# How long without incubation?



## rock (Jun 29, 2007)

I have a hen that quit sitting on her eggs yesterday evening. Her mate escaped a few days ago when I was entering the loft and has not returned. I went out this morning and apparently she did not sit on the eggs last night as they feel cool. I guess she gave up. She has been on them for about 5 days.

I have another pair that laid two days later and was wondering if it was too late to switch the eggs. I would prefer given the choice to hatch the lone hens eggs rather than the other pairs. Could another option be to put them under a light and hand feed them when they hatch if it's not too late? This hen and her cock are very nice birds or I probably wouldn't bother. Thanks, Jim


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## spirit wings (Mar 29, 2008)

rock said:


> I have a hen that quit sitting on her eggs yesterday evening. Her mate escaped a few days ago when I was entering the loft and has not returned. I went out this morning and apparently she did not sit on the eggs last night as they feel cool. I guess she gave up. She has been on them for about 5 days.
> 
> I have another pair that laid two days later and was wondering if it was too late to switch the eggs. I would prefer given the choice to hatch the lone hens eggs rather than the other pairs. Could another option be to put them under a light and hand feed them when they hatch if it's not too late? This hen and her cock are very nice birds or I probably wouldn't bother. Thanks, Jim


Hi jim, just wanted to bump you up on the list. I wish I could help with that question, but i would like to know too. someone will be along to help soon.


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## BirdDust (Feb 8, 2008)

I would go ahead and switch them if you don't care about the foster parents eggs. You can candle the eggs in the days ahead to make sure the eggs are developing normally. I would keep a close eye on the parents when the due date approaches in case they give up the nest. Be ready to finish the hatch under a heat lamp and hand feed. Some birds will sit an extra day or two before they give up and abandon the nest so it might work out time wise. Sometimes foster parents will completly hatch them out and then for some reason abandon the babies which gives you no choice but to pull them and raise them yourself.


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## Lovebirds (Sep 6, 2002)

rock said:


> I have a hen that quit sitting on her eggs yesterday evening. Her mate escaped a few days ago when I was entering the loft and has not returned. I went out this morning and apparently she did not sit on the eggs last night as they feel cool. I guess she gave up. She has been on them for about 5 days.
> 
> I have another pair that laid two days later and was wondering if it was too late to switch the eggs. I would prefer given the choice to hatch the lone hens eggs rather than the other pairs. Could another option be to put them under a light and hand feed them when they hatch if it's not too late? This hen and her cock are very nice birds or I probably wouldn't bother. Thanks, Jim


I would give it a try too.........putting the eggs under the foster pair I mean.....since they are a couple of days behind the other pair in laying, I don't believe that they will abandon the eggs before they hatch. 
You will need to candle them though to make sure they are still developing. With 5 days of incubation already, some developement has begun to take place and if they got too chilled for too long, it may have killed the embryo. 
Good luck.


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## jbangelfish (Mar 22, 2008)

*Not very long*

It would certainly depend on temperature and somewhat on stage of developement but an embryo would likely die within hours without incubation. Even 90 degrees is too cold.


Bill


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## rock (Jun 29, 2007)

Thanks all, I put one egg each under different hens with their own eggs. I'll candle in a few days and see if there is any development and if not I'll toss them and other hens will still have their's.


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## Skyeking (Jan 17, 2003)

Did you candle them before you put them under the hens, it's possible you might see some development and then you can compare after a few days and see if the embryo has progressed in development.


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## rock (Jun 29, 2007)

Trees Gray said:


> Did you candle them before you put them under the hens, it's possible you might see some development and then you can compare after a few days and see if the embryo has progressed in development.


Yes I did.


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## Skyeking (Jan 17, 2003)

rock said:


> Yes I did.


Good deal  please update us and let us know if they developed further, thank you...


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## DEEJAY7950 (Dec 13, 2006)

jbangelfish said:


> It would certainly depend on temperature and somewhat on stage of developement but an embryo would likely die within hours without incubation. Even 90 degrees is too cold.
> 
> 
> Bill


Well I've done a little research and it seems that the length of time that the embryo can stand desertion is remarkable. It has been stated that eggs which have been deserted for 24 to 36 hours, in temperature as low as 30 degrees, hatch out normal and healthy squabs when placed in an incubator or by placing it under foster parents. So a small chicken incubator could be a good investment to save eggs if you can't find foster parents!


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## philodice (Sep 30, 2007)

Excerpt from my ebook:
"
Suspending Incubation of Pigeon Eggs

This is a description and outcome of an experiment to learn how long
pigeon egg incubation can be suspended under optimal conditions

Began experiment Jun-28

A small refrigerator was acquired exclusively for the
purpose of this project and adjusted it to the lowest setting

-- measured temp 48-49 ºF / humidity 68-70% -- w/ bowl of water at bottom

( … compared to standard refrigerator measured temp 38-43 ºF/ humidity 50-70%)

Four sets of breeders were paired in individual boxes

Jul 7 - 17

Collected eggs as soon as they were laid so they did not begin incubation

-- each egg was marked with a pencil for tracking, then
stored in random orientation in a sealed Ziploc baggie in the refrigerator

Eggs were not deliberately turned -- only moved as additional eggs were collected

Jul 18

Breeders were separated

Jul 28

The four sets of breeders were re-paired, same as before

Aug 9 - 16

Collected a 2nd round of eggs from the breeders and refrigerated in the same manner

As each pair laid the 2nd egg in the clutch, they were replaced with eggs FROM the refrigerator

Eggs were returned gradually to room temperature in their sealed container at least 6 hrs before fostering

The breeders were allowed to sit on the eggs naturally

After 5 full days the eggs were candled

Aug 20

Concluded experiment


----------------------
Results & Observations
----------------------

Detailed notes were kept on each egg (ie., dates, pairs, round,
clutch order, foster parents, success/fail)


In summary, there were eight eggs in the first round

-- in this group, incubation was suspended -- ranging from 27 - 35 days

... outcome -- 100% were NOT viable


There were seven eggs in the second round (... one was damaged)

-- in this group, incubation was suspended -- ranging from 1 - 6 days

... outcome -- 100% were SUCCESSFUL


In conclusion, incubation of pigeon eggs can be successfully suspended by refrigeration for up to a week

Beyond 27 days, hatchability dropped to ZERO

There is a remaining question about how long they can be kept within the window of 7 - 26 days

It does demonstrate that the length of time pigeon egg incubation
can be suspended is up to a week -- and maybe somewhat longer, but not much

Rodney POWELL
8-2007
"


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## DEEJAY7950 (Dec 13, 2006)

Bottom line, if a pigeon is disturbed and leaves a nest of eggs for some reason don't be too quick to throw them out give her a chance to get back to the eggs! If not sitting on them the next morning look for a foster parent if possible, if not then a chicken incubator is your best bet!


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## Eriduardo (Aug 28, 2006)

I would mark those eggs, and put them under the pair that just laid and check them a few days later to see if there's any growth going on. Ofcourse that if they are growing then 4 babies may hatch  so you have to be prepared to hand feed or place the babies under a pair that just laid when they don't see you. They'll think that their babies just hatched and they'll take care of them even if they didn't incubate the eggs a full term. I do this very often. One thing is that I don't know if this is a good practice after all I'm messing with their natural instincts


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## jbangelfish (Mar 22, 2008)

*That's pretty amazing*

I have to admit that I am very surprised. Good info.

A friend of mine brought a bunch of Canada Goose eggs to me that had been taken from local golf courses by park district officials as they were tired of the geese. 

Anyway, I had all of the eggs within 24 hours of when they had been taken and I was unable to hatch any of the 30 plus eggs. My incubator was a forced air (one of the old redwood ones) 400 egg and I had hatched many hundreds of eggs from pheasant and quail to duck, goose, chicken, you name it.

From this, I pretty much decided that it didn't take very long for embryos to die without incubation. The only other thing I can come up with is that maybe they were mishandled to a point of death for the embryos. Hard to imagine that they could all have been that roughly treated but I have no other answer.

Bill


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## jbangelfish (Mar 22, 2008)

*I've said this before*



Fbirdie82 said:


> If it helps... I had eggs laid two weeks apart that hatched under the feeder pair.


You can keep eggs that have never been incubated for a long time in cool storage. They can keep for up to months this way.

When I was a kid, we did this with chicken eggs. We'd store them for as much as a couple months until we had a hen which had begun setting. I see no reason why pigeon eggs would be any different.

Once they have started incubating, it's a whole new ballgame.

Bill


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## jbangelfish (Mar 22, 2008)

*This is a great test*



philodice said:


> Excerpt from my ebook:
> "
> Suspending Incubation of Pigeon Eggs
> 
> ...


But the key has to be in the refridgeration. I think if the eggs were left in the ambient temperatures, you'd have a completely different result. It is nice to know that you don't have to give up on them but temperature is the key. Either continue the incubation process or get them chilled down as soon as possible.

I think that this must be similar to cold water drowning. We now know that people are able to survive being under water for up to a couple hours or so if the water is very cold. I don't know what temp but cold and children in particular are more likely to survive.

This has been discovered in the last 20 years or so and has completely changed how rescuers treat drowning victims. It seems that the human body is able to achieve a type of suspended animation, to a degree and young victims are much more likely to survive.

I think someone has found the same type of process for embryonic state eggs and it's a great discovery.

Bill


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## newbie001 (Aug 22, 2011)

jbangelfish said:


> You can keep eggs that have never been incubated for a long time in cool storage. They can keep for up to months this way.
> 
> When I was a kid, we did this with chicken eggs. We'd store them for as much as a couple months until we had a hen which had begun setting. I see no reason why pigeon eggs would be any different.
> 
> ...


After incubating for around 17 days, will the bird inside the egg die if left without being incubated for 9 hours? Please let me know!


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