# Sudden Agression in Diamond Doves?



## chat_noir (Jun 27, 2012)

We've had our two Diamond Doves- male and female- for over a year now, and they've successfully mated. When we first got the doves we allowed them to raise two young, which we kept until the male became too aggressive towards them (about a month each). We separated the two offspring from their parents and eventually gave them (the offspring) away. Since then, we've upgraded our two doves to a larger cage and have been switching out the female's eggs with plastic dummy eggs. Both doves will sit on the dummy eggs until the male realizes they won't hatch and tries to mate with the female again. We then remove the fake eggs so they can go through the whole mating ritual again. Lather, rinse, repeat. So far this has been working for the past year with no problems. The doves have gotten along just fine as a mated pair.

This past cycle, however, we noticed that the male started to get aggressive towards the female about halfway through the average time they sit on the eggs before giving up. He's never been aggressive towards her before, so we were a little confused as to why he suddenly started chasing her around the cage and pecking at her head and neck. We thought maybe it was either him trying to get her off the eggs for a little while so she could go eat and let him sit for a while, or him trying to chase her out of the nest so they could try again. So we would try to manually switch the birds on the next, which didn't work. So we eventually removed the eggs, separated the birds by putting in a cage partition, and waited a few days before replacing the eggs and removing the partition. It seemed to work for a while, but there were still a few incidents of aggression strictly from the male which we stopped by separating them for a few minutes by letting the male out of the cage.
This is the second egg cycle since then, and unfortunately the aggression isn't getting better. Just today we noticed that the male has ripped a large bald spot in the feathers on the back of the female's neck. (There seem to be some thin patches around her face as well, but it's hard to tell what's normal post-nesting raggedness and what's the result of the male's plucking.) We put the cage partition back in and blocked the view between the two with paper. 

I'm really concerned about them, because I don't know what could have caused this sudden aggression when they've been nothing but total love birds until now. Nothing has changed with their environment or diet. We have always occasionally rearranged the stuff in their cage just to keep them from getting bored, which they seem to love. We tried installing a full-spectrum UV light in case it could be seasonal depression causing the aggression, but that hasn't done much (they do seem to appreciate it though).
Has anyone else seen this sort of sudden change in behavior, or have any clue what it could be? Is there any way to fix it? I really hate to separate them permanently...


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## LisaNewTumbler (Jun 24, 2013)

I can't say I've experience the same but I have a pair of ringnecks that I've let raise a couple of clutches every now and then but mainly switch out the eggs.

The male is not overly aggressive, but at the sign of any potential competition he makes sure to reassert himself - which basically means chasing her all over the place and back to the nest or another corner. Never injured her though. This could be when another bird (outside) lands on or near the cage, or I put my hand in to change the food and my movement causes the female to move - that seems to be a big trigger. Like he thinks i'm making a move on his girl.

One thing I did notice is that they get stressed after many clutches don't hatch.
The male starts looking for a new nesting site, to try again.

He doesn't turn aggressive, but calls her to it.

Thats why every now and then I let them raise a clutch.

I'd suggest trying to put in a second nest, maybe on the other side of the cage, and see if they take to it.

Also pay attention to whether anything is presenting itself as a 'challenge' to him. Maybe the combination of eggs that don't hatch + a perceived rival is making him turn extra dominant to try reassert himself and make things work.

Hope it works out for you


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## Lefty07 (Dec 30, 2009)

Diamond Dove pairs can get like that sometimes. I had a male Diamond Dove that got so rough with his mates, I eventually sold the females when I sold the babies and just kept him as a single dove. So if your female Diamond Dove is being physically abused - as in getting pecked on the head - you should separate them, at least with the partition, so he can't hurt her.

Does your male Diamond Dove have a mirror by any chance in his cage? If so, remove it because that can make the males more aggressive (because they think they are constantly "fighting" with their reflection).

Can you post a photo of your Dove's cage, showing the nest etc? That might give some clues to the aggression problem.


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## FineFeathers (Apr 24, 2014)

We have had the same issue with our male diamond dove becoming aggressive toward the female, generally while their clutch is mid-term. We believe he may be destroying the eggs as well, though haven't caught him in the act. We have had them for two years and only one egg has hatched, but the chick died within the first day (quite possibly by accident). They continue to mate unsuccessfully and I've wondered whether that could have something to do with the male's aggression. Any advice on how to handle this?


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## MDKinLA (Jun 20, 2014)

Chat noir et all...
My male was chasing the female off her eggs this morning and I grabbed him and separated them. She immediately went back to sitting on her clutch...
Will I be able to put them back together? 
They've successfully raised 13 offspring. Even dummy eggs BARELY slowed them down. 
I'd appreciate ANY input.
Thanks. Michael.


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## FineFeathers (Apr 24, 2014)

Yes, that’s exactly what we’ve been experiencing with ours – the male tries to take over the nest and the female won’t get off, and they end up fighting, almost always crushing the eggs in the process. But nearly every day the male chases and pecks the female, frightening her into a corner, whether they have a clutch or not. We’ve put him into a smaller cage on a couple of occasions, but for no longer than an hour. 

It almost seems as if he one day got frustrated with the lack of success with the eggs, as none have hatched since we’ve had them for two years. Or perhaps it's stress-related??

Lefty, I’ve attached a picture of the cage as it is positioned in the corner of our house and one of the nest. We got a smaller one thinking it would be easier for them to control the position of the eggs (they weren't always actually sitting on them in the bigger nest) but I don't see that it's changed anything with their behavior. Any insight would be appreciated, as I too would hate to separate them for good.


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