# Sexing Diamond Doves



## ByebyeBirdie

Hey, everyone. Newbie here, so this is my first post. Got a question about breeding diamond doves. 

I use to breed these about 10 years ago and then stopped so I'm a little rusty in my memory and I'm hoping that any dove lovers out there could help me.

Recently, I got what I was told was a younger pair with the female being the younger of the two. I have no idea of exact age. I'm think anywhere between two month and five months old. I know one way to sex them is by the eye ring. What I was told was the male has a very large eye ring and the female a very small. Although, within the past two weeks the females has gotten larger but is still considerably smaller then the males.

At the breeders, I did observe the male fan his tail and coo quite loudly but now that I got the pair home he's silent and for the first week was very aggressive towards the female, pecking out her neck feathers. Now he ignors her.

The female has a tiny coo and not full or loud like the male although I've observed her try to mount the male. The male usually flies off at that point. I've got a nest in the cage and she sits in it alot.

At first, the male wouldn't let her get near him but now at night he's starting to let her sit near him before the lights go out...Have lights on timer.

At this point I'm confused. Shouldn't they be courting by now? Nest building? Why has he suddenly stopped cooing? I'm starting to get worried that one of two things is possible. Either, he doesn't like her or she was to young to sex properly and she is actually a he and time will reveal that. Or a third option is what I think is a male sexing by eye ring, cooing and tail fanning is actually a female who acts as a male.

What advice can the veteran birdkeepers give me. Wait it out and see if things change and the gender roles develop more clearly? Or get use to the idea of not breeding diamond doves?


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## Lovebirds

I have no idea, but maybe this will help.
http://www.internationaldovesociety.com/Articles/DDIndividualCageBreeding.htm


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## ByebyeBirdie

Thanks, for responding and for the link.


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## Queen

My understanding is the cock bird had red ring around the eyes. The hen is pale. The cock birds eye ring becomes redder when mating


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## ByebyeBirdie

Thanks. I knew about the eye ring but their behavior has been so dang confusing that I've been questioning their genders.


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## spirit wings

ByebyeBirdie said:


> Hey, everyone. Newbie here, so this is my first post. Got a question about breeding diamond doves.
> 
> I use to breed these about 10 years ago and then stopped so I'm a little rusty in my memory and I'm hoping that any dove lovers out there could help me.
> 
> Recently, I got what I was told was a younger pair with the female being the younger of the two. I have no idea of exact age. I'm think anywhere between two month and five months old. I know one way to sex them is by the eye ring. What I was told was the male has a very large eye ring and the female a very small. Although, within the past two weeks the females has gotten larger but is still considerably smaller then the males.
> 
> At the breeders, I did observe the male fan his tail and coo quite loudly but now that I got the pair home he's silent and for the first week was very aggressive towards the female, pecking out her neck feathers. Now he ignors her.
> 
> The female has a tiny coo and not full or loud like the male although I've observed her try to mount the male. The male usually flies off at that point. I've got a nest in the cage and she sits in it alot.
> 
> At first, the male wouldn't let her get near him but now at night he's starting to let her sit near him before the lights go out...Have lights on timer.
> 
> At this point I'm confused. Shouldn't they be courting by now? Nest building? Why has he suddenly stopped cooing? I'm starting to get worried that one of two things is possible. Either, he doesn't like her or she was to young to sex properly and she is actually a he and time will reveal that. Or a third option is what I think is a male sexing by eye ring, cooing and tail fanning is actually a female who acts as a male.
> 
> What advice can the veteran birdkeepers give me. Wait it out and see if things change and the gender roles develop more clearly? Or get use to the idea of not breeding diamond doves?


They may be just too young to tell who is who. if you really want to know and have 40 bucks to spend for both birds you can send off for a dna kit from the link, and know what the sexes are for sure. or you can wait it out. even if they are male and female, they just might not dig each other. but time will tell http://www.amrlabs.com/


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## ByebyeBirdie

spirit wings said:


> They may be just too young to tell who is who. if you really want to know and have 40 bucks to spend for both birds you can send off for a dna kit from the link, and know what the sexes are for sure. or you can wait it out. even if they are male and female, they just might not dig each other. but time will tell http://www.amrlabs.com/


You might be right about them being to young especally the one I THINK is a female. S/he getting more adult coloration finally now and the eye ring has finally gotten brighter but still not as big as the first and oldest one. The oldest one, the one I THINK is male doesn't coo very loud anymore since introducing the the second one to the cage. Their change in behavior has got me confused to the gender but as you stated either they're to young still or they may simply not dig each other. I'll give it more time and consider that dna test you mentioned.


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