# Should I crack the shell of the baby's egg?



## Rashu712 (May 11, 2011)

I noticed that an egg (feral pigeon) started to hatch today morning about 5 hours back. 
The egg was somehow cracked from the top where the baby's beak showed up. 

The egg still looks the same now, the baby seems to move more and one of the leg seems to stick out. But it hasn't hatched yet and I'm afraid it might die since the egg is partly open and I don;t think the parents can feed it.










Should I gently crack open the egg shell by pulling the shells off into small pieces?

My brother said he may have seen a crow around recently, so I wonder if the egg shell was opened by the crow, since the baby doesn't seem to be coming out of the shell in such a long time.


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## Rashu712 (May 11, 2011)

Father and mother have both been taking turns to sit on the egg even if the baby looks like this.


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## sreeshs (Aug 16, 2009)

I think you can leave it alone for the moment.


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## Libis (Oct 8, 2010)

Sometimes it takes a long time for the baby to come out of the shell. Let it be for now so the parents can keep it warm. (If you break the shell before the bird is ready you can cause the baby to bleed to death since the membrane might not have dried up all of the way yet.)


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## spirit wings (Mar 29, 2008)

why can't folks just leave things alone.. this egg should be under the parent bird.. it looks like you have already chipped away at it.. usually the shell is more cleanly cut by the beak of the hatchling.. you can cause more harm interfering..if the squab is not strong enough to come out..then it probably won't last long out of the shell anyway.. it takes them a long time from pipping to being out.. they rest alot.


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## Libis (Oct 8, 2010)

Thinking a bit further: I really hope that you set it down exactly how it was when you picked it up. If you put it back at a different angle you will have made it considerably more difficult for the baby and may cause it to die of exhaustion. 

How often have you been messing with it anyway? Is there another egg? If so, please leave that one be.


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## boneyrajan.k (Jul 15, 2010)

The egg hatches by the influence of the parents body heat.........so u should not interfere,it will kill the squab.......if u force it


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## Rashu712 (May 11, 2011)

The baby hatched a while ago and looks fine under daddy.
I didn't do anything to it.


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## whytwings (Feb 12, 2011)

I think in most cases leaving things alone is good advice ...I had a situation earlier this year with 3 eggs .......2 had already hatched and after 3 days noticing it wasn't out ...I decided to intervene , because of the size difference in the chicks that had already hatched I had to find a surrogate to rear the chick I helped hatch as it would have been trampled to death and competing for food against 2 chicks that had 3 days on them .

you never did say whether there was just a lone egg or two ??? ....... I always use a calandar from when the first , second eggs are laid ....I also note hatching days too ,
if after 21 days a chick has not already hatched from a breached egg shell ...I would render assistance .

In any case I am glad that it made it's way out and it was a happy ending for your chick and yourself


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## Rashu712 (May 11, 2011)

whytwings said:


> I think in most cases leaving things alone is good advice ...I had a situation earlier this year with 3 eggs .......2 had already hatched and after 3 days noticing it wasn't out ...I decided to intervene , because of the size difference in the chicks that had already hatched I had to find a surrogate to rear the chick I helped hatch as it would have been trampled to death and competing for food against 2 chicks that had 3 days on them .
> 
> you never did say whether there was just a lone egg or two ??? ....... I always use a calandar from when the first , second eggs are laid ....I also note hatching days too ,
> if after 21 days a chick has not already hatched from a breached egg shell ...I would render assistance .
> ...



There were initially 2 eggs but they had problems with crows.

Here's a thread I posted about disappearing eggs previously:

http://www.pigeons.biz/forums/showthread.php?t=52689

So I decided to move the nest to a corner in the same balcony while the mama was present so that she'd see where the plant pot was moved.

My brother still saw a crow around and chased it off, but that was about 5 days ago.

So there was just one egg left after I've seen the broken shell of the other egg on the floor before I moved the nest.


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## whytwings (Feb 12, 2011)

Rashu712 said:


> There were initially 2 eggs but they had problems with crows.
> 
> Here's a thread I posted about disappearing eggs previously:
> 
> ...


Rashu .....thanks for the clarification . 

I am familiar with your other thread . I hope all goes well with the baby ....keep us posted


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