# I also found a pigeon egg!



## pigeon_ninja (Jul 10, 2006)

Ten days ago my dad chased some pigeons away from our balcony to find one of them had laid an egg in a flower pot. He told me and I got angry, but realized my dad didn't know the egg had been laid.

I waited for the pigeons to come back and it had rained hard that day. They came back, but the mother pigeon didn't like sitting on the egg in wet, cold soil. I'd have to say it was a bad choice of nesting, but she might have liked the pot because it was round and had soft soil in it and resembled a good nest. She tried standing above the egg for a bit but eventually got fed up and flew away again.

An hour passed and she never came back. The day was turning to night and those two pigeons usually sleep at 7:30pm. The wet cold soil made me worried and I took the egg in and put it on top of a towel emmersed in 38 degree water and my dad got a cardboard box ready with a light to warm the egg. When the box was ready and lamp had warmed the box to about 37 degrees, I put the egg in the box on top of a dry towel next to a thermometer and started surfing the net for information on egg incubation.
(I did not know that they can stay in suspended animation for 24 hours)

Various websites described the temperature for various bird eggs. I saw one site said 37 degrees. So this is the temperature I've been warming it at. The humidity suggested was 85% I've been keeping the towel moist by pouring small amounts of water around the egg and letting the water seep under the egg.

The net offers incubation machines with ventilation controllers so I cut some holes on the side of the box (away from the airconditioner) and the top of the box has space for the lamp to come down from the ceiling. (I didn't know where I could buy an incubator) I change the distance of the lamp from the box (the cord is hooked to the ceiling and I can just pull the cord to adjust the distance and this controls the temperature.)

The website suggested I turn the egg 3-4 times a day. I woke up at 8am and turned the egg and then turned it at 4pm and then at 12am everyday. On the 5th day (as a website told me to do) I checked the egg in the dark with a flashlight and saw a dark spot which I thought (to my horror) was a cooked portion of the egg on one side since I had let the temperature get up to 40 degrees a couple of times. I felt bad, but decided to keep watching the egg for a bit longer. Today is the tenth day and I checked the egg in the dark with a flashlight in the morning at 8am and to my surprise, a small fetus has appeared surrounded by many capillaries where the dark spot had been 5 days ago. I showed my mom at 4pm when it was time to turn the egg again. I am hoping the embryo will keep developing and hatch, but I know it takes approximately 18 days gestation.

Various forums online say to feed a newborn with an eyedropper filled with pureed birdseed. It would have to be liquid bird seed. To reward the egg I changed the towel it has been sitting on for the past 10 days to a fresh one and threw the old one out. 

Now I have read in this forum that the pigeon can hatch but be defected and I am worried again. I have read someone's posted message at "Poultry Youth Association" and his egg had a giant air sac. The reason for this was that the humidity had been too low. He was told the fetus was too small to hatch, but it did. He had used an incubator though. 

Any advice?


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## Mistifire (May 27, 2004)

Humidity can be increased more by putting in some wet sponges or a tray of water, I am not sure but from your description you are using a cardboard box? I started out with a very low cost and simple incubator, my quail egg hatched too, or I have seen some instructions on making an incubator from a styrofoam cooler chest which would hold humidity alot better, humidity will make the difference of life or death when they are going to hatch, without enough humidity they will stick to the shell and die, If you help pull them out at the wrong time while they are hatching they can bleed to death. 

Is the temperature 38 F or 38 C ?

The air sac growing slowly is normal, but if it takes up too much of the egg there is not enough moisture in there the chick will not survive. 

My pigeons were in an incubator but we had fires in the mountains near by and it lowered the humidity alot. I had 2 of 3 hatch but I had to assist 2 of them because they were sticking to the shells the 3rd one was underdeveloped probably because of the humidity. 

I will see if i can find the info on making a styrofoam incubator or find the low cost one I started with. eggs are pretty forgiving when they first start to develop, but as they grow the needs are more exact.....

- Update: The foam one I was thinking of I cant find the instructions but I remember it being alot of work which is why I opted to buy this one. If you want to see some ideas search google for "making a chick incubator from a styrofoam cooler" there are alot of mificult ones but somewhere there is a more basic plan for it.

This incubator works and it is low cost. I still use it as an emergency/backup incubator.
http://www.gqfmfg.com/p2.asp?login=&orderid=&userid=&catid=1&productid=79


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## TAWhatley (Mar 6, 2001)

Hi Pigeon Ninja,

Please use the time you have between now and the anticipated hatch date to be sure you have all the supplies and equipment you need. It can be quite a challenge for a human to successfully raise a baby pigeon from day one. There are many, many posts here on Pigeon-Talk regarding what to feed, how to feed, and how to house baby pigeons. I wish you and the possible soon to be baby the best of luck and hope to be seeing pictures of your darling baby not too long from now.

Terry


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## pigeon_ninja (Jul 10, 2006)

*temperature*

The temperature is at 38 celsius. I have been told that the temperature should be 100 F if ventilated and 102 if not.
I pour room temperature water over the egg as often as possible and more water around the egg so it soaks the towel under it.
I have just candled the egg with a flashlight and some of the red veins I saw yesterday have dissappeared and instead, the outside area has become a darker red. 
I am afraid that the embryo may have aborted.
What is happening?


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## TAWhatley (Mar 6, 2001)

I don't know much about incubating eggs, but would hazard a guess that you may have "drowned" the embryo. I'd let the egg incubate a bit longer just in case it is still viable but suggest you go a lot easier with the water. The wet sponge that was suggested is a good idea, or you can mist the egg lightly, but I wouldn't pour water on the egg or actually let the underlying towel get soaking wet. I certainly could be "all wet" with my comments .. as I said, I don't know a lot about incubating eggs. Let's hope for the best, and please keep us posted.

Terry


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## Skyeking (Jan 17, 2003)

Please check the resources section for information on incubation, etc.

http://www.pigeons.biz/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=25


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## pigeon_ninja (Jul 10, 2006)

*Incubator*

The incubator I have ordered is the (SOI) Thermal airflow Hova Bator from Stromberg's chickens. I will hope the parents take care of their new egg and if not, I'll try again. I am still warming the OLD egg in my cardboard box and hoping it will survive. I doubt I have "drowned" it since the water dries pretty quickly from the heat. The embryo (from candling) seems to have grown again to 1cm. I know it's been a slow grow though so it may not really make it. I just hope it isn't suffering any discomfort. I am watching it the best I can.


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## pigeon_ninja (Jul 10, 2006)

*Egg eggs..*

Hi.
Well, the old egg unfortunately didn't make it.
I have candled the new eggs from the balcony and they are developing red veins after 6 days and it is starting darken inside the eggs.
I am letting the parents take care of the eggs though.
My new incubator hasn't arrived yet, but once they do, I could rescue eggs that really need rescuing.

Question: After 6 days of the parents warming the eggs, how should the eggs look inside since all I see are veins and a little bit of darkening, but no real embryo yet. Does this seem like a slow growth?
If so, I might take the eggs in once my incubator arrives.
If this is normal, I'll leave them alone.

Secind question:Also, where can I find dummy eggs? (Can pigeons tell dummy eggs apart from real ones?)

One more question: One of the eggs has tiny faint cracks at the top and bottom. Does this pose a problem?


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## Lovebirds (Sep 6, 2002)

pigeon_ninja said:


> Hi.
> Well, the old egg unfortunately didn't make it.
> I have candled the new eggs from the balcony and they are developing red veins after 6 days and it is starting darken inside the eggs.
> I am letting the parents take care of the eggs though.
> ...



What you are describing sounds like what a 6 day old egg would look like. I candle my eggs at 5 or 6 days and a few veins are exactly what I want to see. You can order dummy eggs from any of the pigeon supply companies. I'm not sure if what you are seeing is actually cracks. Sometimes the eggs will have a faint, sort of line running along a side or end, don't really know how to describe it, but it can appear to be a crack but it's not really. It's just a little discoloration in the egg.


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## pigeon_ninja (Jul 10, 2006)

*Thanks*

Okay, I will try to find a pigeon supply company for the dummy eggs.
But if the eggs are normal, I will leave them to the parents.
I am glad the veins without an embryo at this stage is normal.
We've been having a few windy rain storms lately and I was worried the temperature may have been too cold.

I will candle again in another 5 days and hopefully they will both be okay.

The cracks were kind of round though when I saw them at both ends.
They were radiating out from the center like when you drop something heavy on ceramic which leaves similar cracks in the ceramic. 
However I was hoping the cracks were too shallow and tiny to have any effect.
It may have been the shape of the egg though being a little more elongated than the other one.
Maybe the longer structure means less support at the ends and made them weaker.


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## pigeon_ninja (Jul 10, 2006)

*The new egg is moving!*

The egg embryo (one without the cracks) is moving!
Is is pulsing when I candle it in the dark, but it is nearly transparent so I could not see it last night.
The light shines right through it!!! 
But the embryo seems to be taking up half of the egg already...
I didn't want to disturb them too much, but I just had to see today!
The heart is definately beating already.

I guess I just wasn't looking close enough yesterday?
Could it be that the heart only recently formed a few hours ago? 
I see it darkening and then lightening in tiny pulsations left and right.
I imagined a dark embryonic shape forming first, but it's a very faint form right now.


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## Vasp (Jul 25, 2006)

Sometimes the darkening and lightening is simply the embryo swaying back and forth in the egg; closer to the egg shell and then further from the egg shell. It truly is a remarkable thing to witness, though! From what I found out, yes - my last egg's air cell was in fact a bit too large, and at the time the baby was too small. But within about 4 days, the baby had grown so much that the whole inside of the egg was black aside from the enormous air cell. The baby hatched perfectly - not once getting stuck. As for my incubator, it's a simple syrofoam Hovabator incubator with a turbo fan. It works perfectly and is at about 100 degrees all the time if I set it to that. Good luck with the new baby (and let's hope the parents are good caregivers), as I know it's in the process now of hatching.


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