FINCHforum

Hello. I have a female diamond dove, and I want to get her a companion. I know she’ll breed like crazy with a male, which I don’t want, so I’m considering another female. Will the two females coo more together than my girl does alone? I’d love to hear her soft cooing more.

Also she doesn’t seem to ever eat her grit. Should I be concerned, or will she get it when she needs it? Or do I need a certain kind of grit for her?

Thanks!

Housing hens together is fine. I have several hens (sometimes 3 at once) that occupy the same nest. If I want to limit my DD production to below 20 birds or so, I simply let them keep nesting but remove the fresh eggs.

The one thing you will miss with no boys around is the fascinating male display while courting the females. Very fun to observe the fan tail presentations.

RE:grit...Mine have oyster shell grit available if they want, but they also eat the egg food I provide - with plenty of ground shells mixed in with a food processor.

Paul

hfinney wrote: Hello. I have a female diamond dove, and I want to get her a companion. I know she’ll breed like crazy with a male, which I don’t want, so I’m considering another female. Will the two females coo more together than my girl does alone? I’d love to hear her soft cooing more.

I don't know if my experience is typical, but I have two females together (intended to get a mating pair). They are so incredibly quiet and inactive that I even recently posted about it. In the past, I've either had 1 male or a breeding pair. The males are definitely more active and vocal. I rarely hear my females coo -- probably just a couple coos per day!