# How often to pigeons sit on their babies?



## Nuklear (Oct 10, 2012)

hi! 
this is my first time having pigeons raise a baby. one of the eggs wasn't fertile so they only have one at the moment:








he's about 5 days old and i was wondering how often the parents leave the nest to eat/drink/poop and for how long?? how long should they be sitting on their baby at this stage? any tips or anything to look out for? any help is appreciated!


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## Nuklear (Oct 10, 2012)

bump
he's about 10 days old now and when i checked up on the pigeons neither of the parents were sitting on the baby. mom was on him last night but not tonight so i brought him inside because it's a little cold out, should i be worrying about this?? i plan to return him to the nest early morning but do the parents stop sitting on their babies at this age?? it'd be reeeally nice if i got some replies...


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## YaSin11 (Jul 23, 2009)

Hi Nuklear,

Congrats on your baby pigeon! Beautiful squab 

Most of the 'sitting' of the parents is to provide warmth for the incubation period of the eggs, if I am not mistaken.

Once hatched, the need for 'sitting' decreases with time.

Are the parents feeding the baby pigeon properly? do you see them feeding the baby?

It is nice that you brought in the baby out of concern, but in my opinion, thats is not necessary and counter productive.

Since it is ~10 days old now, it should be fine with the parents (provided they are feeding it properly).

I am not sure of your set up, but some hay,twigs, towels etc. might be helpful to work as padding.

Wish you Good Luck and keep us updated.


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## Jay3 (May 4, 2008)

Leave him out their with the parents. He should be fine. Many will start another nest and stop sitting on them around this age. You are in Southern California. It doesn't get that cold at this time of year. You don't want to bring him in and mess up the parents.


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## Nuklear (Oct 10, 2012)

thanks for the replies guys
i returned him early this morning before the parents got up and i caught the mother feeding him once during the evening. she did have an interest in nesting somewhere else so i removed the spot. 
i checked up on them one last time for tonight and now she's with the baby (thank goodness since it's kinda chilly again and the baby is still not fully feathered) but i also noticed a new egg in with them, i should discard the new egg, right?


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## dj19988 (Jul 14, 2017)

Don't worry about the new eggs, They WILL keep on feeding the baby.


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## YaSin11 (Jul 23, 2009)

dj19988 said:


> Don't worry about the new eggs, They WILL keep on feeding the baby.



I agree with dj19988; no need to remove new egg.

Good thing you returned the squab, and the parents accepted it back..sometimes the parents will abandon egg/baby if the 'smell' human/other scents.

My personal opinion: it is best to not to interfere too much at this stage, unless there are visible problems that need to be addressed.

Good Luck.


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## Nuklear (Oct 10, 2012)

birds abandoning young because of human scents is one of the biggest myths ever, birds have extremely little to no sense of smell


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## Jay3 (May 4, 2008)

YaSin11 said:


> I agree with dj19988; no need to remove new egg.
> 
> Good thing you returned the squab, and the parents accepted it back..sometimes the parents will abandon egg/baby if the 'smell' human/other scents.
> 
> ...


However, you should have left it where it was, as it is very normal for them to start a new nest. I don't know how large your nest boxes are, but it may well be too crowded for all of them when the eggs hatch. The first baby may then get pushed out of the nest. 

And you never just take the eggs without replacing them with fake eggs. That will just make her lay right away again to replace what you have taken, and by doing that she is using up more of her calcium stores. Not healthy for her and she will end up eventually having health problems because of calcium deficiency. At this point in time the baby is getting to big to sit on anyway. It isn't all that cold out and he would have been fine. They start a new nest anad when they do that the dad will continue to feed and wean the baby. If the box is too small for all of them, then the first one will get pushed out before he is ready. Try not to interfere too much. They usually know what they are doing.


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## Mehdi Ehtisham (Mar 31, 2021)

hi every one


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## Mehdi Ehtisham (Mar 31, 2021)

Now I am experiencing with pigeon breeding since last 5 months but not getting success,
first 2 months eggs were not fertile proper and finally a chick found dead when parents abandoned the eggs.
thirdly there were 2 chicks but they died with in a week, I can't understand the reason of die, (may be cold or not feeding properly)
now a day there are 2 chick are borned, two and three days is the age now, so I am taking top care and providing all circumstances better as compare to previous,

Please advice me how can I get the success for pigeon breeding.


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## Marina B (May 5, 2011)

Make sure the parents are 100% healthy. Supply them with probiotics, vitamins and apple cider vinegar in the drinking water on a regular basis. Healthy parents will produce healthy offspring.


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## Mehdi Ehtisham (Mar 31, 2021)

Thanks allot, I will add apple cider vinegar and vitamins as well.


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