ringneck dove help

[Duckymug]

my female (im assuming) has a bald spot. i have not seen the male picking it and she can not reach this spot on her head with her beak. i have seen her scratching it. She sits on the floor of the cage a lot as well. I dont know how old they are. i was given them by my aunt and uncle who were given them. There has been no diet change. We just replaced their light but the spot was there before the light change. It was also there before we changed the floor in the cage. I'll try and get picture up of it. Her head is very scaley. I know they have been doing the mating dance and im wondering if she is depressed bc she needs to lay but has no place to do it. if thats the case what should i do to help. thanks

[asurademon]

I would put her in a separate cage for a while and give her a chance to heal, if she doesn't heal then it means that she probably is still scratching at herself and making things worse (though a bald spot on the top of the head is usually something initially caused by another bird).
If you leave her with the male the situation could just end up getting worse. After she has healed you can try reintroducing her to the male and see how that goes.
Does she look sickly other than having a bald spot and sitting on the floor? Does she actually have a wound or just a bald spot?
Also what size is their cage?

[Corkiebrd]

I agree, a temporary separation might be in order, to see if the baldness and scaly patch heals. It might be something in the new environment, like dust mites etc. You might offer her a pie pan of water to bathe in.
Her sitting an the floor is likely an indication she ready to lay eggs. Since you don't have a nest box, you might offer her a wash rag, as a place to sit. Stay away from foods high in iron, as this binds to calcium, and causes eggs bind. If she's whimpering she's in distress. If there's any real doubt about her health, look for a avian vet.

Corkiebrd

first post

[asurademon]

and if she does start laying eggs in the future you may want to get something similar in shape to this Avian Adventures - Bird Rest "Shelf", that can connect to the corner of a cage, only it will need to be made out of a solid material. Of course it will also need an edge that will block eggs from rolling off. When I was breeding doves they used that sort of thing to nest on.
I find also that the larger the cage the less likely you are to have this sort of mate aggression between birds, so you may want to get them a larger cage once you reintroduce them.

[Lori~D]

she will happily nest in a cardboard box on the floor as well. she will lay if she has to... place or not she will just lay them on the floor. She may have mites as well.

[Corkiebrd]

When it boils down to the nest, just make sure it's made of material that the chicks will have good footing on. I've never seen a splay legged dove, but it could happen.
I wonder if one of the hanging bird protectors cans (like 8in1), would handle the mite problem, without gassing the chicks when they hatch?

Corkiebrd