# help! Mother dove abandoned nest with 2 eggs.



## Crakatow

Hi!
We have a mother dove nesting outside our house just above the pillar between the walls in our open shed.We noticed her abt 2 weeks ago. She was always sitting on her eggs and her partner is always not there. She wasn't sitting in her nest this morning and I was curious.maybe the eggs hatched? But i didnt hear anything, so i got on a ladder and checked with a mirror.It turns out that there are 2 eggs there. Mother bird no where to be found.....should i just wait and see or is there anything i can do?
The thing is that i dun know when she left the nest. It is monday morning now, the last time i saw her in her nest was fri evening.
Any advice?

Regards, Priscilla


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## dogsoldier

Not a whole lot you can do. Eggs no good if they don't get parents on them soon. 

If the doves dont come back you can throw the eggs.


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## Crakatow

*More Info on the eggs and me*

It's gonna be such a pity if the mother bird doesn't come back. But what i think i will do is, if she doesn't come back by tonight, I'll bring the eggs in and try to see if I can get them to hatch with proper incubation. About a year and a half ago, my son found a baby pigeon Lucky who was probably about a week old. i nursed it till it was full grown and one day it flew off and never came back. We pined for it and kept looking. In the end, We got ourselves now 3 parrots as pets in the house.  I know how difficult and time consuming it is raising a new baby squab. God i think it's worse than having a new born baby!!!! I remember feeding and trying hard not to doze off to sleep sometimes. And this forum with all you wonderful people helped us so much. Well, I guess i'd better get prepared with an incubator. Hmmmm And I guess i'm going to need a lot of help again from you guys unless the mother bird comes back or if the eggs didn't surivive. I hope it does. 

Will keep u guys posted. Thank you !


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## Reti

Thank you for your concern about the eggs.
There are several possibilities here. One is the eggs might not be fertile, you can check that by holding a flashlight behind the egg in a darkened room.
Another possibility is, something happened to the male and the mom got tired sitting non stop on the eggs.
Do you know about when the eggs were laid? Again, candling the eggs (flashlight method) will give you an idea.
If the the eggs show eggyolk in them, then either they are not fertile or they were laid in the past 24 hours.
What temperatures do you have where you live. Eggs not being incubated can get cold pretty quickly and the embryo dies. So, being cold since Friday makes it unlike the embryos are viable, if there are embryos in the eggs.
And since the mom is gone since Friday I think it is ok to take the eggs in and check them out.
Let us know.

Sorry to hear your baby pigeon never came back. Let's hope s/he found a mate and has a wonderful life.

Reti


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## Crakatow

*It is almost 3pm Mon afternoon. Mama bird still not back.*

Hi!
Reti, thanks for your reply. We saw the mama bird nesting in her nest, that's when we discovered her abt maybe 2 weeks ago. She sits alone in her nest, her mate doesn't come back at all. And i used to wonder if she is ok doing by her self without food. We checked on her almost daily during the weekdays, we saw her last on fri evening. But on sat and sun, we were out, so we didn't know when exactly she left the nest. She prolly got fed up after sitting by herself for so long.

We are in Melbourne, Australia, where the weather varies horribly. But on sat and sun past, the day temperature is abt 20 degrees plus something. But today the temp is 35 degrees already. The night temperatures are lower, maybe abt 15 degrees or so. 

There's sort of like a grey shade of sort of thing on one of the eggs. Not sure if they are fertilized or not, We 'll prolly check later in the evening. What a pity if they don't survive.But i'll do the best i can. 

Just went to the shop and got a heating pad ready just in case i need to have a make shift incubator. Will see how i go with the eggs....thanks !!!


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## Reti

I don't think the temperatures are high enough for the eggs to survive all those days without mama dove sitting on them.
Also, since you mentioned that they may have been laid almost two weeks go, they should be very close to hatching, so you should be able to see an embryo and it should be moving if alive.
Anyways do the candling and let us know what you see.

Reti


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## Crakatow

*One egg is fertilized. Not sure alive or not though*

Hi 
I've just candled the eggs, one of them is fertilized. i can see the black elongated spot and some stuff....the other one is just plain clear. With nothing inside. Not sure whether it is alive though, so i've just put it in a card box with water and a lamp inside. Will do more research on candling to check if it is still alive... will keep u guys updated. Thanks !


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## feralpigeon

Hi there, would that be Celcius or Farenheit in terms of degrees mentioned?

fp


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## Pidgey

Gotta' be Celsius. I went to weather.com and plugged in Melbourne, Australia and ran the 10-day. Expected low for the period of 52 deg F (11 C) and a high of 81 deg F (27 C).

Pidgey


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## feralpigeon

Pidgey said:


> Gotta' be Celsius. I went to weather.com and plugged in Melbourne, Australia and ran the 10-day. Expected low for the period of 52 deg F (11 C) and a high of 81 deg F (27 C).
> 
> Pidgey


Well, that's a whole lot betta...

fp


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## Crakatow

*Question?Alive or not?*

Hi, I've been trying to figure out if the egg is alive or not. I'm afraid that the embryo in the egg has already died. Nothing seems to be moving, except for like the watery kind of thing on side of the egg. How do you really tell? If the eggs were laid like almost 2 weeks ago, what should i be able to see in the egg while candling. Any info will be very much appreciated. In the mean time, i will keep reading abt candling stages of the egg. Thanks !


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## Reti

I know there were some pics somewhere to show you the embryo development, so I will go and look for them now.
But, after two weeks of incubation the embryo should be almost as big as the egg.
Let me go and try to find the pics.

Reti


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## Larry_Cologne

*Candling eggs*

Some references:

with pictures, reference linked from Wikipedia:

http://www.homestead.com/shilala/candling.html

and another link from Wikipedia:

http://www.urbanext.uiuc.edu/eggs/res26-candling.html

and from UCal weblink in Google, also with pictures:

http://anrcatalog.ucdavis.edu/pdf/8134.pdf


Larry


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## Pidgey

Well, pigeons usually take up to 19 days in cold weather and as little as 14 days in very warm weather. I don't know but I expect it's about the same for doves. The embryo on the inside isn't going to be moving around such that you can see it, especially by the candling method. By the last few of growth, you can't see much of anything but darkness when candling.

Pidgey


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## Reti

Thank you, Larry.

Reti


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## Maggie-NC

Larry, great links. I have never candled eggs so knew nothing about what they look like. We've held some up to the outdoor light a time or two but never really knew what to look for. Really interesting. The UC/Davis link showing the dead turkey embryo was kinda sad.


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## feralpigeon

Larry, thanks for taking the time to provide some most informational links on 
this topic. UC Davis was especially excellent, I bookmarked them all.

fp


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## Crakatow

*The egg is gone...probably. ..*

Hi, 
Thanks larry for the wonderful links. I checked them out and candled the egg again. I don't think the embryo in the egg survived. I think there is a blood ring. And only a small portion of the egg is dark coloured(seen through candling). And no change has occurred since yesterday. ......I also see some sort of ablood spot near the dark mass. ....what a shame. I would have like for the egg to survive but well, i'm glad that i 've tried. I will stop incubating tomorrow, just in case i made a mistake. 
Thank you guys for all your help! You have been really wonderful!God bless you all in all your work caring for our feathered friends. 

Regards, 
Priscilla


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## Pidgey

Well, I gotta' tell ya'--it can sometimes be a deal of "be careful what you wish for because you just might get it." What I mean is that it's not the easiest thing to do, raising them from the egg. When they die within a few days of hatching, it's far more heartbreaking than at this point.

Pidgey


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## Crakatow

*Incubator off*

Hi all, I have officially switched the incubator off, so no more eggs. A little sad nonetheless. I do remember the hard hard work of nursing the one week old squab about a year and a half ago. Feeding endlessly, losing sleep over it and making baby food since kaytee is not available here. It was actually like when i had my first born son, but i think nursing the squab is much harder coz i got to keep my eyes open while feeding it. hahahhhaa
I do admire the work that you guys are doing. I plan on getting involved in helping the wild life organization over here in australia. 
Keep up the good work guys, and have a merry christmas. 

By the way, is there anybody in australia involved in rescue work?

Regards, 
Priscilla


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## Pidgey

I think we have a member named "Alaska" who lives in Australia as well as a few other incidental members. I don't keep track so I might be missing a very good friend that I talk to everyday. You might try getting in contact with Alaska to ask that question.

Pidgey


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## Reti

I think Ellie is in Australia also.

You are a wonderful person Priscilla, I hope you find an organization you can help.
Merry Christmas to you and your family.

Reti


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## TAWhatley

Hi Priscilla,

If you do a Google on australia wildlife rehab you should turn up quite a few links. Not knowing exactly where you are in Aussie land, I'm not able to narrow down any groups for you. W.I.R.E.S. is a big one in NSW: http://www.wires.org.au/ and should be able to refer you to groups in your area if you are not in NSW.

Terry


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## feralpigeon

Priscilla, thanks for the rescue work that _you involve yourself in_ when the
need arises. Sorry the egg didn't make it, sometimes circumstances take parents from the nest and sometimes it is their instinctive response to labor-in-vain. Best wishes to you and your family for a Happy Holiday and happy and healthy new year.

fp


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## Pigeonpal2002

Crakatow said:


> By the way, is there anybody in australia involved in rescue work?
> 
> Regards,
> Priscilla


Hi Priscilla, 

I am trying hard to remember but I do believe there was a lady from Australia who was involved in rescue work down there. I think her name was Melissa or Mel but I'm not sure if that was her user name on here or not. I just can't remember what her name is now.

Sorry to hear that the egg was dead by the time you got to it. As Pidgey had said though, it might have been a blessing in disguise more or less and perhaps saved you some heartache in the end.


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## Crakatow

*Another dove rooasting again in the next pillar...*

Hi!
Thanks for your feedback. I have gotten in touch with Alaska and see how i will go from here. I realise that pigeons and doves and sparrows are not really helped much in australia, not sure but just a personal opinion really. When i used to bring the dove to the vet the last time, the vet was saying it's not gonna make it and stuff like that. And the veterinary nurse didn't even know what it was when i showed her the bird. But it is so common here in Melbourne, I've got heaps living around in my trees. Some time ago we found an injured sparrow, called around for wild life people to help, but got the feeling that they weren't going to drive a couple of hours just to get the sparrow. They told us to take the bird to the hospital which of course said to put the bird down. Anyways, i would love to help these birds in any way i can, so trying to see if there are any organization who cares for these birds, really. 

Oh, i just saw another dove roosting again in the next pillar where i found the old nest. I can't tell whether it's the same one or not but fingers crossed, this time, hopefully the mother dove is successful. But i don't see the mate again......

Thanks again for all your help! God bless and i'll post back again after i come back from my holidays. Going away for a few days over christmas......Bye !

Regards, priscilla


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## feralpigeon

Priscilla, I hope that you have a good holiday/vacation and look forward to your
update.  

fp


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