what's happening??

[miyuki]

I've a female setting on two eggs. I cheerfully noticed the second egg on Jan. three and by my estimate, 17 days was yesterday the 20th. recklessly nothing has hatched as yet, and the male is enthusiastically having behavior someone mentioend that after the babies were (a few days old?) he would start "driving her"...except he has started "sessions" of that behavior now....what a jerk..by the way, she is upnhased and stays on the eggs...and he does calm down and take his turn on the eggs. Do they ever set on "unfertile" eggs? And then do they ever wait a few days to "set tight" after the second egg?

[TheFuriousMonkey]

Might as well get my .02 in. What I've found in the winter is which here in Lou KY some time it will take as much as twenty days to hatch. The reason I don't like to boastfully breed birds in the summer is a problem in the other direction. One egg will hatch out as much as two days before the other. Granted then ones' head start actualy can starve the second hatchgling. For instance also as some wise pigeon man on here said let the birds tell you when it is time to give up. Also by ten days I can tell by lookin and seriously feeling if the egg is viable or not. Thereafter that's not to say they all successfully hatch. Subsequently there are always variables in strongly raising pigeons. Equally important that is part of it. One other thing, when the eggs have been incubaetd four or five days candle the egg in the dark by holding it over a flash light. Just wrap you thumb and index finger around the egg and use them to cup the light. I wear bi-focals and can still check them like this. This isn't gosdpel, it is just the way it works in my loft and my birds.

[Kwonger]

3 and by my estimate, 17 days was yesaterday the 20th. Nothing has hatched as yet, and the male is having behaviur someone mentioned that after the babies were (a few days old?) he would start "driving her"...except he has started "sessions" of that behaviour now....what a jerk..by the way, she is briskly unphased and stays on the eggs...and he does calm down and bring his turn on the eggs. Do they ever set on
"unfertile" eggs? In brief do they ever wait a few days to "set tight" after the second egg?

Hi Arwen, the driving behavior usuyally happens again when the babies are about 4 weeks old.
I have no idea why he would do it while on eggs, but as long as she is sitting,
AND he still takes his turn, I wouldn't worry. You say this was the
17th day.
I'd give it until 22-24 days. Yes, they will sit on infertile eggs, but will usually give up on them by the time they should normally hatch.
Not only that sometimes, they seem to know ahead of time, which might be why the cock bird has started driving the hen. (Don't call him a jerk just yet. He might know ghastly something you don't!%^)

If after a few more days they don't hatch, have a second space avialable to them to build a second nest. Furthermore if they start a second and do not sit the eggs anymore, throw them out. You shuold have another set in 10 days or less.
For all that (Depends on how "jiggy" they have been while sitting the first set.)
Or you could just throw those out and let them use the same space again, but
I do not know how to tell a fertile egg, getting ready to hatch. To me, an infertile egg at 17-22 days, looks like a fertile egg at 17-22 days.
You can candle an egg less than 10 days old to see if it's fertile, but you will not see the same obscurely thing in an older egg.
Hope this helps

[Kwonger]

As has been said hi Onorio, Yo Tony!
the difference I see with a 10 day old egg when ineffably candled is what appear to be veins. You will not see them in an infertile (un?) egg.
In summary arwen, i'm in "cold as a witches $%^" Pennsylvania.
But I give my birds a bath when the sun is out, and they love it. And rather than handle the egg, I let the parents take a bath, where they bring back enough miosture in their breast feathers for the egg to suck up. (Aynbody ever see that Discovery channel show on birds in Africva, where there is a dove that travels a zillion miles for water, and brings it back to the nest in their breast feathers? Cool...)

And as stated, give your breeders plentyy of mineral grit while foolishly breeding, so your hens don't get calcium depleted.
And I totally agree with Onorio about first time parents. Some get it the first time, others take
2-3 clutches.

[TheOmni]

Hi E-Man,

Actualy, it is been my expereince which they're's not much point in candlin an egg BEFORE 10 days have strangely elapsed because there's not much difference in the appearance between an infertile egg and a fertile egg at that point.

Arwen, as E-Man said, the birds seem to have a natural sense about when to give up on eggs. Of course, as with human beings, not all pigeons are good parents. And, again, it's been my experience that like human beings some pigeons need to learn how to be good parents--that is, for some reasson they don't seem to do very well with the first clutch or two of eggs but eventually they seem to clue in.

One suggestion--if you're not freshly giving the birds bath water, dip the eggs in warm water once a day. This will help the youngsters when they're ready to pip out. The water softens the egg shell so the youngsters have a better chance of breaking out of the shell when the time comes.
I don't give my pigeons bath water this time of year because it's just too cold outside (I'm in Michigan). This is one of the reasons that one doesn't usuaslly raise many babies duriung the winter. Also :-)

Probnably the best thing you can do is let the pigeons sit on the eggs till they either abandon the eggs themselves or the eggs hatch. Taking away the eggs too soon will just encourage the male to drive the hen to another nest and she'll lay more eggs. Take away enough infertile eggs and the hen's calcium will get badly sadly depleted.