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Setting up a goldfish or Koi pond can attract many forms of nature to your backyard. The primary thing to remember when setting up your pond is to take your time and plan the pond out so it doesn’t become more of a headache than an enjoyable experience for you. Think about what you want to keep in your pond, such as koi, goldfish, plants, snails, etc. If you want to keep plants then keeping Koi will most often prove to make this more difficult as Koi like to dig in dirt and often eat plants. Goldfish, however, seldom bother plants.
Plants in your pond
If you want plants and fish in your pond it becomes a double edge sword. Plants require lots of light and goldfish and Koi require shade to help keep the pond cooler since they both are cold water fish. Be sure to try and reach a 60% plant coverage of your pond to help block the hot sun from the water. This will help keep the pond cool and the fish much happier. You can use a few Lilies and Lotus which grow very fast, are very pretty and cover a large portion of your pond quickly. Also, incorporate some floating plants such as Water Lettuce, Hyacinth, and Parrots Feather, which offer a great place for fish to spawn on and will also add shade. These plants grow very fast and are wonderful waste removers. Some sewage facilities actually use water hyacinth to help clean out their waste pools! Also remember these plants are not native and are extremely evasive and should not ever be allowed to enter local natural bodies of water. As they grow to such numbers in your pond that you need to remove some simply throw them into your compost pile or garden. They absorb so many nutrients from your pond they are great fertilizer.
You will also want some bog plants such as Water Iris, Bluebell, Pickerel Rush, Lizard Tail, Dwarf Cattails, Arrowhead, Variegated Canna, Horsetail rush, Spider Lilly, and Bog Lilies. These plants will add beauty to your pond as well as a place for dragonflies to land and feel much more comfortable. Dragonflies are a wonderful addition to the pond as they are very aggressive predators of mosquitoes.
Plants are wonderful additions to your pond not only because they help the appearance, but they are like adding an additional filter in your pond. I highly suggest plants in any pond.
Stocking your pond
Be sure to not over crowd your pond. As general rule of thumb if you want Koi you need a 1000 gallon pond to house the first one, then you can add 1 more Koi per 100 gallons of water. These fish get HUGE and if properly kept can live for over two hundred years. They require much better water quality than their goldfish cousins.
Most goldfish can live around thirty or so years. If you decide to go the cheap and simple route and get feeder goldfish to stock your pond do NOT listen to anyone that says most of them will die off. This is often NOT the case. Get how many you want and if you see die off get some to replace them. Feeder goldfish are often not very healthy when you buy them because they have been born and raised in poor water quality and in very over crowded systems. However after removing these goldfish from that condition and getting them into a nice large system with good water quality and feeding a good food for a short period of time their immune system will kick in and they will be almost bullet proof. If for some reason you do have some die off simply go get a few more to replace them. Also keep in mind your goldfish will spawn in your pond so you will often have way more fish than you started with in a short period of time.
For goldfish I wouldn’t recommend more than 1 for every 50 gallons of water. You can do more, however you will need to have a good filter in place to make sure the water quality doesn’t go down hill. In an over crowded system when water quality drops it drops fast and usually deaths will occur from this. In a lightly stocked pond there is less waste and fewer problems with water quality.
How big of a pond should I build?
Good question. Your pond size has a lot to do with what you want to keep and how many fish. If you want Koi these guys can get around 3′ long and 8-10″ wide when they are fully developed. They will require a lot of space. Any way you go be sure to make it big enough so that you will be able to landscape it so that it’s a beautiful part of your yard. It is amazing at how few plants I can get in my 12′ X 12′ 2500 gallon pond.
When you are visualizing building your pond keep in mind that you will visualize it around 30% bigger than it really will be. It’s better to make a pond a bit bigger to start with rather than tearing the system down and rebuilding it next year or just dealing with a pond size you are not happy with. Bigger ponds are actually easier to maintain because the water parameters will be more consistent and fluctuations will be slower than in a small system. Also be sure you check how deep you should dig your pond for over wintering of the fish. In my area ( zone 6-7 ) my pond had to be 3′ deep to be below the freezing line. Deeper ponds are better for the fish anyway so they can hide from predators and stay lower in the water when it’s really hot so they stay cooler.
Be sure when you build your pond it can’t drain into natural bodies of water. North America doesn’t have a single native carp species! They also cause a lot of damage in our natural bodies of water. If you decide to tear down your system or just to get rid of some goldfish or Koi please find someone to give them to and don’t release them in natural bodies of water. This is a horrible thing to do and a crime.
How do I add my fish?
When you have a new system and you start to add fish, don’t add a full stocking level at once because at that point there isn’t any nitrafying bacteria established yet. Please see my article on the Aquatic Nitrogen Cycle as it also applies to ponds.
It is often difficult to cycle a pond with the ammonia method mentioned in the link above. Since a pond is generally such a big system, simply adding a few fish at a time won’t be a problem. At first add 3 fish and wait for about 2 weeks. Then add 3 more and wait for another 2 weeks. Do that one more time for another 2 weeks and your nitrogen cycle should be established enough that you can go ahead and add the rest of the fish. If you are going to do a very small pond, say 300 gallons or less, then go ahead and use the Nitrogen Cycle to establish it before adding any fish.
A pond can be very rewarding and enjoyable. I know my wife and I enjoy ours daily. We not only enjoy our fish and plants but all of the nature that it brings to our back yard. It will attract many insects and animals. If it’s big enough it can even attract some birds that like to be around water. I wish you good luck and much enjoyment out of your new backyard pond.
First and most important, if you find a baby fawn do NOT take it across state lines. This will seal this animal’s fate because the Department of Natural Resources will want to euthanize the animal for testing of transmittable disease! Please visit the National Wildlife Rehabilitators Association to locate rehabilitators in your state.
A baby fawn was found in UNION TOWNSHIP, Ohio and was transferred to a farm somewhere in the rural area of Nicholas County, Kentucky. This is illegal and now they are seeking to find the deer in order to euthanize it and to test it for disease. The Ohio woman that located the fawn, named Sunny, and transferred it to Kentucky is facing criminal charges if the deer is not found and brought into the Ohio Department of Natural Resources.
I have done my fair share of research on this wondering why the animal has to be euthanized in order to test it for disease. I’m no expert on the subject, but the only thing I can think of that requires the deer to be killed would be testing it’s brain for rabies. This, however, could also be done by quaranteening the animal for a month. This is a cry out for your help! Please comment on this post if you know of any reason that this deer must perish in order to be tested for disease. Also, if anyone has any suggestions that may help this animal have the right to be raised in an Ohio based sanctuary and then be released in the wild, please speak up.
Additional information from a user on our forms said they are looking for wasting away disease. Read more about this disease
Please, if anyone that has any input at all to help with this matter, leave your comments so maybe we can do something to help this deer. Thank you in advance for any information you can provide.
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Making your own hummingbird food is easy to do and costs a lot less than store bought mixtures. Be sure when making the food that you don’t make too much because after it sits for a while it will grow mold, even if refrigerated. Also, every time you add more sugar water to your feeder be sure to clean it out with a little bit of bleach. This will ensure that it is free of any mold that may be forming in the feeder. It is equally important that you be sure to rinse out all the bleach. Keep rinsing the feeder until you can no longer smell the bleach.
To make your own hummingbird food, start by bringing 4 cups of water to a boil. Turn off the heat and remove the pan from the hot burner. Add 1 cup of regular white sugar and stir until fully dissolved. Add about 4 to 5 drops of vanilla extract to the water and stir it up well. If you want you can taste it to be sure it’s not too strong. Do you remember as a child eating honey suckle? It is sweet and has only a hint of flavor. You should just barely taste the vanilla. Remember that hummingbirds naturally eat nectar. If you make the food too strong with flavor it will be foreign to the hummingbirds and they will not eat it. You can also try almond extract or any kind of extract that is nut or berry based. If you really want to experiment, try adding a mixture of a couple of extracts to give the birds a blended treat.
Have fun with this recipe and try different things as hummingbirds like variety just like we do. Try to have a couple of different hummingbird feeders set up so you can try different flavored foods in each to not only attract them but to keep them at your feeder longer.
Never add food coloring to your hummingbird food as it is now known that this decreases the hummingbird’s lifespan. If you would like to add a touch of color to your feeder try wrapping some red cellophane around the water vial on the feeder so you get the red color and don’t harm the hummingbirds. This will allow you to still see how full the feeder is and help to attract your hummingbirds.
Get your feeders out early. Some hummingbirds will migrate back from Mexico, where they stay over the winter, to the United States by late March or early April. This is when the hummingbirds need the feeders most since most flowers are not yet in bloom.
If you encounter an ant problem at your feeder, and most likely you will, there are a few ways to handle them. You can try an Ant Guard. You can also try a Hummingbird Feeder with an Internal Ant Moat. A feeder with a built in ant moat has a spot on top that you fill with water so the ants can’t get from the top of the feeder down to the nectar nozzles. This should help keep your hummingbirds and you happy without having to deal with ants.
You can learn more about humming birds by clicking on the link below to be taken to our Animal Identification and Education Profiles:
Ruby-Throated Hummingbird Profile
If you are looking for information on Sunny the fawn that is in risk of being killed by the Ohio Department of Natural Resources please see our post on Sunny.
A few days ago I was sitting on my back porch enjoying watching my goldfish and koi swim in my backyard pond. I heard the cry of a baby fawn coming from my next door neighbor’s house. I looked over and noticed it was traipsing through my neighbors backyard. I immediately jumped up and ran over there to see if my neighbor’s dogs were out so I could protect it if they were. Thank goodness they were inside so I didn’t have that to contend with as they have a very large Rhodesian Ridgeback.
I called my wife and told her of my finding and as I watched the young deer from a distance while she did a little research on the Internet. Everything she found said to leave the deer alone as the mother will some times leave the deer for a few hours and come back at dusk to retrieve it. I left the fawn alone and heard it throughout the night in the woods behind my house. I said to myself “I need to go check on the little guy”. I walked to the back of my yard and looked into the woods and noticed a large doe standing there looking back at me. I didn’t see the fawn but I heard it and knew it was close. I thought, wow! This is awesome, the mother had came to his rescue. I didn’t hear him cry any more that night so all was well…
The following day at about 2:00pm I heard him cry again a few times. I immediately called my wife and told her I needed to help this little guy as it must have just been a doe passing the by and not it’s mother. I got off the phone, ran to the computer and looked up the Kentucky Wildlife Association’s phone number and called them. I explained that this fawn had been abandoned for over 24 hours and asked what I should do. She asked me for my county and looked up the numbers of rehabilitators in my local area. I wrote down the numbers and took off out the door. I borrowed a baby bottle from my neighbor because I knew this little guy was going to need food fast.
I walked into the woods and looked and looked and looked. The fawn had quit crying so it made it a bit more difficult to locate. I told myself “I am not leaving these woods until I find this little guy and help him”. I knelt down and started scanning the woods and I noticed the white spots on his back. I got up and walked slowly over him as he lay lifeless and curled up into a ball. I slowly knelt down beside him and moved my hand toward his back and touched him trying to show that I was not wanting to harm him. He got spooked, jumped up ran about 20 feet and face planted and fell lifeless again to the ground. I walked over to him slowly again and did the same thing trying to reassure him. He jumped up once more ran about another 20 feet then slowly dropped to the ground as he was exhausted because he had been without food for so long. I realized his condition was extremely poor so I walked up to him and scooped him up. As I carried him back to the house his body was limp and all the the energy he could muster was to cry for his mother about 5 more times.
I walked up to the porch and told my daughter to fill the bottle with milk ( I know cows milk isn’t the best thing for him but it was all I had and he needed something with sugar and fat for energy ) and heat it to body temperature. I laid the fawn on a dog bed we had on our porch and it stayed there lifelessly. My daughter came out and brought me the bottle with milk and I tested it on my arm to make sure it wasn’t to hot, just as you would for a baby. I told my daughter to sit behind the deer and straddle it’s head between her knees and to gently raise it’s head straight up ( the poor deer didn’t even have the energy left to hold up it’s own head ). She did that and I gently opened the fawns mouth and put the bottle in. The fawn sat there lifelessly as it didn’t have the energy to even suckle.
I decided it was time for me to take the next step in feeding it. I squeezed the bottle a little bit so when it would occasionally swallow it would start getting milk. I did this a few times and noticed that when it would swallow it would swallow five or six times in a row then quit. I decided to try and work with that process so I would put a little bit of milk in it’s mouth and wait while watching it’s throat. As soon as the fawn would swallow I would start squeezing the bottle so the milk would run out of the bottle and into it’s mouth. This is when the process started working to feed him. He ate about 3-4 ounces of milk then it simply pulled it’s head away from us and laid down. I didn’t want to stress the deer as I felt it was done and needed to rest.
 I called the numbers I was given from the Kentucky Wildlife Association and found a local vet clinic that has a relationship with a local sanctuary. They told me that in the condition the deer was in it needed to be there asap. My wife, daughter and I immediately jumped up, got the truck ready and ran out the door to take the fawn to the clinic. We carried the fawn on the dog bed it was laying on as to disturb it as little as possible in the moving process. I put the deer on my wife’s lap then jumped in the drivers seat and took off. We started noticing he was looking around more on the way and becoming more alert and started moving his legs a little bit. I guess the milk we gave him had started to give him a bit more energy. We got to the veterinary clinic and turned the young fawn over to them as they have much better resources to help an animal in this condition than we could ever hope to have.
Note: Not all veterinary clinics have the capacity to take in wildlife. This clinic just happened to be one that works with one of the wildlife sanctuaries in our area. The sanctuary picked up the deer from the clinic where the deer will be rehabilited and released back into the wild. Call your local Wildlife Assocation to find rehabilitators in your area.
Another resource to find rehabilatators in your area is the National Wildlife Rehabilitators Association
Please, never kill a nest of honey bees even if you find them living around your house. I don’t expect you to live with them right outside your door but there are better ways of fixing the problem rather than killing them. First off, honey bees are one of the most important insects in our ecosystem. They pollinate plants more than all other methods combined, and of course the honey and pollen they produce that humans consume. Think of a world without these bees. Crops would not produce near as effectively, fruit trees would produce less fruit, and plants in general would not do as well. These bees are in serious trouble for unknown reasons. Many think it’s related to the high pitch frequencies that cell phones emit but it is still being researched. Whatever the reason we need to continue to figure out a solution to help save these animals so it doesn’t cause a world wide catastrophe for our food sources.
What do I do if I find a swarm of bees or if they are living around my house?
If you find honey bees living around your house the first step is to get on the Internet. Look for a local Beekeepers Association in your area. Start with a Google search such as “Beekeepers Association City State”. (Be sure to change out City and State for your actual location in the search phrase.) Many Beekeepers Associations have a list of numbers to call right on their website of local beekeepers that will quickly and happily remove the bees from your premises for no charge, as long as they are not within the walls of a building or a house. Many will also remove them from such places for a nominal fee for their effort. Remember, a beekeeper wants more bee hives and a swarm is surely worth their time to come pick up to increase their stock. This not only helps the beekeeper but also allows the honey bees to stay alive and continue to pollinate and produce a honey crop. I have also found numerous entries on Craigs List for free swarm removal in different areas.
If you can’t find a Beekeepers Association online try contacting your local wildlife association, they may be able to help you find some numbers to call for bee removal. You could also try to talk to any local farmers as they often have relationships with beekeepers for pollination of their crops and they may have contact information for a local beekeeper.
Honey bees are very seldom aggressive ( of course I’m NOT speaking of africanized bees ) and they only sting you out of fear to protect their hive. Native honey bees are very laid back normally and will tolerate a lot as long as it doesn’t spook them. If you find bees around your house and can’t find anyone to help you, feel free to leave a comment on this post and I will do my best to assist you in finding a beekeeper in your local area. If you are a beekeeper and would like to leave your contact information in the comments section feel free to as well.
Many people who set up freshwater, brackish, or saltwater tanks start without truly knowing anything about the nitrogen cycle. This is one of the most overlooked things and is probably the single most important thing to know and understand when dealing with fish of any kind. I hope this blog post helps shed a little light on the subject so you can make informed decisions and don’t cost many animals their lives in the process of setting up your new aquatic system.
Fish produce waste, this sounds simple doesn’t it? Well, what happens to the waste after it’s released from the fish? The nitrogen cycle takes over to convert highly toxic waste in the form of ammonia and nitrite into a far less harmful form nitrate. Whenever you setup a new fish tank it will lack the bacteria that are needed in order to process the fishes waste. This is a huge problem as the fish will produce waste and it will stay in the system. They will produce more and every hour the system will become more and more toxic to it’s inhabitants. This is why so often when people start up a new tank they will see large amounts of fish perish before the tank becomes stable on it’s own. I highly recommend when setting up a tank you have patience. Yes, it sucks to have this big fish tank with few or no fish in it until it cycles, but it’s well worth it. Not only will you prevent death, but you will also spend a lot less money in the process.
The Nitrogen Cycle Explained:
First the fish release a toxic waste in the form of ammonia. There is beneficial bacteria that will soon start to populate the water where ammonia is present. This bacteria will begin breaking down the ammonia into yet another toxic substance called nitrite. Then another bacteria will start to present itself in your system, which will start breaking down the nitrite into it’s non-toxic form of nitrate. This process usually takes around a full six to eight weeks if you cycle your system with fish, which I do NOT recommend ever doing. Stay away from commercial products that say they will cycle your tank faster, they do not work and are only an additional expense you don’t need to have.
A better way to cycle your new tank:
 How would you like to start up a fish tank and have no deaths at all related to the “new tank syndrome”? If you have a small amount of patience and can handle having your tank with no inhabitants for about 30 days I can show you how. I highly suggest this method because if the fish you started your cycle with don’t die they could still have negative effects from the cycling process for the rest of their lives. First off, go to any local grocery store and find standard household ammonia. Be sure to read the label, don’t get anything with any fragrance or anything else in it. A chelating agent in the list of ingredients is okay. Setup your tank just as you would to add fish. Make sure you have your substrate in and aerate the water. Start dropping in three drops of ammonia for every ten gallons of water volume every day. This will simulate having fish in the system producing waste and get the bacteria starting to form. Continue to do this for about three weeks. At this point go ahead and test your water for ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate. Most local pet stores will test your water for you for free if you don’t have a test kit. If you don’t have a test kit I do highly recommend you get one to be able to test for the major water parameters I just mentioned. After your ammonia and nitrite show zero you are ready to add fish! If you didn’t run your system with carbon be sure to add carbon and run it for about 24 hours before adding fish. This is mostly a safety precaution to make sure nothing bad was left in your system from the ammonia. I highly recommend running a small amount of carbon in your system constantly and replacing it often (no more than every two weeks). Your tank will now have enough bacteria to sustain a full tank of life. You don’t have to worry about buying a couple of fish at a time, you can buy them all at one time and put them in. Be sure to continue adding three drops of ammonia per ten gallons of water per day until the day you actually add the fish. You must keep food (ammonia) in the system at all times to keep the bacteria alive. This is by far the *best* way to cycle your new tank for life. You will have no deaths due to poisoning and you will have a fully established tank in about three to four weeks as opposed to six to eight weeks.
Cleaning your tank:
When you clean your tank be sure to get a siphon that has a large end on it that can be inserted into the gravel bed to remove any waste that is trapped in the rocks. NEVER remove the rocks and clean them with anything other than tank water. If you really feel you want to clean the rocks really well once in awhile, just remove the rocks and use the old tank water you removed to rinse the rocks off. If you use any chemicals or soap you will kill all this beneficial bacteria that keeps your system healthy and thriving. Also, if any soap or other chemicals get back into the tank it will kill all your fish!
Good luck and I hope you will find this article useful and avoid many fishes deaths by using the steps outlined above.
Do you have bird feeders that are often sought after by squirrels? We have often had the same problem. We don’t dislike the squirrels, we actually enjoy them just as much as watching birds, but we would rather them leave the bird feeders alone.
One way to help discourage squirrels from raiding your bird feeder is to offer them a food source more suited for their taste. You can purchase many different types of squirrel feeders from your local pet store. One of the cheapest solutions is to buy a closed top squirrel feeder. You will pay more for the feeder, but buying shelled corn is much cheaper than buying corn on the cob. You can offer many different types of food this way such as shelled corn, peanuts (squirrels love peanuts), seeds, and any other nut you can get your hands on. You can purchase 50lbs of shelled corn at most pet stores for a very small fee. We pay a bit over $6.00 for a 50lb bag and it will last a long time. By offering the squirrels a source of food such as corn or nuts they will be more likely to be attracted to it than the seed found in bird feeders because it is a more natural food source for them. It also helps to place the squirrel feeder in a location away from the bird feeders so they aren’t tempted to take a taste from both.
This will most likely not completely solve your problem, especially if you let the squirrel feeder run empty, however it will decrease their desire to raid your bird’s food by a large amount. Also, you can try binding the top of the bird feeder with wire so it’s harder for them to open it and get to the seed.
Don’t be upset with your furry friends, they are hungry and just want to satisfy their belly just as you would if you were hungry. Try to play around with different ideas to attract them away from your bird feeders and into your squirrel feeders. They will add a real treat to your backyard with their playful antics and rambunctious ways. Try it today and see for yourself how much fun they can add to your life.
If you enjoy the company of wild birds in your backyard you can attract more species by offering a variety of foods. Suet is one type of bird food that will attract woodpeckers, mocking birds, cardinals, and more. You can use suet bought from a local pet store, but I have found making my own attracts more birds and they tend to visit more often because they prefer the taste of suet made at home. You should only use this suet when the temp is 80 degrees or below due to the risk of the lard spoiling and going rancid. You can make this recipe in about 15 minutes and you can make as much as you want by multiplying the recipe. Just simply store the extra suet in your refrigerator until you are ready to use it.
To make about four suet cakes:
2 Cups of lard ( you can get this at any grocery store and it’s cheap )
2-3 heaping tablespoons of peanut butter ( the cheap stuff is fine, creamy or chunky )
2 Cups yellow cornmeal
2 Cups flower (white or wheat )
2 Cups old fashioned Oats ( You can use quick oats but the old fashioned are better as they are a natural non-processed food )
1 Cup white sugar
Bird Seed as needed.
Start by melting lard and peanut butter in a large pan. After it liquifies add sugar, oats, cornmeal, and flower. Be sure to mix each ingredient well as you add them. You can then add any or all of the following: bird seed, sunflower seeds, raisins, or nuts. You don’t have to add the additional items and the birds will enjoy it just as well. The sugar is a great addition in the winter to give your wild birds extra energy to keep warm, however it can be omitted.
The end result after cooking should be very liquid, but hard to stir. After everything is mixed, pour into a disposable aluminum pan or, if you plan to make this often, you can purchase a square silicone baking pan. You can find them at most any store that carries cooking supplies and they work really well as the suet doesn’t stick to the pan and is easy to remove. The square silicone baking pan is perfect to make 4 standard sized suet cakes that will work well with any standard suet feeder. Leave the suet sitting on the counter until it is mostly hard. Use a knife and cut it into 4 squares, cover with plastic wrap and put in your refrigerator. At this point it’s ready to use and your wild birds will be very happy.
You should play with this recipe and change it around. I have found you can omit and exchange many items and the birds still love it. I have made suet before without having all of the ingredients or the right amount. I simply omitted the missing ingredient and exchanged it by adding more of another ingredient. You will see that it’s fun to play around with and watch how different birds respond to the different tastes you will create for them. Good luck and happy bird watching!
It is important to try, if at all possible, to purchase animals for our reef tanks that are captive bred. There are many more choices for captive bred animals than in the past. Captive bred animals do often cost a bit more, but it doesn’t impact our oceans and the animals are often more hardy and accepting of a closed habitat. Also, most all wild caught fish carry parasites such as worms and they can infect your system, which can be a very hard thing to deal with. Please, before purchasing a new fish or coral for your reef tank, try your best to find one that has been captive raised. Some of the captive bred fish available today are:
Cardinal Fish
Many types of Clownfish
Many types of Pseudochromis
Many types of Gobies
Some Seahorse Species
More and more fish are starting to be captive bred from expanding technology and growing expertise of saltwater experts learning more effective ways to deliver nutrients to their tiny young. Together, with a little work, we can all cause our planet less impact and still enjoy the many wonders it has to offer us.
Mourning Doves are very lazy nest builders. They often will find an abandoned nest that was created by another type of bird or they build their own very poorly constructed nest. Often they will reuse their nest for 4 to 5 sets of eggs. With the large size of their hatchlings, the nest often gives out causing the baby birds to tumble to the ground. If you ever see young doves on the ground don’t pick them up! Their mother and father are sure to be close by watching and feeding them.
Many people often think they have been abandoned and try to care for the young themselves. This is not only illegal in many states, but often an inpossible task. Doves are one of the only birds that feed their young “milk” produced by the parents from glands in their crop. If their young does not get this “milk” they will likely be undeveloped and unhealthy at adulthood. If you see young doves on the ground the best thing you can do is leave them alone and help to keep other pets away from them until they are old enough to fly. This usually isn’t more than a week after finding them on the ground.
Eggs hatch in about 14-16 days and become Fledge ( Fledge is the stage in a young bird’s life when the feathers and wing muscles are sufficiently developed for flight ) in about 12-14 days after hatching. The parents will still care for the young until they reach between 25-27 days of age where they will be left to be on their own.
Pet Research has had a great deal of questions concerning helping these animals so I have created a post on our new forum. Click this mourning dove post link to go there and help out with the discussion on how we can help these wonderful birds. Your experiences are greatly needed to increase our knowledge of what worked and what didn’t so we can all learn more about what we can do.
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