We have worked with doves in our show for over 20 years.  We have had individual doves and we have had pairs.  The pairs, to be honest, may or may not really be 'pairs', as it is very hard to tell the gender of them.  Then, since late December, we have had three birds.  One we know is female, because she lays eggs all the time, and the other two were said to be males.  I'm not entirely sure that they are both males, but at least one must be, because we now have a baby dove about to turn a week old tomorrow.  I named this little fledgling Rastelli after the great vaudeville juggler Enrico Rastelli.

Shortly into the new year, the doves were sitting on three eggs.  After 17 days, a typical incubation period, we found that one had hatched, but had apparently fallen out of the nest.  It was very weak, and died before the day was over.  The other two eggs, we eventually learned, were duds- unfertilized.  So far, we were oh-for-three. 

Within days, they were sitting on three more eggs.  When I say 'they', I mean 'they'!  Both the father and mother dove take turns sitting on the eggs as well as working on the nests.  The nest was actually provided for them by us; dry straw in a wicker basket.  But the doves take straw, one piece at a time, from across the cage.  It's quite an ordeal, actually.  A bird will pick up one blade of grass, study it like a baseball fan studying a box score, and, as often as not, reject it.  Then he tries another and another.  When he finds the perfect blade of grass (how that's determined, I have no idea) he then flies across the cage and gives it to his mate, who accepts it like a teenage girl accepting a bouquet on prom night.  She then lays it down on just the right spot in the nest.  What I was intrigued by was the fact that all three of our birds worked together in these roles.

Then, on Thursday, we found a broken egg shell thrown out of the nest.  Doves are tidy like that.  So I lifted the dove that happened to be in the nest at that moment, and sure enough, there was Rastelli.  At first he didn't look much like a bird, or really any of God's creatures.  He looked more like a blob of bubble gum.  After a couple days, he looked like a baby pterodactyl.  Today he looks like a smaller version of his parents... after having been plucked.  Actually, the feathers are sprouting nicely, but they start as just the shaft at first.  So I guess he looks more like a punk rocker.  Maybe Sid Vicious would have been a better name!

Since his hatching (*and by the way, the other two eggs were duds again), the two doves who were supposedly both male (Paul and Silas) have been bullying Flurry, who I know for a fact is a female.  This is one of the reasons I suspect that Silas might be better named Sylvia. I think she might be the mother who no longer wants Flurry, the other woman, around the nest.  It has gotten so bad that poor Flurry has had to be moved into a different cage.  I hope this is temporary.

That aside, Paul and Silas are wonderful parents.  We love to watch them feed Rastelli.  They fill themselves up on seed, then go to the nest.  They stroke Rastelli's beak, which is a signal for him to stick his beak inside his parent's beak.  The adult then regurgitates the partially digested seeds into Rastelli's mouth.

From what I've read, he is right on schedule in terms of development.  He walks a little; stumbles mostly.  His eyes are now open, and I've heard him peep once or twice. 

This is all very exciting, but we have no intention of becoming professional dove farmers.  It will be nice when Rastelli is less dependent on the adult birds so I can use them in shows again.  But for now, it's been an interesting experience.

Silas keeping Rastelli warm in the nest.