A question about wild Dove nests

[havasu]

We have hundreds of Doves around our house. One nested in our patio cover, and soon there were 3 eggs. Mom and Dad patiently say of the eggs for a week, until a Scrub Blue Jay started pestering them. They have now abandoned the nest and eggs. It has been 4 days without laying on their eggs. Is it safe to assume the eggs are now dead? Is it time to remove the nest and eggs and toss them into the trash?

 

[zoomzoom]

That would be my guess (the eggs are dead).
How much mud do they use when building the nest? I ask because bird nests are nice outdoor fire starters if they don't use a lot of mud.

 

[havasu]

No mud, just straw and twigs.

 

[backlash]

Bird nest can be full of insects like lice. When I remove one I wear disposable glove and put the nest in a plastic bag immediately. Burning it would be a good option but I would not save it to start fires.

 

[Morgan101]

We usually have two or three nests a year. One on the front patio and one or two on the back patio. We enjoy them. Blue Jays can be a PITA. Very aggressive. Chasing other birds away from the feeders.

 

[oldschoolgenz]

We have hundreds of Doves around our house. One nested in our patio cover, and soon there were 3 eggs. Mom and Dad patiently say of the eggs for a week, until a Scrub Blue Jay started pestering them. They have now abandoned the nest and eggs. It has been 4 days without laying on their eggs. Is it safe to assume the eggs are now dead? Is it time to remove the nest and eggs and toss them into the trash?

I'm assuming you are talking about Mourning Doves, and if you are then those suckers are good eating. If you haven't already, I highly encourage you to shoot a few and grill them with bacon wrapped around.

 

[Magus]

Spray it with kerosene an hour before you move it to kill the lice.

 

[havasu]

Yep, I've been dove hunting quite a few times. Tasty, but it's alot of work for a tiny morsel of meat.

 

[sonya123]

I'm assuming you are talking about Mourning Doves, and if you are then those suckers are good eating. If you haven't already, I highly encourage you to shoot a few and grill them with bacon wrapped around.

we did just that with some of them when we moved here and had about 50 or so of them living in our goat barn
we had the neighbors take some of them ( they wanted them) and knocked a few nests down to stop them from producing even more and our dogs ate some but now they are down to 6 and I feel bad
Didn't mean to get rid of all of them
So...now I tell the dogs to stop chasing them in the barn and let them eat some of the goat feed

 

[Magus]

Yep, I've been dove hunting quite a few times. Tasty, but it's alot of work for a tiny morsel of meat.

Skin and gut them, then pressure cook the bodies until the meat falls off the bone and make pie. Blackbird pie was a real thing in the middle ages.

 

[Patchouli]

We had doves nest on our front porch every year. We left the nest alone since they always came back. If there were no longer viable eggs in it the birds or other critters usually take care of that.
What did you end up doing, @havasu ?