Hey guys, my new birds laid eggs.

Considering I have 5 birds at the moment, I am not sure which is the mother. Do you guys reccomend a way to find out? I saw one sitting on the eggs before - I noted which one it is.

Anywho, I'm excited. I did see them "playing" around, so I think it may be fertilzed! She laid them into one of the food bowl things, but I moved it to a makeshift nest. I didn't touch the eggs. I used a plastic spoon to move them.

What is the ideal temperature for the eggs? If it gets too cold will they never hatch?

http://markbaluk.com/pics/eggs.png

http://markbaluk.com/pics/cage.png

Thanks.

Congratulations!

If you change the container for the eggs, there is seldom a problem unless you move the location for them. They are rather picky about that. It's OK to touch them. (And two eggs is the right number you should get.)

I would not worry about eggs getting too cold until after the doves start sitting them. The male usually takes the day shift (10 AM - 4 PM) and the female takes the night shift.

Good Luck!

Bob Sanders
Magic By Sander

Mark, Bob is correct as usual about the male/female sitting cycle. As soon as you figure out which birds are the parents, you need to remove the other birds to another cage. In a small confined space as you've pictured, there will be fights and most probably a loss of eggs.

You don't have to do anything now but wait for about 21 days. The adults doves will take care of everything naturally.

I think they are fertilzed - I noticed a different bird sitting on them today - different from what was on them last night... (male/female)

Dave - what do you mean that I should wait 21 days? (Yea - that's about how long it will take for them to hatch - but what should I wait for?)

Would I be able to move the two birds and eggs into the smaller cage I have (inside that bigger cage)?


Thanks for you help guys...

Mark, as Bob said, you shouldn't move the nest. If the nest is in the small cage, you can move the cage with the parents. I'm not sure why you have the smaller cage inside the larger one in the first place.

By waiting for 21 days, what I meant was that the eggs will hatch in about 21 days and you don't have to do anything during that time. The parents will take care of everything.

Ok - Ill just leave the eggs as they are (they are in the bigger cage) turns out there are now THREE eggs - I hope they are fertilized

This could also mean you have females and not males. Doves will only lay 2 at a time. Females do not need males to lay eggs. If you have 3 eggs, you can be pretty sure they are not fertile.

Yes I know - but I have 5 birds - so could they not all be fertile?

Hi Mark,


Same here, my dove just laid two eggs, and I am 50% excited, since my doves from New York always laid eggs that never made it to see light.

Over twenty years having doves and many eggs laid not one ever made it.

I had tried many methods to help the eggs, Like:
Putting the eggs in a bowl and not touching it with my hands,
But they crack them
Keeping the female dove only in the cage with the eggs, she showed me that was a bad idea as she made scramble eggs
Putting the two doves that I found mating in a cage by them self, since I had 14 doves many years back, after about a week I found one egg then a day later a second egg, but after a week they would crack the eggs
I remember one time I told my wife look the eggs are not crack this time and its been a few weeks and my wife said No I wrote it on the calendar when the eggs appeared and the eggs are going on two months, So I crack them to see if anything was trying to happen, but found these eggs not to be fertile


With the doves I now have in Florida I hope these eggs will make it.
I keep my dove in the lanai and I rip news paper into small thin strips and I drop it on the lanai floor and when I open the cage Charlie the male dove flies to me then he see the strips and flies to the floor to bring the strips to the female sitting on the eggs, they have been taking turns sitting on them, so I am hoping for the best.


Maro

I now have 5 eggs...

Hi Mark,

It's hard telling what you have. You may have a couple of fertile eggs. Or you may have 3 females laying infertile eggs and sharing a nest. I suppose it is possible you have all fertile eggs. I've seen stranger things in my avairy. I guess you'll find out in 3 weeks. (Do any of your birds make the male cooing sound?)

But like Mr. Sanders and Mr. Scribner said, it's best not to move the nest. The doves are really picky about that.

Be sure to let us know how things turn out.

Best of luck.

Dakota Rose

Hey Dakota,

Thanks for replying - Yes I have 1 or 2 that do the "male" cooing noise...

That's Great, Mark!

Hey guys, just a question... I am sure most of you guys know my little guy, Jack... Well, I never got him sexed, and the breeder really couldn't tell, but my mom insists that Jack is a female, by the way he "looks" (whatever that means)... But, Jack makes the male cooing noise... So, I think he is in fact a male... I have tried to convince my mom that he is a male, because I informed her that females lay 2 eggs atta time, and Jack has not laid any... She says that's probably because he/she is too young...
Well, how old must a dove be to lay eggs? I am not exactly sure how old Jack is, but I will email the breeder I got Jack from tonight, and see if he can dig up the records of his birth-date...

Thanks,
-Vinnie

Mark, I would be 99% sure that since you have 5 eggs in the nest, that you have female birds using the same nest. The female dove will only lay 2 eggs at one sitting. You may have 2 fertile eggs but if any of the others are fertile, you would have to have at least 2 males since doves mate for life. The male will not go to more than one female. Male doves become very very territorial especially if they have eggs in the nest so if you don't see any fights going on, I would seriously doubt you have multiple males. At this point, everything is going to be speculation and as I mentioned before, all you can do is wait about 21 days and see what happens.

Vinnie, female doves can lay eggs at only a few months old but they will not be fertile. You can tell you mom that you cannot tell the sex of a dove just by looking at it. Females also coo so that is not a sign of male or female. Some females never lay eggs and single females often only lay 1 not 2 so that is not a true test of their sex either. There are several topics in this forum discussing how to tell the sex of your bird. Try this. Hold Jack (or Jackie) firmly in one hand holding the feathers down. Run your finger down it's chest from the neck to the feet. You should feel the breast bone. Just at the bottom of the chest, if the bone separates in a Y, chances are you have a female. They need this space to carry the egg. It's not fool proof but it is more accurate than looking at it.

My old girl Lucy coos and laughs and makes all the noises doves make. Many people have told me on the phone they hear a male dove. She lays eggs and I have had her for going on 16 years now. So I always assumed that the cooing was universal for both sexes.

I had another set of mating doves and they produced two sets of doves in two years.

The baby doves are crazy to watch. They start out like a little alien and then in days they turn into a cartoon. We would sit on the couch with binoculars and watch from across the room so they would be natural. Fun times.

I want to mention also that two of the birds were passing seeds mouth to mouth. I belive I read somewhere that this means they are a pair?

Hey Baluk...Yes, that is a mating ritual between the two doves, which most likely means they are paired for life now, and you may want to seperate them (the 2 you saw "kissing") from the rest of the clan. Good luck, and it sounds as if you are about to have a bunch of doves....*smile*

I got a pregant dove without knowing and about a week later it laid eggs. Is is a lot of fun having two doves so 6 must be awesome.

Hey guys, mws actually made me think. Would a dove with eggs in her be considered pregnant? I guess not if they aren't fertile. I guess I just answered my own question.

Thanks.

Justin

Hmmm.....*smile* On that point, but at the same time "off the point", One should always be careful that if the dove is "pregnant", and an egg breaks while she is holding it inside (before laying), it can be fatal. If by chance you see the female dove acting as if she is going to lay an egg soon (awkward cooing, sitting in the bottom, trying to make a nest, etc....) its best not to perform with that bird until the eggs are laid.....just thought I would throw that out there...why? Because its late, and I am tired *lol*....