ringneck dove nest

Question
I have two doves whom I adopted because they had been at the shelter for
around 2 years. i didn't know a lot and one of the things I didn't know was
that you had to get the egg out fast or it didn't sink in maybe. There ended
up being two doves (can two doves come from one egg? I just saw one). The
nest has started to look kind of funky because it seems that they were so
attentive to sitting on it that they did not always leave to go to the bathroom.
Is that OK or is it bad for the babies?  They won't allow me to touch the nest
to pull out any of the yucky material.

Answer
Hi again, Kate,

I understand what you mean now.  You didn't pull the egg early enough so the parents wouldn't incubate it.  Eggs need to be pulled before about the 7th day.  Some birds start incubating immediately when the first egg is laid, some don't start incubating until the second egg is laid (most always doves and pigeons lay 2 eggs...if more, there could be 2 females laying in the same nest).  Pull any eggs you don't want to hatch right after the second egg is laid, but before a week goes by.

Sometimes an egg can become buried in nesting material and you don't see it, sometimes when a bird is sitting tight on the nest an egg can still be under the bird and a person only sees 1 egg, sometimes an egg can get "pushed" away from the nest and the other bird will incubate it at the same time the first bird is incubating, sometimes an egg "sticks" to the bird's belly feathers and a person may not see it if a bird moves.  There can be many reasons why a person may not see both eggs.  However, I seriously doubt 2 hatchlings emerged from 1 egg successfully.  There was another egg somewhere.  

Best of luck to you.  Doves are nice birds to keep.

Chrys
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Hi, Kate,

I have no idea what you mean by you didn't know that you had to get the egg out fast.  Out of the nest?  Out of the bird?  This doesn't make sense to me.

It is very rare that a single egg contains 2 embryos.  I've seen this in chicken and pigeon eggs, but 2 hatchlings cannot possibly live successfully inside an egg and hatch.  There had to have been 2 eggs laid.

With doves and/or pigeons (these are related species), you have to clean and/or change their nest box whenever it gets fouled.  Diseases/illness are passed via feces, so this is very important for the hatchlings, as they are born with only immunities passed down to them by their parents.  Even inside the egg, an embryo can get ill, as germs can pass through an egg shell.  Since doves (and pigeons) cannot bite you, all you have to do is lift the bird off the nest, shoosh the bird off the nest, move the hatchlings to a box or other where they will be safe for a few minutes, and change the nesting material, the nest bowl, clean the area, etc.  All they can do is slap you with their wing and/or peck you, which doesn't hurt.  They can't bite like a parrot can because they don't have a hooked beak.  The adults will be upset with you for a few minutes, but they'll get over it!  You need to keep the offspring and their area as clean as possible for the best of their health (including food and water and the containers these are kept in).

Chrys