The author states that doves have heart failure often, because of various reasons. Many times there may not be symptoms if this is the cause of death.

Best wishes,

Regan

Again everybody thank you, and yes my birds do get vitamens and grit....

Take care, Bry

Sometimes they die passing an egg. I have had that happen. What sex was the bird?

Birds also have very rapid heart rates. They can have a heart attack from just a sudden scare. That's not often, but it does happen.