Question about mourning dove nest

Deer Park, TX

Please let me know if this is not the correct place to ask the question. Thank you in advance, and I apologize if this is long, but I want to explain the situation. This is the 3rd year in a row that mourning doves have nested on my back porch, in some of my pots of aloe vera. The first go around this year was successful, and the babies eventually flew away. The second time, was not good. Today, for the second since last Tuesday, I've found 1 cracked egg on my back porch. There is no blood; no sign of a struggle. It crossed my mind that the parents may accidentally be knocking the eggs out of the nest when they fly away, and exchange sitting duties. I peaked into the pot of aloe vera (more like a sprig of it) in which they have been nesting this year. The nest was built so high, that it was almost at the top of the pot. Today, when the doves were not there, I pulled out most of the twigs and grass, plus took out some dirt. What is left is a small nest that is a few inches below the top edge of the pot. Even if they return an add a few more pieces of nest material, it will be lower than what had been added to since February. Hopefully, this will allow them to fly away, without knocking out the eggs.
My question is: Does my thought about the parent birds accidentally knocking the eggs out of the nest seem correct? I could be totally wrong. I wish I would have thought to ask on here first. Thanks for any help you may provide.

This message was edited May 8, 2018 5:59 PM

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