General Breeding
When a pair of doves are placed together it will take anywhere from a month to a number of years for them to breed. Domestic varieties (ringneck, diamond) usually take less time to establish a pair bond and breed. Some exotic varieties may never breed in your aviary. This is where the challenge of keeping doves comes in. To begin the process you should provide your birds with nesting sites to choose from and plenty of cover for security and privacy. You may want to plant trees and place other plants in ou aviary for cover and nesting. Doves generally lay two eggs which hatch after 12 to 18 days. The young then leave the nest three to four weeks later. It is not uncommon to see some pairs (especially domestic varieties) lay all year beginning on a new clutch every six weeks. This is not recommended because it is unhealthy for the birds. After three or four clutches the breeding for that year should stop by either removing nesting materials or separating the birds.

Nests
Doves are not known for their nest building expertise. Dove nests are generaly flimsy structures with just a few twigs seemingly thrown together. It is important that you help them by placing "nesting boxes" in the flight for them to buld nests in. Nesting boxes can be elaborate or simple. They can be constructed of wood or could simply be an old tupperware dish. You decide. Most doves prefer open nests, not covered. It is wise to put more nests in a flight than you have pairs because they like to choose their own nesting site. You may want to put them at various heights as well.

Record Keeping
When breeding birds it is very important that proper records are kept. Things that should be documented for each bird include: hatch date, parent information, color, genetic makeup and any other information you might find interesting. The way that your birds are identified for record keeping purposes is with a leg band. Leg bands are available from a variety of suppliers but we suggest that you join the American Dove Association and use the bands that you can purchase through them. CLICK HERE for a short photo-essay demonstrating how to apply legbands.

Ringneck Doves
CLICK HERE to read some notes about breeding Ringneck Doves.