Hey there everyone - please let me know if this is the wrong section.
I've had a pair of ringneck doves for 3-4 years now. I initially got just a female from a breeder (the one on my finger in the attachment), but decided she needed a companion. I found an ad for 12 ringneck doves in a local newspaper and went for it.
When I got there, the 12 doves were kept in a cage that was too small for even one dove, outside (this is Maine, it gets below zero) in a barn, with barn cats, being fed chicken layer pellets.
The woman explained to me that she bought two doves at a fair, and ended up with a male/female pair. She kept them indoors until she "got sick of their noise" (ringneck doves make beautiful sounds...not sure what her problem was) and so she put them outside. They reproduced a lot, and bam, she ended up with 10 babies over the course of a year. She had decided she didn't want them anymore at that point.
The dove I bought (which I'm honestly considering a rescue at this point) from her was the youngest, and she said she didn't know which doves were its parents. So he's probably severely inbred. He also has a lump of bone in one of his wings and cant fly properly, which leads me to believe he had broken his wing at one point (not surprising considering they didn't have enough room to fly without smacking into each other or a perch). He's the one sitting in the nest in the attachment.
He bonded with my female dove pretty quickly and they began mating. She began laying eggs. Infertile eggs. For 2 and a half years now she's laid two infertile eggs per month. Its fine with me - I wouldn't be able to part with the babies, and don't have room to keep that many doves
My question is is it possible that I have two females, instead of a female/male pair like I thought? The "rescue" dove is the mounter every time, and I have seen the female laying eggs. I've read that a female/female pair will lay four eggs between them every month and there's never been more than two per month, which leads me to believe he is a male...and possibly infertile due to the inbreeding and/or lack of proper care/diet from an early age?
I don't want to get him DNA tested. He came to me as feral bird who had never had human contact. He has warmed up to me to an extent (he will sit on my finger for short amount of time before flying to a perch, and he doesn't smack me with his wings in self defense anymore), but I don't want to pluck out a feather or trim a nail too short and traumatize him. He's a very sensitive bird and I have to tread carefully with him, or risk undoing the little progress I've made with him.
So I guess my question is more of a request for opinions - what do you guys think? Is he an infertile male, or a female that doesn't lay eggs? Its not essential knowledge really, but I'm curious.
I've had a pair of ringneck doves for 3-4 years now. I initially got just a female from a breeder (the one on my finger in the attachment), but decided she needed a companion. I found an ad for 12 ringneck doves in a local newspaper and went for it.
When I got there, the 12 doves were kept in a cage that was too small for even one dove, outside (this is Maine, it gets below zero) in a barn, with barn cats, being fed chicken layer pellets.
The woman explained to me that she bought two doves at a fair, and ended up with a male/female pair. She kept them indoors until she "got sick of their noise" (ringneck doves make beautiful sounds...not sure what her problem was) and so she put them outside. They reproduced a lot, and bam, she ended up with 10 babies over the course of a year. She had decided she didn't want them anymore at that point.
The dove I bought (which I'm honestly considering a rescue at this point) from her was the youngest, and she said she didn't know which doves were its parents. So he's probably severely inbred. He also has a lump of bone in one of his wings and cant fly properly, which leads me to believe he had broken his wing at one point (not surprising considering they didn't have enough room to fly without smacking into each other or a perch). He's the one sitting in the nest in the attachment.
He bonded with my female dove pretty quickly and they began mating. She began laying eggs. Infertile eggs. For 2 and a half years now she's laid two infertile eggs per month. Its fine with me - I wouldn't be able to part with the babies, and don't have room to keep that many doves
My question is is it possible that I have two females, instead of a female/male pair like I thought? The "rescue" dove is the mounter every time, and I have seen the female laying eggs. I've read that a female/female pair will lay four eggs between them every month and there's never been more than two per month, which leads me to believe he is a male...and possibly infertile due to the inbreeding and/or lack of proper care/diet from an early age?
I don't want to get him DNA tested. He came to me as feral bird who had never had human contact. He has warmed up to me to an extent (he will sit on my finger for short amount of time before flying to a perch, and he doesn't smack me with his wings in self defense anymore), but I don't want to pluck out a feather or trim a nail too short and traumatize him. He's a very sensitive bird and I have to tread carefully with him, or risk undoing the little progress I've made with him.
So I guess my question is more of a request for opinions - what do you guys think? Is he an infertile male, or a female that doesn't lay eggs? Its not essential knowledge really, but I'm curious.
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