Loft and Aviary Advice

[Hayleyp1920]

Hi, my grandad kept doves for many many years and loved keeping them. He died very suddenly last February and his wife wanted the doves gone. I decided to keep 7 of them to continue the tradition and remind me of my grandad and rehomed the rest. My partner and I built a large loft with lots of nest boxes/perches and an aviary attached to the loft that they can access as and when they please also with lots of perches. Since last February our flock has grown from 7 to 16 and we have more eggs. I have named and ringed them all and know who the parents are for each of the babies we've had since. My question now is whether they have enough room and how much space they each need? I really am a novice when it comes to keeping doves, it was a spur of the moment decision although I do love having them now. My grandad just had a loft and let his birds fly free around his garden and house during the day (he'd just shut them in at night). I'm thinking we need to start letting them out (or taking eggs away to stop the numbers growing) but I'm worried about losing some to cats, cars on the road etc. Where my grandad lived was very rural so he never really lost any other than to old age. The other option is to build a bigger loft/aviary, we do have some additional space available. But I may be overthinking it and they already have plenty of space. It's about 6 feet wide, by 14 feet deep by 6 feet high (combined loft and aviary). Any advice would be really appreciated

[REDCHEQHEN]

You can buy plastic eggs - to replace the real eggs, the doves will happily sit them for 3 weeks until they fail to hatch, you can do this ad infinitum - taking away the newly laid eggs each time. If your birds have never been let out from their current (new) abode you may have a problem with trying to settle them to where they now live. Do you have any wicker baskets? They need to see the outside of their home without at first being given their freedom