# Is it Possible for a Female pigeon to lay eggs after she had stopped laying eggs!!



## satinette tippler (Jul 7, 2012)

I have a pigeon which i rescued a year ago. Then paired her with a homer and started living happy and have settled, made their nest, do all the breeding stuff but no eggs!! Does it mean she cant lay eggs (btw i dont know her age as i rescued her when she was adult). Does any of u have this problem with ur birds? If u have how to cure! Or if i give her fake eggs will it be possible that she lays eggs?? Sorry i kinda have a lot of question ...


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## LisaNewTumbler (Jun 24, 2013)

hi 

are you 100% it is female? If so, how?


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## Abdulbaki (Jul 31, 2013)

she could be egg barren, some *hens* go egg barren for a time and then lay again, it could be an infection in the oviduct that is preventing her from laying. If yes you have to treat her.

-he can be a male as Lisa said, how sure are you about her gender?
-she may not have enough calcium to form an egg, that you have to supply her with necessary supplements. and let her sunbath 30 mins at least daily.
-how is the weather & temperature in your area?


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## Jass SamOplay (May 29, 2012)

satinette tippler said:


> I have a pigeon which i rescued a year ago. Then paired her with a homer and started living happy and have settled, made their nest, do all the breeding stuff but no eggs!! Does it mean she cant lay eggs (btw i dont know her age as i rescued her when she was adult). Does any of u have this problem with ur birds? If u have how to cure! Or if i give her fake eggs will it be possible that she lays eggs?? Sorry i kinda have a lot of question ...


Are you sure you have an opposite sex pair?

Your hen may be barren so that might be reason that she didn't lay ever.

Fertility fades with age. Old hens lay once/twice a year. Your hen may be old. You can give her good feedmix and supplements to help her with fertility.

(If your hen is making nest with a male partner, you can use it as a foster pair. I had hens before that laid once in a year or two. They had me thinking that they are males but when the pair with barren hen made nest I gave them fake eggs and they took it. Then after 15-18 days,I used to give that pair a week old squab and they raised many squabs successfully.)


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## Abdulbaki (Jul 31, 2013)

I agree they make good fosters.


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## whytwings (Feb 12, 2011)

I have 3 pairs that have ceased laying eggs......two pairs of which I am unsure of their age .
I know all pairs to be the opposite sex ......they are all in perfect health . 1 pair were excellent parents and I can always count on them as fosters . I don't have the answers as to why this happens but I do allow them the natural thing to do and that is nest build and sit on eggs .....dummy eggs mostly .


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## satinette tippler (Jul 7, 2012)

LisaNewTumbler said:


> hi
> 
> are you 100% it is female? If so, how?


One she is smaller, doesnt coo loudly rarely coos, and checked the vent part (bones were not close to each other)


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## satinette tippler (Jul 7, 2012)

Abdulbaki said:


> she could be egg barren, some *hens* go egg barren for a time and then lay again, it could be an infection in the oviduct that is preventing her from laying. If yes you have to treat her.
> 
> -he can be a male as Lisa said, how sure are you about her gender?
> -she may not have enough calcium to form an egg, that you have to supply her with necessary supplements. and let her sunbath 30 mins at least daily.
> -how is the weather & temperature in your area?


-im sure she is a hen 100% 
-i give her the common pigeon feed which available here (containing extra protein for harsh days) "sun bath" i think less she rarely takes it but i have seen her once while taking sun bath in winters 
-u can call it extremes from May-Sep (summers with temperature reaching till 56-59 degrees centigrade and winter temperature reaching near 0 degrees centigrade from December-February and remaining months the temperature are cool but near 18-28 degrees centigrade)


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## satinette tippler (Jul 7, 2012)

brocky bieber said:


> Are you sure you have an opposite sex pair?
> 
> Your hen may be barren so that might be reason that she didn't lay ever.
> 
> ...


Unfortunately i only have a pair. As u said when see reaches age but i think see is young not that old i will sent pics of her soon.


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## satinette tippler (Jul 7, 2012)

whytwings said:


> I have 3 pairs that have ceased laying eggs......two pairs of which I am unsure of their age .
> I know all pairs to be the opposite sex ......they are all in perfect health . 1 pair were excellent parents and I can always count on them as fosters . I don't have the answers as to why this happens but I do allow them the natural thing to do and that is nest build and sit on eggs .....dummy eggs mostly .


So i have let them sit on dummy once before and now too cuz of the male he is to desperate to have eggs that every white thing near the nest he thinks is an egg and sits over it  but keep removing the eggs may back them feel insecure and may leave nest thinking some predator took their beloved away!! Btw i have an open cage loft so they may leave it !!


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## Jass SamOplay (May 29, 2012)

Thanx for sharing the pic. Your birds look very beautiful. I totally loved them.
Are they currently making the nest? Do they mate regularly? Wait for sometime! I have my hopes up... Good luck


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## spirit wings (Mar 29, 2008)

satinette tippler said:


> I have a pigeon which i rescued a year ago. Then paired her with a homer and started living happy and have settled, made their nest, do all the breeding stuff but no eggs!! Does it mean she cant lay eggs (btw i dont know her age as i rescued her when she was adult). Does any of u have this problem with ur birds? If u have how to cure! Or if i give her fake eggs will it be possible that she lays eggs?? Sorry i kinda have a lot of question ...


she would be considerd infertile if she does not lay eggs.
Or the bird is a male paired with a male, it happens, but not often. 

if you don't know the age she also could be just getting old enough to lay her first egg/s. so there could be a deley because of that and she is just going through the motions right now.


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## LisaNewTumbler (Jun 24, 2013)

satinette tippler said:


> One she is smaller, doesnt coo loudly rarely coos, and checked the vent part (bones were not close to each other)


It is likely she is a female but these things are never 100%

In any case if she is barren because she is old, or she is actually a he, then there is nothing you can do.

If you think it is a possibility maybe you should look into an infection like was suggested.

My own vet also suggested that at least once in a bird's life he would do an endoscopy to really see what is going on inside the bird. He has had before parrots that looked 100% fine on the outside and had a horrible amount of funghi inside them for years. Birds are way too good at hiding things. You can also use it to confirm the sex.

If you are ok with them not breeding i think giivng them a fake egg is a great idea  Esp for your poor guy!  

They are such characters, and beautiful birds.


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## satinette tippler (Jul 7, 2012)

brocky bieber said:


> Thanx for sharing the pic. Your birds look very beautiful. I totally loved them.
> Are they currently making the nest? Do they mate regularly? Wait for sometime! I have my hopes up... Good luck


Welcome
They already made a nest long time back and i do give them some nesting materials now and then which they take. Mating is like season based or somthing like that for 1-2 weeks they will mate frequently and on the 3rd week becames lesser by the end of the month none and the female sits in the nest for a week and then the cycle repeats!! Its been a year like this so I gave them fake eggs.which they took care very nicely even when the temperature are 15-9 degrees centigrade the fake eggs were warm


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## satinette tippler (Jul 7, 2012)

spirit wings said:


> she would be considerd infertile if she does not lay eggs.
> Or the bird is a male paired with a male, it happens, but not often.
> 
> if you don't know the age she also could be just getting old enough to lay her first egg/s. so there could be a deley because of that and she is just going through the motions right now.


Is there a way to find out the age ?? And does every molting change their feather color ?? Cuz she shed her feathers and new color appeared (before she was more of brown on head but now its more white)


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## satinette tippler (Jul 7, 2012)

LisaNewTumbler said:


> It is likely she is a female but these things are never 100%
> 
> In any case if she is barren because she is old, or she is actually a he, then there is nothing you can do.
> 
> ...


I knew that they were good in hiding gender,age,diseases (thanks for improving my knowledge) btw i gave fake eggs to them about a week ago


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## spirit wings (Mar 29, 2008)

if she is molting to a different color my guess is she is just a young bird.


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## Jay3 (May 4, 2008)

I think she is just too young also.


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## satinette tippler (Jul 7, 2012)

spirit wings said:


> if she is molting to a different color my guess is she is just a young bird. *JaY3*; I think she is just too young also.


If u guys think she is young then by when would she be able to lay eggs!!


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## satinette tippler (Jul 7, 2012)

*Before*


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## satinette tippler (Jul 7, 2012)

*After*


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## Jass SamOplay (May 29, 2012)

satinette tippler said:


> *I have a pigeon which i rescued a year ago. Then paired her with a homer* and started living happy and have settled, made their nest, do all the breeding stuff but no eggs!! Does it mean she cant lay eggs (btw i dont know her age as i rescued her when she was adult). Does any of u have this problem with ur birds? If u have how to cure! Or if i give her fake eggs will it be possible that she lays eggs?? Sorry i kinda have a lot of question ...


Well if you have rescued her an year ago then she has reached her sexual maturity because pigeons mature sexually at 5-7 months of age.
Usually hens mature earlier than cocks at 5 months of age.
So either you have a same sex pair or something is wrong with the cock or hen. I had many cocks before who would just make their hens lay only once or twice an year. If you had more birds then this could be determined who is sterile by breaking the pair and re-pairing them with some other birds.

There are members on PT who have lone hens and even their lone hens have laid eggs at 9 months of age.
Do you also give grit to your birds daily?

In your case, the first step I would take is to get their dna tested to determine their gender for sure,before doing anything else,if that's possible for you.

Thanx for more pics. Lovely birds


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## Jay3 (May 4, 2008)

Brocky's right. I forgot that you said that you got her a year ago. Well then she's definitely old enough to have eggsl LOL.


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## spirit wings (Mar 29, 2008)

yes a year old is old enough. if it is a hen.


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## satinette tippler (Jul 7, 2012)

Im sure the bird is a she (hen) and looks like she is barren or stop laying eggs. And i found out this thing that when adult pigeon molt they do change colors


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## Abdulbaki (Jul 31, 2013)

Yes that is true, when pigeons become adults and moult out the juvenile' plumage the color changes and reveals the real phenotype. like some white birds become grizzle or mottled etc ...


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## Jay3 (May 4, 2008)

satinette tippler said:


> Im sure the bird is a she (hen) and looks like she is barren or stop laying eggs. And i found out this thing that when adult pigeon molt they do change colors



Their colors change when they moult their juvenile feathers into their adult feathers. Then that is the color they will stay.


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## Jass SamOplay (May 29, 2012)

Hi satinette tippler,
Behaviour and sounds that your hen makes is not a guarantee that she is a she. Especially when one has only 2 birds,they're likely(usually) to get well together irrespective of their gender. In my loft,older cocks pair with younger cocks and the younger ones behave exactly like a hen. And in female-female pair,one hen acts like cock. But you don't have a female-female pair because if it was a female-female pair then one or the other would have laid eggs. But I don't challenge your belief that she is surely a hen.

"Almonds" are usually the ones whose color darken with every annual moult addind only a few dark feathers each year. All others usually don't change and stick to the color which they develop after their first moult. Many of my grizzles,saddles,red,t pattern etc become lighter in color after first moult and stay that way ever after. Usually its the neck and chest area that changes to lighter color more than any other part of the body


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## satinette tippler (Jul 7, 2012)

brocky bieber said:


> Hi satinette tippler,
> Behaviour and sounds that your hen makes is not a guarantee that she is a she. Especially when one has only 2 birds,they're likely(usually) to get well together irrespective of their gender. In my loft,older cocks pair with younger cocks and the younger ones behave exactly like a hen. And in female-female pair,one hen acts like cock. But you don't have a female-female pair because if it was a female-female pair then one or the other would have laid eggs. But I don't challenge your belief that she is surely a hen.
> 
> "Almonds" are usually the ones whose color darken with every annual moult addind only a few dark feathers each year. All others usually don't change and stick to the color which they develop after their first moult. Many of my grizzles,saddles,red,t pattern etc become lighter in color after first moult and stay that way ever after. Usually its the neck and chest area that changes to lighter color more than any other part of the body


Can u share a pic of ur birds (curious)


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## satinette tippler (Jul 7, 2012)

Jay3 said:


> Their colors change when they moult their juvenile feathers into their adult feathers. Then that is the color they will stay.


Thats true but i have also heard that when adults molt they do change their colors (not in every molt but like five yrs later or something like that).


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## satinette tippler (Jul 7, 2012)

And can anybody look at her (female pigeon) and tell me the age if possible ?? Plz


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## Jay3 (May 4, 2008)

You can tell if they are still a juvenile, but as an adult, you can't really tell the age.


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## Jass SamOplay (May 29, 2012)

satinette tippler said:


> Can u share a pic of ur birds (curious)


Pls visit my profile album for pics


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## satinette tippler (Jul 7, 2012)

Jay3 said:


> You can tell if they are still a juvenile, but as an adult, you can't really tell the age.


Oh i didn't know that..
Btw is this true that a hen is born with a certain number of eggs and is this the reason she is not laying


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## satinette tippler (Jul 7, 2012)

brocky bieber said:


> Pls visit my profile album for pics


Love ur birds !!


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## Jass SamOplay (May 29, 2012)

Thanks, I'm glad you like them.

Egg laying depends on stimulation(by a number of reasons) and fertility. Fertility fades with age and over breeding. I had hens that were still laying at 17 years of age but only once/twice an year. When hens become old or are over bred,they stop laying.

Some sort of illness or worms(like cocci) and deficiency of vitamins and minerals especially calcium can also prevent hens form laying.


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