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Dove Care for Molly, Erin, and I:

The largest number of species are found in tropical forests and woodlands. Seeds and fruit form the major component of the diet of pigeons and doves. In fact, the family can be divided into the seed eating or granivorous species (subfamily Columbinae) and the fruit eating or frugivorous species (the other four subfamilies). The granivorous typically feed on seed found on the ground, whereas the species that feed on fruit and mast tend to feed in trees. There are morphological adaptations that can be used to distinguish between the two groups, granivorous species tend to have thick walls in the gizzards, whereas the frugivores tend to have thin walls. In addition fruit eating species have short intestines whereas those that eat seeds have longer ones. Frugivores are capable of clinging to branches and even hang upside down in order to reach fruit.

In addition to fruit and seeds a number of other food items are taken by many species. Some species, particularly the ground-doves and quail-doves take a large number of prey items such as insects and worms. One species, the Atoll Fruit-dove is specialised in taking insect and reptile prey. Snails, moths and other insects are taken by White-crowned Doves, Orange Doves and Ruddy Ground-doves.I. Incubating eggs.

The dove egg is quite fragile, even more than the pigeon egg. Handling the egg is chancy, but for research purposes and candling, it can be done safely by taking great care. The dove egg can even be written on (very carefully) with soft (#1 ) pencil or with india ink, "nowadays" with a "sharpie" or a similar pen . A ball point pen breaks through the shell and regular ink runs and smears. Such writing may be desirable for identification when fostering eggs, or with artificial incubation in research.

When reaching into the nest keep in mind the "wing boxing" blow many doves will give your hand. The first single blow may be so sudden and unexpected that your finger tip crushes the egg. Or the movement of the parents body in giving the blow may crush or crack the egg against a hard stick end or piece of dried feces. If the parent persists beyond one blow with multiple wing hits, the chances of breaking the egg increase rapidly. The parent may also peck your hand. This is less startling than the wing blow and will not hurt you either. 

One may minimize the danger by (1) having the dove so tame and moving the hand slowly in toward the nest so that the brooding parent does not feel obliged to wing box: (2) waiting for the parent to leave the nest voluntarily (pretty rare during one's available time) or (3) moving the hand in so rapidly and raising the body of the nesting parent up about an inch so quickly that the eggs are not hurt, whether wing blows are made or not. The parent can be removed from the nest for greater safety (difficult if the toes clutch the nest sticks), or the eggs can be removed carefully so the wing blows do not knock the eggs against each other or against the nest edge. For example, one egg can be held between the thumb and forefinger well cradled deep in the hand, and the second egg simultaneously held by the last two fingers. The middle finger, thus, separates the two eggs. Then the hand can be withdrawn taking the wing blows safely on the back of the hand. The eggs mays be returned the same way.

With the eggs out of the nest they may be candled against a strong light or at the edge or corner of the building against the sunlight, if incubation has been going on for three days or more. Blood vessels and a dark reddish embryo (blob) in the center will show up, if the eggs are fertile. At 48 hours of incubation the blood vessels area is about 1/4" to 3/8" in diameter. The egg may need to be turned if the embryo is on the wrong side, or if it floats to the top and you are viewing the bottom. At three days incubation the blood ring is about ½ to 5/8" in diameter. At four days incubation the blood ring is ¾ "or more in diameter and spread over half the egg's inside surface. At five days the reddish lines are getting darker and nearly cover the egg's inside surface. By day six as the embryo and blood vessels are quite dark and from day six on the inside darkness changes little except to get darker.

A dead embryo up to about day six of development shows an indistinct dark spot with no blood vessels, or with a spotty-dashed terminal ring, if the embryo is not yet dead. A later dead embryo may show a discolored section (yellow-purple) at the shell's surface.

A dead embryo results from a cracked egg, followed by infection or from egg chilling, more than from other causes. Poor nutrition and genetic lethals are other sources of dead embryos. Cracked eggs will sometimes hatch, if the crack occurs late during incubation. Also if the cracked egg is relatively fresh and the crack small, "new skin" may be applied to the crack, allowed to dry and bacterial entrance and moisture loss may be prevented. Also tape, gummed label paper or the like may be worth trying.

An infertile egg, of course, shows no blood vessels nor darkness unless bacterial growth from a crack causes a shadow. A fresh or infertile egg shows a yellowish yolk shadow, and the air space will be at one end. The older the infertile egg is the larger the air space grows. Older infertile or early dead embryo eggs may shake and gurgle easily, and the air space may move around in contrast to the stability of a fresh good egg. a cracked egg untreated will dry out in a few days, so that the remaining yolk will dry to one side,and the egg will roll erratically in speed and direction on a flat surface as if were off center.

Dove eggs are particularily susceptible to wetting. Long ago I thought one could clean eggs by dipping them in water to loosen the dirt, then gently rubbing them clean. But one dip in the water, even if the egg is clean, and the egg is no longer hatchable! A water resistant (hydrophobic) egg cuticle present in all other orders of birds tested is missing in the families of doves and pigeons.

Dirty dove eggs usually will not hatch. Feces from older squabs may cover part of the shell surface. If the patch covered is as much as ½ inch in diameter, the embryo often dies. I suspect that either toxic products from the feces penetrate the egg, or that too much surface is occluded for the embryo to get enought air to "breath" properly. Removal of the dirty patch is difficult, if it has dried. A portion of the shell is as liable to come with the dirt as not. I have learned to just leave the egg dirty and hope for the best. I have since learned that the whole group of doves/pigeons lack an inner membrane that all other birds eggs have. This membrane prevents bacteria from entering wet eggs. So, all dove eggs must be kept dry!

Dove eggs will hatch in an incubator, but unless you have foster parents available, it is quite difficult to raise such altricial birds by hand. You may artificially incubate eggs for research also. If you do, the temperature should be lower than body temperature of the parents (see the APJ July 1974 issue). Try 99-102 o F. The turning of the dove or pigeon egg during incubaton is not nearly so important as it is for chickens, turkeys, ducks, etc. Nevertheless, it is well to turn them daily at your convenience. Air moisture is important for dove eggs, so have plenty of flat water pans or the equivalent in the incubator.

The percent of ringneck eggs that are fertile is at least 75% in my colony based on 50 matings. (I'm still working on additional data.) Infertile or very early dead embryos constitute about 10% of all eggs. Dead embryos are perhaps 15% of the total eggs laid. More eggs may be fertile or infertile, but since I only take records twice a week, some eggs turn up missing before diagnosis of fertility. About 1/3 of my doves'eggs are cold, cracked, broken, turn up missing, or die in hatching. Probably you can do better than this at home.

Cuckoo Stuff for Molly:

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Fact sheets

Back to Explore Back to Fact Sheets Fan-tailed Cuckoo Fan-tailed Cuckoo Fan-tailed Cuckoo feather (tail) © Australian Museum

Cacomantis flabelliformis Description

The Fan-tailed Cuckoo is a slender cuckoo, 24cm - 28cm in length. Its mournful, descending trill often draws attention to its presence. The adult bird is easily identified by its generally dark slate-grey back and wings, becoming pale rufous below, with a boldly barred black and white under tail. Younger birds are duller and browner in colour.

The striking yellow eye ring (slightly greenish in young birds) is clearly visible from quite a distance and helps distinguish the Fan-tailed Cuckoo from the paler and smaller Brush Cuckoo, C. variolosus (20cm - 24cm), which has a grey eye-ring. The Chestnut-breasted Cuckoo, C. castaneiventris (20cm - 24cm), of northern Cape York Peninsula, has dark chestnut underparts and less conspicuous barring on the under tail. Distribution and Habitat

Fan-tailed Cuckoos are found throughout eastern Australia, south-western Western Australia and Tasmania. Birds in Tasmania migrate to the mainland in the non-breeding season. They are among the more commonly observed members of the cuckoo family, especially in the favoured habitat of open forests, woodlands and similarly vegetated gardens. Individuals are often seen perched on an exposed branch when calling.

Fan-tailed Cuckoos also occur in New Caledonia, New Guinea, Fiji, New Zealand and several islands in between. Food and Feeding

The Fan-tailed Cuckoo enjoys hairy caterpillars in its diet, but will also take a variety of other insects and their larvae. Food is located from an exposed perch and is seized in flight or from the ground. The bird returns to its perch to eat the prey.

Fan-tailed Cuckoo egg Fan-tailed Cuckoo egg © Australian Museum Breeding

The breeding season of the Fan-tailed Cuckoo is between August and December in the east, and June to October in the south-west. As with most other species of Australian cuckoos, it is a brood parasite; laying its eggs in the nests of other species of birds. Host species of the Fan-tailed Cuckoo include flycatchers, fairy-wrens, scrubwrens and thornbills, particularly the Brown Thornbill, Acanthiza pusilla. A single egg is laid in the nest and one of the host's eggs removed. The young cuckoo generally hatches earlier than the host's eggs (12 to 13 days) and proceeds to eject the other eggs or hatchlings. The seemingly unaware foster parents then rear the cuckoo chick. References

   * Pizzey, G. & Knight, F. 1997. Field Guide to the Birds of Australia. Angus and Robertson, Sydney.
   * Schodde, R. & Tidemann, S.C. (eds) 1986. Reader's Digest Complete Book of Australian Birds (2nd Edition). Reader's Digest (Australia) Pty Ltd, Sydney.
   * Strahan, R. (ed) 1994. Cuckoos, Nightbirds and Kingfishers of Australia. Angus and Robertson and the Australian Photographic Index of Australian Wildlife, Sydney.

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