HARMONY!!! HELP!!!!
I can't believe it. My jaconette pigeon laid 2 eggs. She is sitting on them. They are in an outdoor rabbit hutch that has an open area and an enclosed nest box type area where the rabbits that used to live in it would have their babies. I did not think they would do it at this time of year. It is sooooo cold here! Today it is 14 F right now. It is below zero overnight. I didn't even look in there until I noticed she was not coming out very often when I went to refill their food and water dishes in the morning. This morning I looked in there and she was all snuggly in the corner. I let her be, thinking she was just cold. Then, she came out and took a huge swig of water. I was putting the food in for the other pair, and looked over. I saw out of the corner of my eye, something in the nest box. Sure enough, two beautiful eggs. Will they die because of the cold? How long does she sit on the eggs? Should I bring her inside? Oh dear oh dear oh dear! I don't want to have frozen baby pigeons! I don't know how long they have been there. Oh dear oh dear, I'm so nervous!
Oh my gosh, my pigeon laid 2 eggs!
Claire answer a question for me first is she with a male and is he her mate?
Yes, and yes.
So she has a mate have you seen them mateing?
Did the male go to sit on the eggs when she got off of the nest? If they are a mated pair they should switch out setting when one leaves the nest.
Do you want the eggs to hatch?
I have not seen them mating. I see them in the morning when I am out feeding/watering them and the chickens (about 10 minutes every morning) and then I see them again when I get home from work about 6 pm and I re-feed and water everybody and close up the coops for night time. So, I see them maybe 20 minutes out of every 24 hours! They have lots of opportunity to mate when I am not looking.
No, the male did not go sit on the eggs when she got off the nest. She was off the nest for maybe 2 minutes maximum. He stays out in the main area of the hutch and doesn't seem to go in the nesting area, but again, I only seem them for minutes out of each day (weekends I see them a bit more).
I don't mind the eggs hatching if the babies have a chance of making it. I just don't know how long they have been there. Should I candle them? I would hate for them to hatch and then not be able to make it due to the cold temperatures.
I would candle them because if the male didn't switch it may be just her sitting on infertile eggs.
How many males and females do you have?
Thats very unusal for the male not to go to the eggs when she got off.
I have the pair of Jaconettes in one hutch and the pair of other rollers in the other hutch. They don't mix - they each have their own area and nesting box. Then I have the new one inside the house by himself right now. So a total of 5 pigeons, 2 pairs and 1 extra male. I will candle them tonight when it is dark out. But if they are newly laid, maybe they would not show anything yet anyway? If they are not showing, how long should I wait to recandle and check? Like a week maybe? If they are infertile, should I just remove them? This is the first time either of the females laid an egg. We got them in October I think.
How exciting! Fingers crossed. :-)
Ohhhhh! How exciting!!!! Sending out good thoughts for mama bird.
congrats!! yes some pigeons will lay even in winter. if u got 2 eggs the first is a min of 2 days old. all domestic pigeons should hatch 18 days from the day the egg was laid. mine start showing veins at about 3-5 days usually.
that is odd the male didn't sit on the eggs but mine sit females at night males in day. then usually the opposit one sits if they r getting up to eat and drink but not always, however mine r inside and their feed is right there close also. at times both pairs sit on the nest together also.
i'd guess the second was just laid since they r not shareing setting yet. it could be they r not bonded and she is just laying infertile eggs too. u'll have to watch see if u can catch him setting too. if u don't care if they have babies i'd leave the eggs for a week to be sure they r old enough then candle to check fertility. if u don't want her to hatch get dummy eggs. if u pull the eggs they start up again right away to make a new nest. i pulled a dud egg last night and all day today my frill is calling in the nest again for her,lol.
pigeons r pretty hardy from what i've heard and they can raise babies outside in winter but sometimes they do loose them to cold. mine sit tight on them till now my squeaker is like 10 days old just the last couple days they r only with her to feed and she is in pin feathers and down still so around 8-12 days u gotta watch they don't get to cold. around then is when they start to produce own body heat.
if u need any help i'll try to help ya too,
silkie
I put some pigeon feed inside the nest box area. She only came out for the water. When I am right in front of the hutch, they tend to watch me very closely. Maybe he did not want to go set on the egg because I was right there.
Claire if they are new eggs wait a few days before you candle. I candle around the 7th day like a chicken you will see blood veins and a speck of a chick.
I still wonder if you have just a female setting as the male wasn't ready to go on when she got off.
My males love to set and the females will sometimes have to say hey get up it's my turn.
Pigeons are cold hardy but i choose not to breed in the winter as i fear loseing them to the cold.
But i know people who do and i guess have no problems.
If you decide not to let them set just remove the eggs (don't put in a dummy egg)just remove them if they lay again.
If you do decide to hatch them candle at 7 days then theres no need to candle again. Do not disturb the pair when they are nesting it could cause them to step on their eggs.
You will see and egg shell on the bottom of the pen when they hatch no need to worry they can handle the hatching without your assitance.
If a egg doesn't hatch it means it was a weak chick and it's better to let nature take it's course.
They will feed the baby in the first hour it's important not to remove them at this time. The mom and dad produce pigeon milk which contains no seeds and is high in nutrients the babys really need these first feedings.
Both parents feed the baby and take turns sitting on them to keep them warm.
OK, I will candle on Monday I guess - I will try to do it when she is out with the water so she is not disturbed by it. That should be long enough for at least the first egg to show signs.. I will watch to see on the weekend if they take turns setting. Maybe she is just setting like you said. The male behavior seems wrong based on all your experience and I bet you are right about it. I am way too nervous to intervene and handle the baby pigeons if they do hatch. I would feel awful if anything were to happen. I will definitely let nature take its course and then it's not about me, it's all about them. If it's meant to be, it will be. If they hatch and if they seem to be doing fine, I might take a picture when they have some feathering. I will take out the camera tonight if it's not too dark and take a picture of her setting. If she gets up to get water again (because it will be frozen by the time I get home and I will have to give them fresh water) then I will watch him again and see what he does.
I'm glad to to have your experience (and yours Silkiechick!) to tell me what to do in this situation! I was just so stunned when I saw those eggs. I could not believe my eyes.
Claire
Expert he he he i have learned it all as i went and just like you asked folks i knew who had pigeons.
I look at pigeons as being no fuss birds you can take a mated pair put them in a pen together. Give them a nest and some straw and they will do the rest and it is just that easy.
Don't tell but sometimes i don't even candle the eggs and i'm not at home sometimes when they hatch.
They are just a no fuss kind of bird if they have water, seed or feed and some grit they are good to go. If i never even looked at mine just stuck in the feed and water they would still have babys.
So don't worry haveing problems with pigeons is rare and almost unheard of.
My chickens are way more complicated than pigeons and i will let you know doves are just as easy to care for too.
oh, when u do check nest if they r there(usually they r or go to cover it when they see ya) watch they slap with wings,lol they can peck ya too. my males guard more than the girls. always keep palm of hand down and go up under them slow. if u pull the egg out keep it closed in ur hand to protect it. as long as u keep it closed if they do slap u shouln't drop egg or them break it, that way is usually best to protect them.
i'd rather not winter hatch either but mine r inside so i don't care if they do. by the time the squeakers r old enough to breed it will be around summer time. harm is right they r very easy carefree birds and excellent broodies they do know what to do. my prob was mine were first time parents and the babies were to big for the eggs and got stuck. i chose to help the one and he is fine and doing great, getting pin feathers now. the one i didn't help got stuck and internal pipped and died it ran out of air. her eggs r smaller than my older hen's r but as she lays them they seam to be getting a little bigger in size. hopefully as she gets a little older the eggs will be right size. had i known she was younger i'd of kept her seperated till older. if i remember right squeakers need that milk till they r a week old at least. he is with his parents so i just let them do it all.
LOL, if the eggs end up being duds, I'm tempted to put a bantie egg under her! I won't do it of course - that would be mean and she would be sitting for wayyyy too long.
LMBO, to funny!
They would probably do and excellent job hatching it and it's only 3 days longer than they set.
But they wouldn't know what to do with that baby running around LOL
Yes they are such good parents and actually get very upset if you interfere with their business. The male sits in the day here and he is a fearless fighter. When i open the pen to feed them he swells to twice his size and growls at me and i say don't worry i'm not touching your eggs.
By the way the dummy egg thing is good if you want some to raise a different breed. As in you have 2 fan tails that lay eggs you remove those and replace with a dummy egg. Then you can put any breed of pigeon under them my friends who race pigeons trade eggs all the time. I tried raiseing figurita eggs under a shield owl this past summer it didn't work out. The figurita eggs are smaller than other pigeon eggs and the shield owl crushed them.
Oh and there again you can trade babys out too as long as they are in the same age range a pair of pigeon parents will raise any baby. But they will only except them as newborn and a few days old no pair will except older babys.
I transfered a single baby to another pair that had one of the same age and they raised them both.
I also swapped out different sized babys i had 2 hatches and they were the staggered and hatched on the same day.
I took and gave the 2 small to a pair and then gave the 2 bigger to the other pair and this way the babys in the nest were the same size. Remember this one it helps to keep from haveing a big baby and a little baby in the same nest.
Oh i better stop i could talk pigeon all night ^_^
Oh wow, those are all good ideas Harmony! I am so surprised at how the parents will easily take on another baby. How fascinating - I thought they would reject it.
Tonight when I got home, the male was sitting in the nesting box really close to the female, and she was on the eggs. Usually he is not in there. He likes to sit on the top of the metal waterer that I had in there. The metal waterer froze and I use a plastic cup now that I can easily pop out the ice block each morning for new water, but I left the metal waterer since they like to sit on top of it. Well, now he is in the nest box with her. I don't know what that means. I leave it to the experts!
Then that means they are setting if he is with her congratulations Claire!!
Candle in a week to be sure they are fertile and if they are just wait your 18 days and you will have uggie babys!
Maybe he is just staying warmer in there but I hope they are setting. It would be fun to see baby pigeons because I only ever saw the ones in your pictures Harmony! I will definitely candle in a week to be sure. Even if these are dud eggs, maybe they will do it again in the spring or something.
It's pretty exciting to me!
Mommy again?! Congrats!! Hope all goes well!
Congrats Claire! That is so cool! Yippy!!!!
By what you say Claire it sounds like their setting ^_^
if he was not mated to her he shouldn't be in the nest box so i agree i think they r brooding also. sending good fertility vibes ur way and crossing fingers u'll have queakers soon too!! so excited for u!!!!!
How exciting! Congrats Claire! I love this thread so much great information. :-)
So, he goes in the nest box at night, but he comes out in the daytime. Again, when I did water/feed top ups, they both came out for water. Nobody was on the eggs for about 2 minutes. It's a hard case to crack! I think maybe they are dud eggs. We shall see when I candle them in a few days....
Claire if your water is freezing over they could be very thirsty and thats why they both come out.
I've never seen both of mine off the nest but then again i don't watch them 24/7 so.....
I would wait and candle if their duds i would just from now on remove the eggs when she lays and wait till spring for some uggies.
I have 2 new uggies mine hatched sunday morning.
Yeah! babies!!!! Congrats Harmony!
Congrats!
Congrats on your new babies Harmony! I have now seen the male sitting on the eggs for quite some time, so that seems to be a sign that they are mated. I will have to candle tonight if I can. The snow is terrible here today - we are in blizzard conditions. Yes, I give them water every morning and it probably freezes within an hour and then they don't get any until I get home. I don't have any way to keep their water from freezing because the heated waterers are all too large. They get water around 8 am, around 5 pm and around 10 pm.
Thats a long time for them to not have water it may be that they are thirsty when you get home.
Could you put a light where they are to keep the water thawed.
I could try that but I'm not sure how well it would work. Right now we have 3 heated water buckets for our goats/sheep/llamas and one for the chickens. At this time of year, and with our weather, even those are not staying thawed overnight, and sometimes not even in the daytime. It is a constant struggle. It is due to be -9 F several nights this week. The heated waterers just can't keep up. We are planning a new system for watering next year. Sigh.
Sorry to hear it's so cold there:( I know you worry like me about the cold i was down at my shed in the dark putting a light on my new rabbits. My Dh came down and said what are you doing i said i won't sleep thinking they are cold.
I put some extra straw in my pigeons nest for the uggies i just worry about them being cold
(now you know why i don't breed in the winter)
HOLY COW!!!!! FERTILE!!!!!
I just went out into the raging blizzard and 40 mph wind gusts and crazy insane weather to check on my pigeon eggs. I took out the little candling flashlight I use for my chicken eggs. I tried to be really quiet and then just carefully pulled out one egg from the nest. I barely had to touch the light to the egg and I saw the strongest, most intense veining I have ever seen in an egg. WAY more veining than chicken eggs. I nearly dropped it in surprise. I only took out the one egg - there are two. I figure the other one might be the same. I didn't want to disturb them more than necessary. Knowing that one egg was fertile was enough for me to leave them alone. I feel so bad for them out there in the crazy wind and snow, trying to keep eggs warm. Poor babies. But I'm too scared to move her inside because she may go off the eggs. I have to give it the best shot by leaving them be. I will put more straw into the nesting box tomorrow.
OMG, I can't believe it!!!! (CPO Moxon has a freaking out moment)
Oh that is great!!!! I am so happy for you. Doing a happy dance!
I am sorry you are having such awful weather. We have really cold but not so much wind. That makes all the difference. Brrrr!
FREAKING OUT FOR YOU!!!! Uggie babys on the way yippy!!!!!!
It makes me all jittery...I have to calm down....I never had pigeon babies before.....oh dear me.....it's soooo cold! OK, breathe deeply Claire, keeeeep breathing....
Harmony, I am so glad you are there in case I need help. Oh, by the way, your wonderful recipe arrived and I can't wait to try it. You are such a dear for sending it my way. Thank you!!!
OK, back to jittery....I know, it's a long time to wait, I don't even know what day they were laid. I first posted Jan 8. That means maximum Jan 26, right? Probably sooner....
Getting brown paper bag...for safety precaution.
Its a big moment. How long is their incubation period?
Still doing happy dance. wiggle wiggle
18 days I think...