hi sally,Sally wrote: When I had Diamonds, they only had two babies each clutch, but when I enlarged your photo, it looked like a whole egg still in the nest. I would always find nice neat shell halves on the bottom of the cage, so I knew their eggs had hatched.
thank you for your help. this has also been my experience - having two babies in a clutch
this leads me to believe that the other hen may have snuck some eggs into the nest as well, i mean, if there is indeed a 3rd egg! i was hoping that this other dove was a female... as i was unsure since she is fairly young and is from my breeding efforts. i have been keeping a close eye on "her" to see if she would display, and it hasn't happened to date, (at least that i have seen!), so this may confirm that she is in fact a she! unfortunately, this young hen is now without a mate as her mate was the one who developed twirling
i will be on the lookout for a new male for her in the coming months!
they are a bit more recognizable as a bird when they get to be a bit older 
My only guess is that it died early Sunday morning when one of my cats got into my room. She usually doesn't come upstairs at all, but for some reason on Sunday she wandered upstairs around 4:00 in the morning. She somehow managed to open my bedroom door and she set off a panic in my room. My dogs come into my room all of the time and the birds don't mind, but for some reason the cat must have spooked them. I think the baby may have been smothered or crushed by the parents during the panic 
The other two managed to survive, which I am very grateful for. 
