How to Breed a Ring Necked Mourning Dove

Ring-necked mourning doves are gentle, quiet, hardy, easy to tame, active, inexpensive and low maintenance pets. The dove's gentle coo can lend a calming effect to any environment. They come in more than 40 color variations including peach, white, fawn, pied and apricot. Mourning doves make good parents and are easy to breed.

Things You'll Need

  • Pair of 8- to 12-month-old male and female doves
  • 36-by-24-by-30-inch-high cage
  • Four 1/2- to 3/4-inch perches
  • 8-inch basket
  • Paper towels
  • Twigs and hay
  • Food, water and grit dishes
  • Dove mix
  • Crushed eggshell or oyster shell
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Instructions

    • 1

      Line the bottom of a 36-by-24-by-30-inch-high cage with paper towels. Place separate food, water and grit dishes in the cage. Fill food dish with dove mix seed. Add crushed eggshell or oyster shell to grit, and fill the grit dish. Fill water dish.

    • 2

      Use paper towels to line an 8-inch basket for the doves to use as a nesting box. Place the nesting basket on the floor in a corner of the cage. Place twigs and straw or hay in the cage for the birds to use as nesting material.

    • 3

      Place three or four hardwood 1/2- to 3/4-inch diameter perches in the cage. Place the perches at least 8 inches from the sides of the cage, so the birds will not damage their tail feathers by banging them against the bars. Leave at least 15 inches of flying room between perches.

    • 4

      Introduce one pair of doves to the cage. Ring-necked doves are not community breeders and do best in an individual cage. Doves need to be 8 to 12 months of age before they will breed.

    • 5

      Watch for mating behavior. Doves might take a couple months to get used to each other and the cage before breeding. However, the male may demonstrate courting behavior almost immediately. The male will bow rhythmically while cooing to attract the female. The male will often perch on the nesting basket and flap his wings to let the female know he's found a nesting site. At this point the pair will breed.

    • 6

      Look for eggs. Usually within two weeks of the wing flapping behavior, the female will lay her eggs. Ring-necked doves lay two eggs that will take 14 days to hatch. The mother and father will take care of their young that will be ready to leave the nest in three to four weeks.

    • 7

      Prepare for the next breeding cycle. The breeding pair will begin the cycle again every six weeks. Move baby birds to separate cage. The babies will be ready to be on their own in a month.

    • 8

      Remove the nesting materials. After three or four breeding cycles, remove the nesting materials or separate the birds. Ring-necked doves will often breed every six weeks all year long. Having more than three or four clutches a year isn't healthy for the birds.