# Pigeon parenting problems



## Tuule (Nov 30, 2010)

Hello everyone, on Monday the 24th my pair had a chick hatch late in the evening and the other hatched sometime tuesday...Yesterday i came home from work and found one of them had died, not sure why but its crop looked empty and it looked like maybe it had been stepped on. Today (the 27th) i came home at one in the afternoon and the single chick was still alive and looked like it had been fed recently and was warm and sitting in the appropriate position. a few hours later after i got up from a nap i went to check on him and he was dead..sitting like normal with his head folded a little to the side (like he had been sat on too hard) its crop was nice and plump with pij-milk and he was still warm from the parent sitting on him...but he had passed.

Info about the parents: This is their first clutch of eggs that have hatched so first squab to care for. The male is a show homer and the hen is a common (like the kind outside) pigeon. The hen is over a year old and the cock was a 2010 hatch but im not sure the exact date or even the time of year.

I was just wondering if this is normal for first time pigeon parents and was also wondering if when they have chick hatch in the future should i take them away and attempt to hand raise them? or should i just hope that it was just lack of experience on their part and that they will do better on the next?

-Tuule


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## PigeonX (Oct 17, 2010)

Sounds to me like a lack of experience, I have a few birds like that do that when they started off breeding for the first time. I had a yearling cock bird that did not even care about the young after his first babies hatched. He eventually tried again and they were able to pump out some young for me after about there third try.


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## Msfreebird (Sep 23, 2007)

Tuule said:


> Hello everyone, on Monday the 24th my pair had a chick hatch late in the evening and the other hatched sometime tuesday...Yesterday i came home from work and found one of them had died, not sure why but its crop looked empty and it looked like maybe it had been stepped on. Today (the 27th) i came home at one in the afternoon and the single chick was still alive and looked like it had been fed recently and was warm and sitting in the appropriate position. a few hours later after i got up from a nap i went to check on him and he was dead..sitting like normal with his head folded a little to the side (like he had been sat on too hard) its crop was nice and plump with pij-milk and he was still warm from the parent sitting on him...but he had passed.
> 
> Info about the parents: This is their first clutch of eggs that have hatched so first squab to care for. The male is a show homer and the hen is a common (like the kind outside) pigeon. The hen is over a year old and the cock was a 2010 hatch but im not sure the exact date or even the time of year.
> 
> ...


Could be inexperience OR salmonella. Salmonella can cause chicks to die in the egg or usually within 5-7 days after hatching.


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## The_Dirteeone (Apr 18, 2010)

I have a pair of Tumblers that never raise thier young.Three times last year,I found dead chicks,one time about a week old.This is when I caught the dad beating them up.So I use pumpers to raise thier young,and of course sit thier eggs.If you can,its is great to have a few pair of pumpers,or foster parents around,it can boost the amount of young birds you have,if you needed to,and are I think,a must have in a loft


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## spirit wings (Mar 29, 2008)

squabs dying from disease is less common than death from lack of experience..sounds like they were stomped on.. show homers are pretty husky masculine birds..they made it to hatching so they may improve on their parenting skills.. if they sit eggs well usually they can raise squabs.. but sometimes this happens.. in the mean time get their droppings checked, and if all clear try again... if the mishap happens again then I would just give this pair fake eggs.. if you want more pigeons, buy another proven pair.. or just get some young birds from someone.. was there a reason you wanted a show homer mixes?


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## Tuule (Nov 30, 2010)

I only have just the 2 birds and am only wanting to let them hatch and raise one batch. I have homes for the chicks should there be any. 

If it is salmonella is there anything I can do?

I've seen how the father interacts with the young and he is very gentile but not that observant :/ he is quite heavy compared to his hen, which is why I think he sat on them too hard...

I'll work on finding a place that tests droppings so I can get that done, is there somewhere in particular I should send them? Cause I have a feeling the vets around helena, Montana don't know anything about what pigeon droppings are supposed to look like...let alone what is supposed to be there and what isn't.

Thank you all for your replies, it helps having people who actually know about pigeons to talk to


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## Msfreebird (Sep 23, 2007)

Tuule said:


> I only have just the 2 birds and am only wanting to let them hatch and raise one batch. I have homes for the chicks should there be any.
> 
> If it is salmonella is there anything I can do?
> 
> ...


If you take it to your vet, they can send it out to any lab that they use for bloodwork, etc. You want an avian 'Culture & Sensitivity'


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## Tuule (Nov 30, 2010)

ahh, okay. I gave them a call today and the person i talked to had no clue what i was talking about but took a message to ask the vet and said they would get back to me.


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## Msfreebird (Sep 23, 2007)

Tuule said:


> ahh, okay. I gave them a call today and the person i talked to had no clue what i was talking about but took a message to ask the vet and said they would get back to me.


 You called your vets office and they didn't know what a fecal culture & sensitivity was? 
The lab "cultures" the fecal to determine if and what type of bacteria is there. Then they test it with different antibiotics to see what it's sensitive to, to kill the bacteria.


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## Tuule (Nov 30, 2010)

Yeah, the actual vet may know what it is but the receptionist didn't...they never actually got back to me yesterday and they are closed on weekends :/


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