In January of this year I had 2 diamond Doves. I now have 12. What can I do with all these birds? They keep laying eggs. I have taken them out and put in substitutes but it hasn’t stopped them. I don’t know what to do with all of these birds. I would like to find homes for several of them. Any suggestions would help me a lot. Thank You Shari
Hi Shari,
Yes, you definitely need to stop the breeding. It sounds like you haven’t been given the right information about breeding birds. If all of these chicks came from one pair, then to be honest, you are lucky the female hasn’t died due to being over bred. At the very most, a captive pair should only be allowed 2 clutches per year, which is one more than they would have in the wild. As the owner, it is your responsibility to stop them from hatching eggs. You also should not allow any of the chicks to breed with each other, or with the parents. Related birds should never be allowed to breed – this is called inbreeding and results in weak genes, sickly birds and deformities. The first thing you need to do is take the nest away. This is the easiest way to prevent unwanted chicks. Just because a bird lays eggs, doesn’t mean you have to let them sit on the eggs. Adult birds do not need a nest except for the purpose of laying eggs and raising chicks. In the wild, a nest is only used during the breeding season, and then it is abandoned. You may need to split the pair up for now, to get the female to stop laying eggs. It will literally kill her to keep laying eggs unchecked. She is already going to be in fragile health after raising so many chicks. Remove the nest, and probably the male, and do not let her use anything as a nest. If she tries to use a food dish, replace it with smaller cups. If she uses the cage floor, and it doesn’t have a metal floor grate, then don’t use anything on the tray for bedding – no paper, paper towels, shavings, absolutely nothing. Take the eggs way and clean the tray daily. Move the cage to a really busy place in the home. Anytime she lays an egg, take it away. Keep cleaning the cage and tray daily. You want to be very disruptive to her routine to make her feel like her cage is not a safe place to nest. Limit her daylight to 8 hours a day, by covering her cage early in the evening. Keep moving the cage every few days if she still shows signs of wanting to nest. In some cases, a Vet needs to give the female a hormone shot or use an implant to stop her. Again, this constant egg laying is very bad for her. Make sure all of the chicks are separated by gender – you can’t allow related birds to breed. Give all of the females to one pet shop and give the males to another. Or if you give them all to the same place, make sure they know the birds are related and can’t be bred with each other. I know you are overwhelmed now, so once you find home for the offspring, it’s probably best not to let the pair breed anymore. If you do, you have to limit them and not allow this to happen again.
Thank you for asking Lafeber,
Brenda
