# Any reason why a female dove will not lay an egg?



## rascal66

Will there ever be a reason why a female Diamond doves will not lay eggs? I mean don't they lay eggs every few months or so, whether they are fertile or not? I think I've come to a conclusion that the dove I purchased a few months ago is female, but she hasn't laid any eggs yet.
Lately I've seen her laying in the nest I have out for her more lately, and before she never did that. Does that indicate anything? I'm just curious and still learning about these little birds.


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## Doves1111

If a female Diamond Doves doesn't lay eggs it can be because of a number of reasons...age, poor diet, stress, lighting. I saw the pictures of your birds...they all look healthy and well taken care of. The hen may have been young when you got her and maybe not in the best breeding condition. Now that you got her in good condition and she matured...she will probably start laying eggs. The sitting in the nest is a good indication that she is getting ready to lay eggs. Is she by herself or with a mate? 

Dawn


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## spirit wings

rascal66 said:


> Will there ever be a reason why a female Diamond doves will not lay eggs? I mean don't they lay eggs every few months or so, whether they are fertile or not? I think I've come to a conclusion that the dove I purchased a few months ago is female, but she hasn't laid any eggs yet.
> Lately I've seen her laying in the nest I have out for her more lately, and before she never did that. Does that indicate anything? I'm just curious and still learning about these little birds.


you're birds are so very cute. I have not kept diamonds, but was given 5 ring neck doves, there was a pair in there so that left the other three, they told me they were males as they never layed eggs.. well after they were at my home for a few months..all three ended up being hens..so I think when the circumstances are right they feel safe enough to go into egg mode...not sure why though...perhaps they got more sun here and I did turn them over from an all seed diet to harrison's high potecy fine organic pellets.


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## rascal66

Doves1111 said:


> If a female Diamond Doves doesn't lay eggs it can be because of a number of reasons...age, poor diet, stress, lighting. I saw the pictures of your birds...they all look healthy and well taken care of. The hen may have been young when you got her and maybe not in the best breeding condition. Now that you got her in good condition and she matured...she will probably start laying eggs. The sitting in the nest is a good indication that she is getting ready to lay eggs. Is she by herself or with a mate?
> 
> Dawn


Thanks 
I have her with one of my males, but she could be stressed from him possibly. They aren't a pair yet since I recently placed them in the cage together. He attempts bow coo's for her but she just mounts him and runs away! I do believe she is still young. Plus since it's been cloudy here latey, there hasnt been the best light so maybe that too. But I do hope you're right with the whole nest idea  

As for breeding diets, what do you recomend?


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## rascal66

spirit wings said:


> you're birds are so very cute. I have not kept diamonds, but was given 5 ring neck doves, there was a pair in there so that left the other three, they told me they were males as they never layed eggs.. well after they were at my home for a few months..all three ended up being hens..so I think when the circumstances are right they feel safe enough to go into egg mode...not sure why though...perhaps they got more sun here and I did turn them over from an all seed diet to harrison's high potecy fine organic pellets.


Thanks  
You can never truly trust what previous owners say unless they have proof or whatnot, I always hear stories about the birds always turning out to be the oposite gender  
I'll try seeing where i can place them, so they can be at least in the sun more often and see what i can do to improve their diet. So far they only eat a finch mix with fresh water everyday.


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## Shadowringneck23

*Bonded*

If the dove has not become bonded to you yet, it may be against laying at this time. Not to mention the dove will need some sort of stimulation which if not provided from a male, will have to come from you. She could also be calcium-deficient, which could keep her from laying.


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## rascal66

Shadowringneck23 said:


> If the dove has not become bonded to you yet, it may be against laying at this time. Not to mention the dove will need some sort of stimulation which if not provided from a male, will have to come from you. She could also be calcium-deficient, which could keep her from laying.


Thank you for that. What could I feed her to help improve calcium? I actually think that and the fact that her cage mate aren't bonded yet is what is keeping her. I just still don't understand her behavior, when she hops on the males back and struts around...


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## kalel

You could possibly have a male instead of a female. Are you 100% sure it is a female. THe size of the eye ring is not always an indicator of sex. My male diamond dove has a small eye ring and could be mistaken for a female apart from the bigger body size. I will try to get a pic of him when I can so you can see what I mean. My female was eager to breed so she used to mount the male at first. I think she was trying to get him interested and take some of her frustration out.
For calcium usually the cuttlefish and grit is often enough but some sort of vitamin supplement can help. I use hagen prime a general probiotic and calcivet which is just calcium and D3.


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## rascal66

kalel said:


> You could possibly have a male instead of a female. Are you 100% sure it is a female. THe size of the eye ring is not always an indicator of sex. My male diamond dove has a small eye ring and could be mistaken for a female apart from the bigger body size. I will try to get a pic of him when I can so you can see what I mean. My female was eager to breed so she used to mount the male at first. I think she was trying to get him interested and take some of her frustration out.
> For calcium usually the cuttlefish and grit is often enough but some sort of vitamin supplement can help. I use hagen prime a general probiotic and calcivet which is just calcium and D3.


Honestly, I'm not 100% sure, but the pet store thought it was a female as well. The eye ring in small and a little pale compared to my males and she sits in the nest often. Do they really do that to get the males interested? xD That seems so interesting!

Recently I bought crushed oyster shell for the birds but they didn't seem interested in using it or eating it :\ So I don't know how to provide the calcium or grit they need. 

Where did you get yours at? I might consider that.

Do you know if Diamond Doves lay eggs every other month or so?


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## kalel

I'm not sure if all females do that but mine did. This is the site where I got the calcivet from. I'm in the UK so not sure if they ship to US but tey probably have something similar over there. 
http://www.birdcareco.com/English/TheBirdCareCompany/ProductInformation/Calcivet
Yes my diamonds arent interested in the grit either and prefer the cuttlefish bone though I did get a mineral pick block for my capes and the diamonds pick at that too. Do you not have any cuttlefish bone?
Once mated diamonds will lay eggs every month. It takes about 2 weeks for the eggs to hatch and then another 2 weeks for babies to fledge and leave the nest. My doves arent allowed any more babies this year so are sitting on dummy eggs (insert evil laugh lol).


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## rascal66

kalel said:


> I'm not sure if all females do that but mine did. This is the site where I got the calcivet from. I'm in the UK so not sure if they ship to US but tey probably have something similar over there.
> http://www.birdcareco.com/English/TheBirdCareCompany/ProductInformation/Calcivet
> Yes my diamonds arent interested in the grit either and prefer the cuttlefish bone though I did get a mineral pick block for my capes and the diamonds pick at that too. Do you not have any cuttlefish bone?
> Once mated diamonds will lay eggs every month. It takes about 2 weeks for the eggs to hatch and then another 2 weeks for babies to fledge and leave the nest. My doves arent allowed any more babies this year so are sitting on dummy eggs (insert evil laugh lol).


I was thinking about crushing the grit a little more and trying it again for them. I never tried giving them cuddle bone because it seemed to hard for them and I wasn't sure if they would really even consider picking at it! 

Awwe dummy eggs xD

But thank you  We do have something similar when it comes to the liquid calcium. I think just over here is just called Calciboost, same thing though. I'll definitely consider that though!


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## spirit wings

here are some things to ponder if you are NOT seeing eggs(zero eggs) for a long period of time.

Fertile male / fertile female = two fertile eggs except when the sperm is blocked from reaching the egg 
Fertile male / infertile female = zero eggs 
Infertile male / fertile female = two infertile eggs 
Infertile male / infertile female = zero eggs 
Fertile female / fertile female = four infertile eggs 
Fertile female / infertile female = two infertile eggs 
Male any / male any = zero eggs


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## kalel

The cuttlefish is not as hard as you would think and it keeps their beaks trim.
Anyway here are some pics of the male birds eye ring so you can see what I mean.
wow sorry about the giant pics.
(Dont want to derail the thread but anyone know how to resize pics before posting?)


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## rascal66

kalel said:


> The cuttlefish is not as hard as you would think and it keeps their beaks trim.
> Anyway here are some pics of the male birds eye ring so you can see what I mean.
> wow sorry about the giant pics.
> (Dont want to derail the thread but anyone know how to resize pics before posting?)


Awwe what a cutie!! Heheh, I'm well aware of what they look like  Thank you. I have another thread showing my Doves somewhere xD They are also in my album


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## kalel

Oh I know but I just posted so you could see that his eye ring is not that big and almost the same as my females.


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