# Two pigeons nesting on my balcony, are the eggs still alive?



## kloti (Feb 26, 2012)

Hi everybody!

Three days ago I found two pigeons building a nest on my balcony. The next day there were two eggs in the nest, and I decided to put up a webcam to watch them from a distance.

You can watch them here:
http://www.livestream.com/ratcage1

"The internet" named them and suggested to put up a volcano in the background to make them even more awesome, so that's that.

Now I have some questions, especially about the eggs:

How long can pigeon eggs survive and at what temperature if the pigeon is not sitting on the eggs? Also is it normal that they sometimes leave the nest alone for hours?
I wonder if the eggs are still alive. Can I still look forward to baby pidgeons if the eggs were left alone for hours at about 7° C?


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## The Pigeon Girl (Jul 3, 2010)

Pigeons cannot leave the nest for long. less then an hour. The parents take turns, sitting on them. usually the hens sit on them in the morning, while the cocks are out eating protecting the nest. usaully night is when the cock is on them. they have to be 100 degrees, or around that. however, hours off of the eggs, at a cold temperature, could be bad. but most likely they are fine. what is it? do you not see the parents at the moment?


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## spirit wings (Mar 29, 2008)

kloti said:


> Hi everybody!
> 
> Three days ago I found two pigeons building a nest on my balcony. The next day there were two eggs in the nest, and I decided to put up a webcam to watch them from a distance.
> 
> ...


they have to leave to go find food, so the growth of the embryo if the egg is fertile slows down a bit. now if it was below freezing that could affect it and kill the growth,(I don't know celcius) so them leaving is not a big deal in warmer weather. if they are off allot then the eggs may hatch later than the 19 days.


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## Jaye (Mar 13, 2008)

Well...what is 'hours' ? 2 hours...or more ?

I'd say at the temp you have noted, if more than 1-2 hours of absence, those eggs don't have too good a chance.

But as SW says...no harm in waiting the 18-19 days and seeing.

However, if the parents aren't sitting 'em most of the time, then something is up with that situation (for whatever reasons) and they may have been quasi-abandoned....


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## spirit wings (Mar 29, 2008)

The best thing to do is leave them alone, either they will hatch or they will not.


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## jondove (Nov 17, 2011)

I also had some pigeons nesting on my balcony and they also left the eggs sometimes, not sure for how long though, but I don't believe it was for 1-2 hours. On the other hand, it was much colder back then in January. Nevertheless, the eggs hatched in the end of January and both babies are fine so far.


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