# Its cold out



## Brunog (Jan 14, 2007)

Well about a week ago a pair of our pigeons built thier nest and layed 2 eggs. Ive noticed they take turns sitting on the eggs but some of the time when i go into the loft they arnt sitting on them. Well here in Canada in the middle of winter it can get pretty cold should i be worried about the egg?

What tempretures are safe for pigeons to live in? Someone told me they are safe all the way down to -15 degrees celcius.


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## Pigeonpal2002 (Jul 27, 2002)

Hi Brunog and welcome to the forum

I'm in Canada too, but I don't keep my pigeons outside. However, I do know that pigeons can tolerate quite cold temperatures and do fine in them. What is important is that they have shelter and plenty of food. Corn is especially good for the birds in winter.

Back to your pair that laid the eggs though...how long are they off the nest at the times you've mentioned seeing the nest unattended? How cold is it there right now? Did you candle the eggs to see whether or not they are fertile? How's your loft set up, do you have many pigeons? 

Pigeons usually know what they are doing, unless it's a young and inexperienced pair. Hopefully the times they are off the nest aren't long enough to have killed the embryos.


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## Lovebirds (Sep 6, 2002)

Brunog said:


> Well about a week ago a pair of our pigeons built thier nest and layed 2 eggs. Ive noticed they take turns sitting on the eggs but some of the time when i go into the loft they arnt sitting on them. Well here in Canada in the middle of winter it can get pretty cold should i be worried about the egg?
> 
> What tempretures are safe for pigeons to live in? Someone told me they are safe all the way down to -15 degrees celcius.



Your adult pigeons are fine in these temps. As long as they aren't leaving the eggs for too long, they should be fine too. You might want to set a bowl of food right beside the nest bowl for whoever is pulling nest duty. If they have access to food without leaving the eggs, they will get off long enough to get a quick drink of water, poop and then will ge right back to the eggs. I never see my birds off of the nest for more than a couple of minutes.


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## Brunog (Jan 14, 2007)

I havnt candled the eggs. I just read the article on candleing eggs this morning and I am considering taking a took at them. I was a fraid to touch the eggs because i heard birds will reject the eggs if someone touches them. is that true?

Ive stood there for about 2-3 minutes and watched them wondering about instead of sitting on the eggs. Ive managed to lure them back to eggs using feed but now i will consider leaving a food dish by the nest. I was told not to leave food sitting in the nest by a friend because he tells me they will just over eat and get sick.

The pair layed the eggs over a week ago. Can the egg still be candled? The temperature has been between 0 degrees to -7 celcius this week. It might get a little colder but i doubt it.


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## Pigeonpal2002 (Jul 27, 2002)

Brunog said:


> I havnt candled the eggs. I just read the article on candleing eggs this morning and I am considering taking a took at them. I was a fraid to touch the eggs because i heard birds will reject the eggs if someone touches them. is that true?
> 
> Ive stood there for about 2-3 minutes and watched them wondering about instead of sitting on the eggs. Ive managed to lure them back to eggs using feed but now i will consider leaving a food dish by the nest. I was told not to leave food sitting in the nest by a friend because he tells me they will just over eat and get sick.
> 
> The pair layed the eggs over a week ago. Can the egg still be candled? The temperature has been between 0 degrees to -7 celcius this week. It might get a little colder but i doubt it.


Hi Brunog,

No, it's not true about handling the eggs, you can candle them and touching them won't cause the birds to abandon them. You could probably still candle the eggs even though they are over a week old, give it a try and see what you see.

I don't think this is true that the birds will over eat when they have food by their nest. This just saves them time in having to go back and forth to the food. You could place a food dish nearer to the nest and see if it helps, I've done this before but my situation is different from yours a bit

Those temps don't sound too bad at all, but...it really depends on how long the pigeons are off their eggs. Eggs can chill quickly and it can be very harmful to embryos at certain stages of development. Keep an eye on this and as best you can, try the food dish near the nest as well and see if it does help.


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## Brunog (Jan 14, 2007)

The pigeons overeating thing was pointed out to me by a friend has had quite a fiew pigeons for a number of years. We origionly had food out for the pigeons all the time but he said you could tell our pigeons were over eating because they werent coo-ing very much and were kind of quiet. He said when they over eat they will start pooping out the seeds undigested and one day when you dont feed them enough they will start picking out the seeds out of thier poop and get sick off of it. We noticed that when we took away thier feed troff and started feeding them once or twice a day they were alot more active and coo-ing and making noise alot more.


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## Brunog (Jan 14, 2007)

Is there harm in not candeling the eggs and letting the birds worry about it? how likely is it that the egg is not fertile? What will happen if it is a bad egg? will the pigeon eventualy just boot it out of the nest? could it cause problems like making the birds sick? im rather inexperianced still and dont want to be messing about with their eggs.


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## Pigeonpal2002 (Jul 27, 2002)

Brunog said:


> The pigeons overeating thing was pointed out to me by a friend has had quite a fiew pigeons for a number of years. We origionly had food out for the pigeons all the time but he said you could tell our pigeons were over eating because they werent coo-ing very much and were kind of quiet. He said when they over eat they will start pooping out the seeds undigested and one day when you dont feed them enough they will start picking out the seeds out of thier poop and get sick off of it. We noticed that when we took away thier feed troff and started feeding them once or twice a day they were alot more active and coo-ing and making noise alot more.


Hi Brunog, 

I think that the over eating issue has more relevance when your flying your birds competitively or training is important. People who raise, breed and fly racing homers or even performing tumblers and tipplers would more likely to think that over eating is a problem. Pigeons that are used to strict rationing of food, and then offered all they can eat...might over eat for a bit though.

I have no choice but to leave food out all day long for my pigeons because of the hours I work and my pigeons are runts and indoor pets. I've never had a problem with them over eating, pooping out undigested seeds and they're not fat or overweight either.




Brunog said:


> Is there harm in not candeling the eggs and letting the birds worry about it? how likely is it that the egg is not fertile? What will happen if it is a bad egg? will the pigeon eventualy just boot it out of the nest? could it cause problems like making the birds sick? im rather inexperianced still and dont want to be messing about with their eggs.



No, you don't have to candle the eggs and can take your chances The birds really do know best usually and sometimes they will stop sitting or roll them out of the nest if they think they are duds or DIS (dead in shell). 

Since it's so cold there, there is not really much of a concern about whether or not the eggs might go rotten. If they don't hatch within about 19 or 20 days of incubation, then they are probably infertile. The pigeons will abandon them when they are ready, on their own.


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