# pigeon eggs and embryos



## nikku-chan (Jan 18, 2008)

Pecky has laid some eggs, and is sitting on them for the first time.

I have tried to find some wooden eggs everywhere, since i don't have enough room for more babies (even though i would LOVE them)

All i can find is styrofoam eggs...
They're very light...

Otherwise, i have made some eggs out of clay, which are drying now. I don't have time to fire them, so i'm going to paint them white and put them under her tomorrow.

I'll make porcelain eggs for the next round, but will these eggs be okay for now? do you think she will accept them?

It's been 4 days tomorrow since she has been sitting on her eggs. I really don't want to "abort" the babies, but it would be really irresponsible to keep them.

How big is an embryo at day four? Do you think it will feel pain at this stage?


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## Lovebirds (Sep 6, 2002)

The porcelain eggs should work just fine.
Actually, we recommend candling eggs at about 6 to 7 days in order to know for certain if they are fertile or not. IF you can tell anything at 4 days of incubation, it would be nothing more than a few little blood vessels.
Of course, this decision is totally up to you, but I commend you for caring enough about your birds to NOT let them raise babies "just because"...........I could raise babies year round, cause I luv em' so much, but that wouldn't be a very wise thing to do, so dummy eggs it is for now.


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## nikku-chan (Jan 18, 2008)

Thanks for that lovebirds,
That puts my mind at rest.

I'll switch them tomorrow.
Next time i will have the dummy eggs on hand, so i can switch them straight away.

I will let her have babies one day, when she's more mature, and when i have more room for more birdies.

She has only just learned to lay the eggs properly, and not from the perch. Her first egg laying attempts were pretty funny


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## philodice (Sep 30, 2007)

That is funny. I think birds should be allowed to practice a few times with dummy eggs. My young birds if a hen lays, lose interest in the eggs after a few days so it's best for them to be replaced with fakes.


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## nikku-chan (Jan 18, 2008)

haha. 
yeah, i went in this morning to replace the eggs, and Pecky had abandoned them anyway!
They were about half a metre away from her nest (she must have moved them with her beak),
and she flew to me when i came through the aviary door, and jumped on my back like she always does.
I replaced them anyway.

How cute. She played mummy for a few days, but got sick of it.
The eggs were stone cold. I candled them, but nothing, and then i cracked them, and they were just like normal eggs.
Does this mean they were unfertilised? They had no blood in them.
Cute little pecky.


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## Lovebirds (Sep 6, 2002)

nikku-chan said:


> haha.
> yeah, i went in this morning to replace the eggs, and Pecky had abandoned them anyway!
> They were about half a metre away from her nest (she must have moved them with her beak),
> and she flew to me when i came through the aviary door, and jumped on my back like she always does.
> ...


Is Pecky an only bird? Sounds like the eggs weren't any good.


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## nikku-chan (Jan 18, 2008)

Nope, she has a lover.
It may be that he is still too young.
She has only just started egg laying, and she is a few months older than him.
I found her in january, and i found him in...march maybe? They were both babies when i found them.

He brings her twigs, and coos at her always.
I haven't seen them having sex yet, but i can only assume.
He is pretty keen!


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## Lovebirds (Sep 6, 2002)

nikku-chan said:


> Nope, she has a lover.
> It may be that he is still too young.
> She has only just started egg laying, and she is a few months older than him.
> I found her in january, and i found him in...march maybe? They were both babies when i found them.
> ...


They're plenty old enough for the sex part.....LOL, but I try to make sure my birds are at least a year old before I let them raise babies. Hopefully by that time, they've sat on a round or two of dummy eggs and I'm pretty sure they won't abandon them. First time parents sometimes don't get it right the first time, but with a little practice they become pros.


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## pdpbison (Mar 15, 2005)

nikku-chan said:


> haha.
> yeah, i went in this morning to replace the eggs, and Pecky had abandoned them anyway!
> They were about half a metre away from her nest (she must have moved them with her beak),
> and she flew to me when i came through the aviary door, and jumped on my back like she always does.
> ...



Hi Nikku,


Save "these" Eggs...Mark them in Pencil...use them as the 'dummies' next time.


What sorts of Ceramics do you do?



Phil
l v


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## maryjane (Jul 15, 2006)

I do what Phil recommended, but in a pinch a few months ago, I took two little picture-stamps (the kind that have ink inside and a lid and make a little picture when you press it to paper), wrapped them in white tape, and had a pair who happily sat on those.  When I had house pigeons, they loved all kinds of things. I had these little white porcelain pigs and they would find those and lay on them. Also had some who would lay on chicken eggs.


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## kippermom (Jan 11, 2006)

The wooden eggs were so expensive, I found plain large wooden beads at a craft store...cheap and easy to tell from the "real ones"...(can't tell you the number of times I mistook wood for real and vice-versa when I use the wooden eggs...finally started marking the wooden ones with markers)...but the beads work great.


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## nikku-chan (Jan 18, 2008)

Phil, do you mean, save the unfertilised eggs for next time?
I heard gasses might penetrate the shell and make them sick. Or is that only a myth?

I make functional things from stoneware mostly, but i have been dabbling in porcelain of late


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