Effect:

"After the magician has produced a number of doves the audience is led to believe that another dove is on the way - BUT - they are in for quite a SURPRISE!!!! The magician reaches into the folds of the silk and produces an egg—BUT WAIT—not an ordinary egg—but a GIANT EGG. 6" high and 3½" diameter. The egg is broken open to reveal a LIVE DOVE!"

Has anybody used this as I am concerned about the capability to hold a full size dove?

James Adamson
http://www.seam2006.com

Hi James....I have one of these...I had the same concern as you did, but ordered it anyway just to see if the size was big enough. I asked ALOT of questions about it concerning air holes, and the actual capabilities of the Dove safety inside the egg. My analysis is this:

The egg will work as long as you have a small dove. Most average size doves WILL NOT fit into this apparatus. There are only two air holes in the egg and they are located where the loop is tied in. I have a SMALL dove in my group, and she fits in the egg, BUT you have to be careful when putting the egg back together because it can crunch the dove. Also, opening the apparatus is a little difficult because it doesn't look natural when prying it open. The loop on the egg will definetly have to be changed because they put like a 20lb testline on it, and is too thick. Overall, if you are going to use it for a dove production, DON'T!!! It makes for a great comedy piece with possibly a fake dove loaded, but as for a real dove, think twice. If you have a small dove, then yes, you can get by with it without harm to the bird, but if not, its not a good piece to use. The egg is also made of metal/aluminum. However, these eggs come in larger sizes which will probably accomodate most birds, but again, there are NO AIR HOLES except for the loop holes. If you fill the egg with candy, or other silks, then that would be great, but doves - just be extremely careful.

Hope that helps.....

I really thought it was too small. Was looking at it in a comedy usage, may still consider with a Latex dove. From your post it seems that the egg is hard to open?

James Adamson
http://www.seam2006.com

Yeah, the egg sort of sticks, and to open it is kind of 'odd'. Maybe it is just the one I received, but its not an 'easy' task. A little twist will do it, but still not natural....Although, an egg that size isn't natural either, unless its an ostrich! *haha* Also, when opening the egg, the dove is in a strange position, and to free the dove is a little difficult because its head is inside one of the halfs of the egg. (This is another point - you can open the halves up with the dove head upwards, but that would expose the loop in the holes, if you did it the other way, then the dove would be upside down until released,and that is not good for the dove) Doves don't usually back out of something too gracefully. If you have a fly back dove, however, then it would work fairly nice because you could 'crack' open the egg and just release the dove totally. That is just my take on it. Others may have something different to say.