how many eggs

[lindac103]

I have white fantail doves and I would like to know when they stop mating and laying eggs. We started off with 6 birds and 3 got killed last year, we were left with one female and 2 males now we have 8 birds and I don't want any more. All the babies that we have are from the same female and the 2 different males. Since she has laid the last 2 eggs the other male is trying to mate with her again. I can't keep anymore that 8 birds as I only have a dove cote which house 4 pairs. The next time we get eggs I will have to take them away. Will they stop laying soon or will it go on all the time??????????????????

[Pigeonrh]

Hi,
You can just give them dummy eggs.. that will stop them for a while...



------------------
Ryan Harvey
~*~Crossbreed Lofts~*~
http://www.angelfire.com/or3/crossbreedloft

[bigbird]

They will go thru slow periods but essentially you have a breeding factory. Taking the eggs away and replacing with dummy eggs as suggested, will slow the process down a bit.

[turkey]

I was wondering about that also, but I saw a loft where they kept the males and females seperate. That's probably the best guarantee.

Julie

[fred2344]

Hi,
Here is a link where you can purchased dummy dove eggs: http://www.dovepage.com/supplies.html

The thing I'm concerned about is if the offspring of this one hen will be too closely related and if they mate, would there be a possiblilty of birth defects?

[andyspigeons]

Defects will only show up if the original birds carry hidden recessive defect genes. Inbreeding doesn't produce defects, it just uncovers those that are hidden in the genetic makeup.
I have a flock of 20-30 pigeons and all are related and all are healthy. I've been breeding within this same family for about 14 years with no deleterious effects and only occasionally add in fresh blood.
Andy

[maryco]

Hello and welcome Andy

Mary

[turkey]

Welcome Andy!

Julie