# Phantom Eggs



## Pigeonpal2002 (Jul 27, 2002)

Hi Everyone, 

Last Sunday my old Hen, Henny started to hang out in her nesting box. She slept in there over night so I assumed she was getting ready to lay. Well the next day, there were no eggs and it's been nearly a week and there are still no eggs. She is acting perfectly normal, coming off to eat and drink at various times throughout the day but she sits in the nest box pretty much 24/7. She's defensive and aggressive if I get near, she's even holding in her poop like a sitting bird on eggs. Has she gone senile from never having babies to rear and many unfertile "wooden eggs"? This is VERY odd, although she did this one other time about a year ago. She sat on this nest of imaginary eggs for about a month then. Does anyone have any similar experiences with their birds or heard of a similar occurance? Perhaps I should call Ripley's because this is just TOO weird. 

Thanks for any info on this,


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## elvis_911 (Apr 26, 2004)

Wow, that is truley weird!

No comments on that

elvis


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## upcd (Mar 12, 2005)

*Simaliar*

I have a racing homer named sky. She has raised young before. She a 1996 banded bird. She was given away and returned without her mate. She thought I would make a nice mate and she started to nest without eggs. Got her a mate she's not liking him yet. But with time things will happen.


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## Pigeonpal2002 (Jul 27, 2002)

LOL, Strange isn't it Elvis? 

Upcd, that is a good suggestion and I might be inclined to think that this was the case, but Henny has a mate and is very attached to him. So it's not as if she's lonely and thinking that I am her mate  

Thanks Guys,


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## re lee (Jan 4, 2003)

When hens go baron They still try to sit. If she is baron. It would be best to break her up Or let her foster eggs. from other birds. I will retire a baron hen and let her live out her time. Or give it away for a pet to someone that wants it.


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## ZigZagMarquis (Aug 31, 2004)

re lee said:


> When hens go baron They still try to sit. If she is baron. It would be best to break her up Or let her foster eggs. from other birds. I will retire a baron hen and let her live out her time. Or give it away for a pet to someone that wants it.


ReLee, At what age do hens typically go baron?? I have a 96 hen that was given to me, LadyBird, that has raised 2 rounds of beautiful squabs for me... she's such a great mom too. I hope to raise more from her in the future... next year?... but how much longer can I expect her to be fertile??


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## Pigeonpal2002 (Jul 27, 2002)

Hi Robert, 

Thanks for the reply! However, Henny is not barren, she still lays eggs. Also, I only have 4 pigeons, one old pair of runts and their two hand reared offspring so breaking up a pair and retiring her isn't an option. Just wanted to make you familiar with my setup here


Thanks though,


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## PigeonSitter10 (Feb 18, 2005)

maybe shes gone mentally coo coo.maybe she did not mate but cant stand the fact that she has no eggs and decides to make imaginary.are you sure they mated?


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## Reti (Jul 20, 2003)

Nine days ago, my hen Whitney had her uterus removed. For the past couple of days she is sitting in the nest her mate made for her as if she is going to lay eggs.
I think it is the hormones that guide their instincts in that matter.

Reti


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## pigeonmama (Jan 9, 2005)

Reti,
Why did she have to have the surgery. Was she having laying problems, prolapsing, or what?
Daryl
Poor little hen pigeon.


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## re lee (Jan 4, 2003)

How old of a hen is she


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## Reti (Jul 20, 2003)

Hi pigeonmama and re lee.

She is at least three years old, that's how long she has been hanging around and she was an adult when I "met" her. Now she is living indoors only.
Anyways, a couple of months ago she started laying eggs without shells. After a month of calcium and sun treatment it happened again. Seems like she had a problem with her shell-forming gland which lies in the uterus. So, it was best to remove it.
During surgery they also found she has had egg peritonitis, sometimes within the past months.
She is doing great now.

My vet explained they do it routinely in parrots. This was the first pigeon hysterectomy. Since the ovaries cannot be removed it seems like when removing the uterus the whole egg forming process stops due to some negative feedback from the lack of uterus. But some hormones are still formed from the ovaries, so that is why the mating behavior stays normal.

Reti


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## TaylorGS (Feb 27, 2005)

Brad,
I know this is a goofy quetion but do you have any other birds with you hen? If not try to get some other birds with her and maybe he will hook up with one.
Taylor


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## TaylorGS (Feb 27, 2005)

I also have this old hen. She keeps laying eggs but they don't hatch. Do you think it is because of her age?
Taylor


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## Birdmom4ever (Jan 14, 2003)

I had a '98 homer hen I bought in 2001 who raised about 8 youngsters for us. She suddenly stopped laying at the age of five, which as I understand it is not very old. She continued to act like she was nesting, but she didn't go through the motions of sitting on eggs as your Henny did. We gave her some fertile roller eggs and she and her mate successfully raised one chick. I didn't take Portia to the vet because she seemed otherwise healthy. She never laid again. 

Late last year Portia's health declined. She began to lose weight with no other symptoms. A round of Baytril perked her up somewhat, but didn't cure her. I suspect it knocked down any opportunistic infections that were bothering her but didn't affect the underlying problem. I finally had to separate her from the flock because she was weak and could no longer fly. She spent her last days in a carrier in the house. Her appetite was good to the end, her droppings normal, but she kept losing weight. Finally I could feel a mass in her abdomen and she hung her tail, a sign she was in pain. I'd meant to keep her comfortable and let her pass, but it was obvious she wasn't comfortable, though she continued to eat. Pigeons are such fighters. I took her to my vet and he suspected, as I did, that she had cancer. We discussed her options and decided to put her to sleep since she was obviously suffering.  I don't know if the cancer caused her early infertility, but I wonder.

I've had people tell me hens will go barren if you keep taking their eggs and replacing them with wooden ones, but I haven't found that to be the case with mine. I've been taking eggs away for five years now and Portia is the only one of my hens who went barren. I have heard that fertility in hens goes down after age 7, but I don't know how accurate that is. I guess time will tell.


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## Pigeonpal2002 (Jul 27, 2002)

Thanks Cathy, 


Your poor Portia I suspect this isn't the case with Henny though. She's approximately 5 now and still fertile. Runts are different in many ways from other pigeons. They are slow breeders by nature, Henny only lays about 3-4 sets of eggs/year normally. I've never heard of a hen going barren with egg replacement , like you. I'm inclined to think Reti might have pegged it somewhat. Perhaps it's governed more by hormones than the actual act of laying. And given the fact that Henny will and can go months without laying, perhaps she is a victim of her hormones. I can't see any other reason for her behaviour than this. Runts mate the same amount of times as any other pigeon, just that they aren't successful all the time. Actually this isn't TOTALLY true with my old pair. Henny seems to go through periods where she just wants to be left alone. I appreciate everyone's input on this most unusual situation. My birds are weird and very atypical of most it would seem.

Thanks everyone for your time and advice


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## re lee (Jan 4, 2003)

Some hens are even boren baron Never to lay at all. They basicly say a bird has just so many eggs it will ever be able to lay then its done no more eggs. This may not be the case here. But all hens will sooner or later go baron.


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