What do doves eat?

Although their timid and sweet nature may hint at them needing extra special care, doves are actually relatively easy to care for. Hailing from the subfamily Columbinae, doves can easily be provided for. All you have to do is make sure you provide them with quality food and maintain a regular eating schedule to insure proper digestion. We invite you to keep reading to get more information on what doves eat.

First, it is worth noting the typical diet of doves in the wild. They typically eat berries, fruits, green leaves and shoots. They rely on their instincts and are able to naturally avoid poisonous and non nutritive based berries. Therefore, you must be careful in what types of berries you introduce to their cage. They also eat spiders and other insects which can make them an extra welcome addition to your home, helping you reduce the population of pesky critters within your home.

While some specific types of doves do eat fruit (actually called fruit doves), most of them are perfectly happy eating seed. Almost all domesticated doves tend to be seed eaters. Where most birds tend to husk (remove outer shell or layer of seed) their seeds before consuming them, doves like to swallow their seeds whole with the husk still in tact. This actually helps pet dove owners better monitor the amount of food they feed them since there is no question of the actual quantity confused by leftover husks and debris.

When in doubt, most any dove will thrive on a diet of conventional wild bird seed or even a diet of canary mix, which is very easy to find in almost all local pet food supply stores. However, the type of seeds actually preferred by doves does vary a bit depending on the exact species of dove. That is why some dove caretakers will use a mix of different types of seeds. For example, Ringneck and Senegal doves prefer a mix of milo, wheat and millet. Smaller species prefer millet and canary grass. Larger species will eat anything that the smaller species will plus larger seeds such as peas, pop corn and sunflower seeds.

For an extra tasty treat, you can dig around your backyard or visit your local pet store and get some maggots or meal worms for your dove. These will add a great supplement to their diet and doves love the taste.

It’s also very important to make sure your dove has clean, fresh water at all times.