# Stock doves nesting in my window box...again...



## parismarais (Jul 10, 2014)

Hi all, about a year ago a pair of stock doves took a liking to one of my window boxes and ended up nesting there. We discovered two eggs and decided to leave them alone as much as possible, to the point of leaving the curtains of that window closed, so our comings and goings wouldn't bother them. There were two eggs that eventually hatched and the fledglings grew up and flew off some months later.

Although it was an interesting experience, I unfortunately found out that baby doves make a HUGE mess. I ended up having to throw away the window box because it was covered in poop (the very smelly kind). Also, the box was placed facing the courtyard of the building so inevitably, some of the poop would end up on the ground in a semi-public area. 

This year, the couple has decided to come back and take over another one of my window boxes (we had 3 identical boxes next to each other). I tried to chase them away, even putting some anti-pigeon spikes in the box they seemed most interested in, but lo and behold this evening I found an egg in the other one 

I feel bad for them because I know this species is in decline in France, and they must be desperate if they'll risk laying so close to human beings in a big city. On the other hand, I don't want to get in trouble with my neighbours, don't want to throw away another window box, and don't want to have my living room in the dark for several months.

Any suggestions on what i should do?

As an added complication, my partner is pregnant and feels it's bad karma to get rid of the egg :/


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## Jay3 (May 4, 2008)

The only way to discourage them is to keep breaking up the nest and getting rid of any eggs. Then maybe you can cover the nest boxes with something till they nest elsewhere. Really nothing else you can do.


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