# Single dove sitting on fertile egg... ADVICE PLEASE.



## FloridaLuv (Dec 19, 2008)

I need advice.

My female and male white doves were fighting, so I have removed the male for about almost a week now to a seperate cage.( New dove couple, which I have posted previously about) In the mean time my female has laid eggs. Which DUMB me  dropped one and of course she saw me do it...I feel just horrible! BAD bird mommy!..... AT any rate they are both fertilized (one of them now gone..), which is why I was taking them out ...to see if they were fertile! BUT my question is ... now my female has been sitting on the lone egg all by herself 24-7! She laid her egg in a small dish that is for her food..... CAN I move the egg to a fleece lined basket? Will she lay on it if I move it? Right now the egg is in her food dish that is only about 4-5 inches in diameter... and she is squeezing herself into it to lay on it. When she gets up, you can tell her legs are cramped... and she gets out for only a few seconds then is back on it. The basket is so much bigger.

I have also tried to put my male back in with her (to share the responsibilty) but ..... he is so agressive towards her and they get end up fighting. ADVICE please!!!

Jenn


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## spirit wings (Mar 29, 2008)

FloridaLuv said:


> I need advice.
> 
> My female and male white doves were fighting, so I have removed the male for about almost a week now to a seperate cage.( New dove couple, which I have posted previously about) In the mean time my female has laid eggs. Which DUMB me  dropped one and of course she saw me do it...I feel just horrible! BAD bird mommy!..... AT any rate they are both fertilized (one of them now gone..), which is why I was taking them out ...to see if they were fertile! BUT my question is ... now my female has been sitting on the lone egg all by herself 24-7! She laid her egg in a small dish that is for her food..... CAN I move the egg to a fleece lined basket? Will she lay on it if I move it? Right now the egg is in her food dish that is only about 4-5 inches in diameter... and she is squeezing herself into it to lay on it. When she gets up, you can tell her legs are cramped... and she gets out for only a few seconds then is back on it. The basket is so much bigger.
> 
> ...


If you don't have a good reason for her to hatch it, I would give her a dummie egg. If the egg is older and has a chick in it, she can hatch it and you can help her feed it with hand rearing formula, but it is not easy, but you may not have a choice if you can not put the male back in. I tie a small basket on the side of the cage for my doves and they use that for their nest and I just exchange the eggs for wooden ones or dummies.


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## FloridaLuv (Dec 19, 2008)

Would you believe ... I have been to all the local craft stores etc. looking for Dummy eggs... and none to be found.... they all tell me, wait until easter....

I think I remember in some of your posts Spiritwings, that you have white doves? Do they fight? and if so how did you reslove that?..... Obviouslly they (mine) mated and were getting along..... but now in turmoil... so I'm not sure what happened..lol...... Do you think they will ever get along again...? Is it normal for two doves to peck at each other? I mean going for the eyes and face? Should I just let them work it out? Or is that setting them up for disaster? 

I was thinking of removing the egg, but when I dropped her other one she wing slapped me... and I FEEL horrible... She is going to REALLY hate me.


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## FloridaLuv (Dec 19, 2008)

Oh yes... forgot to mention, she chose the food dish over the basket...... wish she saw it my way.......


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## spirit wings (Mar 29, 2008)

FloridaLuv said:


> Would you believe ... I have been to all the local craft stores etc. looking for Dummy eggs... and none to be found.... they all tell me, wait until easter....
> 
> I think I remember in some of your posts Spiritwings, that you have white doves? Do they fight? and if so how did you reslove that?..... Obviouslly they (mine) mated and were getting along..... but now in turmoil... so I'm not sure what happened..lol...... Do you think they will ever get along again...? Is it normal for two doves to peck at each other? I mean going for the eyes and face? Should I just let them work it out? Or is that setting them up for disaster?
> 
> I was thinking of removing the egg, but when I dropped her other one she wing slapped me... and I FEEL horrible... She is going to REALLY hate me.


for the eggs, I get mine on ebay under craft eggs...I know what you mean about not finding them local...mine have not fought at all, so I can't understand what happend there, they are so docile no wing slapping at all....they are doves right not pigeons....just checking, I would not keep them together if they were going at it hard, mine groom each other and peck at each other but not aggressive...the nest, yea, I had to take out the bowl they wanted to lay in and relplace with the basket, I put it on the floor of the cage and tied it so they could not overturn it...the next time around they did'nt like it on the bottom of the cage and tried making a nest on a perch, which they could not do, so i tied a basket up high setting on the perch and they went right to it and made a nest, picky little buggers. if she has not been on the egg for too long,like just a week, find a marble or even a round smooth object and warm it and replace it with that....she really would need the male to raise the baby, or you if your up to it...but that for you to decide if you want to, you can try putting them back together and see what happens, but if it is bad I don't blame you for taking him out...that is not a normal behavior for them to their mate. oh did you candle the egg? is that how know it is fertile?


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## maryjane (Jul 15, 2006)

You can replace the egg with just about anything egg-shaped. I've used small stamps (the kind kids use with the lid on them), wrapped in white surgical tape, or a marble, or a nut wrapped in white tape, etc. They will lay on just about anything.  And as for taking the egg, I wouldn't worry too much about her reaction. She won't remember for long.  They don't seem to know if they have one egg or two under them, so I don't think she even understands that you dropped one. So try not to feel bad. Good luck!


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## FloridaLuv (Dec 19, 2008)

I did candle it.... or them.... .....sigh......lesson learned with slippery fingers. 

Seperately , the female is very docile... but my male... UGH... he is a force to be reckoned with. He bow-coos everything under the sun and moon..... and hops towards her aggressivly. On top of always trying chase her around when they are out in the birdroom...... half the time my female is looking at me ... like "save" me! ....lol.... I was AMAZED that the eggs were even fertile!!! Anyways, seperate they are..... in a few weeks I will try again I guess at having them together...... Is there anything one can do to stop a dove from being so agressive? Oh yea, they are white ringnecks. I'd swear if I didn't know any better, His behavior IS more pigeon like than dove... In fact I am starting to wonder if the reason why the pet store had him in the back, was because HE was agressive, NOT the others on display...... Even our house pigeon is MUCH MUCH more docile than him...LOL.... I hope that his agressive behavior will stop.... I was really hoping to have them together. That was the whole point... guess they didn't get that memo!...:

Maryjane, you have my dear hubby ROFL about the nut wrapped up!
LOL.....

But it is a great idea! lol... so I'm off to do just that, I will be replacing them with something tonight... 
Thank you both!
Jenn


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## FloridaLuv (Dec 19, 2008)

one more thing............ When I replace the egg, should I move it to the basket? Or put the dummy one back in the food dish??? She is very cramped in the dish... or do I not worry about that?


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## RodSD (Oct 24, 2008)

I still don't understand your story. Are you saying that these are mated couple and they are fighting? Are you sure they are fighting or the male is just showing the natural "driving" the hen to lay egg kind? If so don't disturb them. It may be natural behavior.

If I can't find wooden egg, I boil mine and put it back. Only my smartest pair figured out what I was doing and usually stop incubating them. The rest just do it for the duration.


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## FloridaLuv (Dec 19, 2008)

well honestly, Im not sure its their normal mating, courting "driving" going on? 

He actually fly bys her, lands directlly on her (even though she is trying to get away from him) and when he is pecking at her , he aims right for her eyes..... 
In the cage, he pecks her and she tries to fly away, shakes etc. Not until recently did she finally peck him the eyes back.... ( Maybe this is normal)It is my first pair of doves, so I am somewhat on unfamiliar grounds here.... It really seems like she does not like it and he seems to be persistant about pecking at her. Even today when I let him out in the bird room he flew over to her cage and she wanted to peck him away through the cage..... SO idk? Is the behavior I described above "normal driving behavior"? Because I really haven't the answer.


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## FloridaLuv (Dec 19, 2008)

Also, this is a new pair of doves the female came from the Humane Society,, The male from a Pet store.... for a week they seemed fine, grooming one another but he was always kinda more dominant (normal, I know) so to answer your question, about mated... I guess yes ,but very newly!


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## MaryOfExeter (Sep 30, 2007)

Sounds like you've just got an aggressive male. Guess he wants his women to know he's big and tough  In my opinion you need to take the egg out. If you would have left the mate in there, you could let her hatch it, and they'd take care of it. But now the male will probably be more aggressive from being separated so long, so the egg/baby and hen would probably be worse off in that case. Not to mention the male may not take care of it. You never know.

Doves really will sit on just about anything. I had a couple of males incubate a small lightbulb, like the kind you'd put in little night lights  It was a funny sight. They actually thought they could hatch something out of it.


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## MaryOfExeter (Sep 30, 2007)

Also next time if you don't want them sitting in the food dish, somehow attach the nest basket to the side of the cage. Doves are much more comfortable nesting up off the ground. I have one pair that refused to lay eggs until we put a nest box on the wall of the cage for them. Then they really went to town  Before then, they'd make a nest in their food bowl but never lay.


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## FloridaLuv (Dec 19, 2008)

LOL..... yeppers their basket; I have it zip tied to the side of their cage a tad higher than their food dish.... (picky, picky, picky) LOL.... A light bulb, wow.....that's funny!!! I have rumaged through my son's marble collection and confusgated his "shooter" marble..against his wishes..LOL.... But I have removed the egg. I am at a loss about my male.... I am hoping he becomes less agressive. It's funny because he flys and sits on my head sweet as can be, and is fine until he starts showing off for my female... I will see how they are, I'm thinking of putting them together for just a few hours each day for a few weeks..... Hoping that helps!


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## FloridaLuv (Dec 19, 2008)

*Update:*

Just wanted to post that all is WELL in the dove cage...phew.. I had let them out together for a week and whatever THEY had going on with the fighting thing, is now passed.... Weird. Because he was really being rotten for awhile there.... But I guess it could have just been what RodSD said, the mating driving. Although he no longers pecks at her face at ALL now. SO ???

They have laid eggs again (yesterday), and they are now keeping their "marbles" ...lol nice and warm... And Noah is on his VERY best behavior. Just today I had the cage open for their fly time and he came out did a few laps and back in he flew, right up to the nest, to relieve Noelle of their proud marbles...(They really will use anything!funny and... SO SWEET! ) She took a bath, flew around and ate the treats and then did the same for him!
Guess he just needed a TIME OUT! But I am SO very happy that they are a bonifide couple now! 

Thank you for all of your help with them, I thank you and so do they!


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## spirit wings (Mar 29, 2008)

FloridaLuv said:


> Just wanted to post that all is WELL in the dove cage...phew.. I had let them out together for a week and whatever THEY had going on with the fighting thing, is now passed.... Weird. Because he was really being rotten for awhile there.... But I guess it could have just been what RodSD said, the mating driving. Although he no longers pecks at her face at ALL now. SO ???
> 
> They have laid eggs again (yesterday), and they are now keeping their "marbles" ...lol nice and warm... And Noah is on his VERY best behavior. Just today I had the cage open for their fly time and he came out did a few laps and back in he flew, right up to the nest, to relieve Noelle of their proud marbles...(They really will use anything!funny and... SO SWEET! ) She took a bath, flew around and ate the treats and then did the same for him!
> Guess he just needed a TIME OUT! But I am SO very happy that they are a bonifide couple now!
> ...


That's good news...it really is so cute seeing them coddle over their fake eggs...sweet little things.


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