# how long does it take for a baby to break out of its shell?



## maranda (Nov 18, 2007)

It's been 24 hours since I noticed a The first crack in the egg. now it's around the size of a dime. How long does it normally take for the baby to break out of it's shell?


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## Matt D. (May 12, 2007)

It can take well over a day... but not usually... if he isnt out of there in 5 hours you cant take him out... keep us posted


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## maranda (Nov 18, 2007)

It's dark now so I'll have to wait until in the morning to check the progress. Hopefully the little guy will break out himself.If he hasn't I'll help him, I have helped baby chicks before so I assume you would do it the same way with pigeons.


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## Maggie-NC (Jun 22, 2005)

Maranda, I have never had to help a baby out of the shell but I understand there can be some danger in doing this.

Hopefully, you'll get a response from others who do know more about it.


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## Maggie-NC (Jun 22, 2005)

Maranda, I found this thread that should help. Most of the info about helping the baby out of the egg starts, I believe on the 2nd page.

http://www.pigeons.biz/forums/showthread.php?t=22718


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## maranda (Nov 18, 2007)

Lady Tarheel said:


> Maranda, I found this thread that should help. Most of the info about helping the baby out of the egg starts, I believe on the 2nd page.
> 
> http://www.pigeons.biz/forums/showthread.php?t=22718


Thanks for posting that.Although now I am even more worried about the baby.From reading through the posts It seems that the baby might be stuck.There is only 1 small hole in the egg, I seen some feathers and his little beak.Hopefully it will be ok till morning,which will be at least 36 hours since I seen the first crack.


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## vegeta2802 (Sep 24, 2006)

maranda said:


> Thanks for posting that.Although now I am even more worried about the baby.From reading through the posts It seems that the baby might be stuck.There is only 1 small hole in the egg, I seen some feathers and his little beak.Hopefully it will be ok till morning,which will be at least 36 hours since I seen the first crack.


I have not read the other thread so not sure what it says but...
The first baby pigeon i had needed help and i can tell you how i helped her out of her egg. 
What I did was get a cotton ball wet wait with worm water and got the hollow shell wet. But watch the mouth you don’t wont then to droned in there shell. Then I started pulling pieces of shell off the side fairest away from the baby. After getting the hollow part the baby was not touching off I put the egg back in the cage hopping that the worm water and making the shell almost of would help. I left the baby for about a hour but it still did not get out of the shell so I got it wet with worm water again and then started to take off more of the shell making sure not to touch the baby cuz its skin was so soft. After that I ended up slowly started pulling her out but not to far. Hope that helps a bit. Just to not put him/her out to fast cuz it can heart them if there still attached to the shell. Then they might start bleeding. I was told If it dose bleed to stick a dry piece of cotton on it but... Please try not to let it bleed tho. Again hope this also helps a little.

P.S. I am not a expert on any of this but its what I did so... And my baby turned out just find nice big, healthy and has even have a baby of her own. So be what i see with mine it dose not effected them to much in life (helping them out of there shell that is).


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## maranda (Nov 18, 2007)

*Sad news*

I made the wrong decision,I shouldn't have waited.I went to check the baby at daybreak and he was dead.I don't think the parents had kept it warm, the egg was cold.If I had broken away just a small piece of egg he would have been free.I regret the decision to wait,but I was afraid to interfear.


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## Matt D. (May 12, 2007)

well you had to make a choice... this time you made the wrong one... though the other choice could have ended the same way.


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## Matt D. (May 12, 2007)

This is sometimes a way nature will say, "Hey even if you catch your not going to make it!" so it really is a way of letting a bird die before all of the pain it will go through if it hatches... Hope you dont feel bad about the death... it wasnt your fault.


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## maranda (Nov 18, 2007)

Matt D. said:


> This is sometimes a way nature will say, "Hey even if you catch your not going to make it!" so it really is a way of letting a bird die before all of the pain it will go through if it hatches... Hope you dont feel bad about the death... it wasnt your fault.


Thank you for your kind post.Next time I hopefully will make better decisions!


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## Skyeking (Jan 17, 2003)

I'm so sorry to hear the hatchling died, but he may have died regardless of whether you intervened or not, he might have had a health issue. I would not let this pair breed for now.

Has this ever happened before with this couple? You should possibly have a rehabber and/or avian vet check the parents, just in case they may be carrying something they can pass on to their babies, without them actually being sick. Make sure the hen is also getting enough calcium and other nutrients in her diet.


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## Margarret (May 3, 2007)

Maranda,

I was sorry to hear the baby didn't make it. I know you feel bad about your decision, but as others have said, intervention may not have saved it. It wasn't anything you did or didn't do. Nature sometimes knows something we don't. This is a hard time of year to raise babies and the parents have a hard job to keep the babies warm in the cold weather.I agree with Treesa's advice about not letting your birds breed for awhile. Do you have any others on eggs?

Margaret


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## maranda (Nov 18, 2007)

This was the first eggs for the female.We don't have any others sitting on eggs,our other birds are young and haven't starting breeding.


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## Birdmom4ever (Jan 14, 2003)

I'm sorry the little one didn't make it, but it could have died from getting cold as much as from having trouble getting free of the shell. I've had some healthy chicks take a full two days to hatch. It's odd to me that the parents let the egg get cold. If they are young and inexperienced they probably just didn't know what to do. As Treesa suggested, best not to let them breed for now. Replace their next eggs with dummy eggs and make them wait until spring and warmer weather. Generally you shouldn't let pigeons raise babies until they are about a year old. Like humans, "teenagers" often don't make the best parents, though there are exceptions.


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## Lovebirds (Sep 6, 2002)

Sorry to hear about the baby.  Don't feel bad though. We all have to make a decision at some point "to do" or "not to do" and you've only got a 50/50 chance of being right. A couple of years ago, I tried helping a baby out of the shell and wound up killing it. I won't do that again. Mother nature can be harsh sometimes, but she's a pretty smart ole gal. Sometimes she knows best. 
On another note, I also, don't let young bird raise babies. You can't stop them from laying, but it's best to give a young bird some dummy eggs and let them mature a little. I've had hens lay as early as 4 months old. Certainly not old enough for me to trust them with raising babies.


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## Maggie-NC (Jun 22, 2005)

I'm sorry the baby didn't make it. You could just as easily have tried to help it and caused it to die - I expect you would feel even worse that way. We can only do what we think is the right thing.


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## maryjane (Jul 15, 2006)

Sorry to hear the baby didn't do well on its own. There is no way to know if it would have been okay had you helped. I agree it's often best to let nature take its course, which is not to say that I haven't helped babies out of their shells a few times when it was obvious they weren't coming out on their own. Sometimes it turns out okay, and sometimes they don't make it, which is probably why they couldn't get out of the shell by themselves in the first place. You did the best you could, try not to feel bad.


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## maranda (Nov 18, 2007)

Thanks to everyone for their kind posts.I agree with everyone about letting nature take its course.Now I realize that if the baby wasn't strong enough to break free from the shell,he might not had been strong enough to survive anyway.
Thank you guys for being here to answer questions and provide support.


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