Emerald Dove Husbandry Manual - Nswfmpa.org

Jennifer Brown ● Emerald Dove Chalcophaps indica ● Husbandry manual
10.3 Reproductive Condition:
It is important that the specimens that you intend to breed are in good condition, and
contain the genetic material that you wish to pass on to the next generation.
10.3.1 Females:
Females n eed t o b e i n good condition
physically. This can be established during the
animals’ year ly p hysical ex amination. C lose
examinations sh ould be c onducted week ly as
the breeding season approaches, to ensure the
birds condition remains healthy. The animals
diet sh ould al so b e su pplement w ith ex tra
calcium t o h elp t he b ird p repare f or t he st rain
that eg g production wi ll p lace o n its own
calcium deposits (pers com Cam, 2010).
10.3.2 Males:
Unlike f emales, m ales d o n ot g o u nder a Fig 10.2: Emerald dove nesting (ZooChat, 2008)
strenuous l abor su ch as p roducing eg gs. Males
merely need to have a g ood physical condition
which c an b e est ablished d uring t he b irds an nual p hysical ex amination (pers com
Cam, 2010).
10.4 Techniques used to Control Breeding:
It is very e asily t o c ontrol b reeding w ithout g oing to extreme m easures. The si mplest
method to ensure 100% control is to separate the sexes in the aviary, although this is not
always p ossible. Any adult m ales wo uld h ave to b e h oused i n sep arate av iaries to
prevent possible fights over territory. The more common method to control breeding is
to not provide any breeding triggers or media to build a nest (pers com Cam, 2010). This
allows the birds to remain in the environment they know and takes away any stress they
would suffer from moving them to a n ew aviary. Though it should be noted that even
with no triggers or media these birds still may
breed, as some nest are only constructed from
eight sti cks (Higgens et al. 1996) w hich co uld
easily be found in any aviary.
10.5 Occurrence of Hybrids:
There are no r ecords t o indicate wh ether t he
Emerald D ove is able t o create a hybrid with
another species, but as there is little
documentation o r s tudies c onducted i n t he
breeding o f t his sp ecies t hat m eans v ery l ittle.
Though t hese b irds h ave b een h oused wi th
similar species for years in free flight aviaries with
Fig 10.3: Unknown Subspecies (janson, 2009)
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