Morning Dove nest on my garage opener!! What to do? (1 Viewer)

[tomcatguy74]

Hello,

I'm new here!
I am a little concerned about a new family in my garage that has formed about 2 days ago.
About 2 days ago I discovered why doves kept flying into my garage when I was working out there. They would fly in and land on a bike or a container and sit there and watch me untill I moved and they flew out.
Well low and behold I find my first nest and it is located on top of the electric opener for my garage door. I got up on a ladder and looked in it and there was nothing in it. Well yesterday I chased what must have been the mother out and had a real hard time doing it because she kept flying into the lights and walls in my garage and not out the 10x20' wide open door. I finally got her out after I tried to grab her while she was behind one of my shelves and she found the exit and flew out.
I chased her out because I did not want her to suffer being trapped in there all night.
Well well well, today when I got home I figured she would probably not be back when my wife opens the door to leave and be sitting back in the nest. She wasn't so I decided to get up on my ladder and take the nest down. Guess what? Now there was a little white egg in the nest this time. Well, I love animals so I felt like crap for chasing her out now. It was no wonder why she had a hard time leaving the garage when I chased her out.
Well I got very afraid that she would not come back and decided to work in the garage for awhile and see if she shows up. Well about 45 mins later I looked out side and saw 2 doves sitting on a power wire so I cleaned up and went inside for awhile but left the door open just incase that was her. Well about 2 hours later I looked out into the garage and there she was sitting on the egg with her mate right next to her. I felt relief. Now its 930pm and I had to close the door about an hour ago and she tried to get out again but started smacking into the walls and lights again so I just shut the door and let her stay in there for the night.
Now for the questions.

What should I do about food since she has limited access to the outside because we really only open the door to get in or out?

Is it ok for her to stay in the garage all night by herself?

I never had this happen but i think its really neat but i don't her to suffer or abandon the egg or nest.

In general, what do I do?


Robert

 

[phil baber]

Welcome to BF Robert.

Obviously you can't leave your garage open all night! But birds cannot feed dusk to dawn.

If you care as much as you do, and are so skilled with practical things?

Knock a "Dove Hole" in the wall, or fashion something similar. So they can get in and out, but no human can do the same?

You know the layout. Get that mind ticking.

I'm sure you have the answer.

At this early stage, also, the egg would not be viable life, until incubated.

The alternative therefore is to harden your heart, and demolish everything, and stop further access. In the sure knowledge you will not KILL anything.

They will then build/lay again.

They sound like inexperienced birds.

So, maybe your doing this would help them learn how to be proper parents...

I hope this helps?

 

[Azzy]

That is a tough one and I think Phil basically laid it out for you, short of either knocking a hole or the wall for the doves or opening a window (if there is one) the only thing you can do is unfortunately remove the nest and prevent the pair from rebuilding.

The prescence of the doves in there, while not a bad thing, may stress them out a lot anyway if they're always spooked when you're in there, and it may be better for their welfare (and the cleanliness of your garage ) if you removed the nest as soon as possible. I'm not sure if it would work, but perhaps if you remove the nest, try moving it to another stable location (if possible) with the parents watching. I'm unsure it would work at all, but it's worth a shot.

 

[stonechat1]

[...]
At this early stage, also, the egg would not be viable life, until incubated.
[...]

I don´t agree on this Phil.
If there would be no life inside how the chick in the egg would grow during incubation? Surely the embryo is in this stage not in the same condition like after incubation of e.g. 10 days.
But, there is life inside.

And doves and pigeons often take nesting places where they think those are safe. A garage fits perfectly as they are sheltered from soaring/hunting raptors.