Pigeon egg issue

[ohwowimcool]

Hey, first post here so hi.
But I had two pigeons who rejected a egg so I threw it into a incubator. But the issue is pigeons need friends, and mine where attacked and killed by a racoon, so what age do I get another pigeon? And what age do I swap from crop milk to the baby hand feed, and finally to softened then firm seeds? It's been a week and I've left the cage door open with seed but the racoon just comes back in the night and eats the seed, is there any hope i'll see them again? I'm thinking no since I found feathers near the cage and the nest was dragged a few meters away and surrounded by the females feathers, plus I saw a hawk in someone's lawn trees a week prior. I think I'm going to keep this one inside as a personal pet but I still want to get it a mate/friend.

the baby is due in 4 days and i just wanna make sure I have everything ready

P.s this raccoon has nearly taken the foot off one of my quail and all so some how avoids the live traps while still grabbing the bait, I think i have a nemesis now

 

[cavemanrich]

You are not likely to see your original pigeons.. I think they are waiting for you at the rainbow bridge.
Wishing you much luck raising the pigeon that is due to hatch. It is a difficult task,,
Stop putting seeds into your loft, During night time,, your pigeons will not return during night anyways. Raccoons are nocturnal,, so they will be just getting those seeds all the time. Raccoon needs to eat just like any other animal.. You need to make it difficult for him to get at feed,, and birds. Then maybe he will move on somewhere else.
You need to secure your loft, and quail cages much more,, to prevent raccoon entry.
Raccoons are smart,, and once they recognize a trap from past experience,, they will avoid it.
I have a trap that outsmarts raccoons. It is made from a garbage can, Raccoon does not see as trap, but as another can where you keep garbage. Raccoons do eat much from peoples thrown out discarded garbage. They don't have their speed pass to order food from a fast food establishment, run thru.

My suggestion;
Secure your loft.
Get a pair of young squeakers, and raise to have them homeset to your loft.
I could go on and on,,, but would rather that there be specific questions .

so what age do I get another pigeon? At least one month old,, and preferably get one same age or so.

And what age do I swap from crop milk to the baby hand feed, and finally to softened then firm seeds? Feed crop milk for at least first 10 days,,, then add softened seeds to same. At about 2 weeks, you can start offering softened seeds, and thawed frozen peas. At 4 weeks, the squab should be able to eat dry seeds, but of course always have water next to feed.

WISHING YOU BEST,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,and

 

[RoostersAreAwesome]

If you keep the pigeon inside and give it lots of attention, it doesn’t necessarily need a mate. So you have plenty of time to wait. It would also probably be good to figure out the sex of the pigeon before finding it a mate.

 

[ohwowimcool]

You are not likely to see your original pigeons.. I think they are waiting for you at the rainbow bridge.

My suggestion;
Secure your loft.
Get a pair of young squeakers, and raise to have them homeset to your loft.
I could go on and on,,, but would rather that there be specific questions .

so what age do I get another pigeon? At least one month old,, and preferably get one same age or so.

And what age do I swap from crop milk to the baby hand feed, and finally to softened then firm seeds? Feed crop milk for at least first 10 days,,, then add softened seeds to same. At about 2 weeks, you can start offering softened seeds, and thawed frozen peas. At 4 weeks, the squab should be able to eat dry seeds, but of course always have water next to feed.

WISHING YOU BEST,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,and

Thank you so much, I assumed that but didn't want to have to admit it. I stopped putting seeds in the loft after a little but the raccoon still comes to eat the feed and poop that the quail drop underneath the cage (it raised for sanitation and safety). the only issue I've had with the quail was the raccoon grabbing and ripping off one of the hens toes, she's fine now just has to hop around but moves and eats well. I added a layer of wire underneath the cage about an inch down and haven't had it happen again.

these raccoons where being feed by some lady for a while till she stopped and went on vacation. They ended up trashing her back porch so I'm not the only one with issues with these guys/guy lol.
The raccoon figured out the door lock so I'll have to buy/make a new one, it was a small loft and I was planning on upgrading to a larger one soon anyway so I guess this would be a good opportunity.
And thank you so much for the advice on the pigeon egg, I hope I do this right and I'm very excited to have a baby pigeon, even if the circumstances arnt great.

 

[rolohman]

I've seen in numerous spots that raccoons can't generally figure out carabiners, so I added those to every latch we have that had a spot for them. Kind of a pain going in and out, but we leave them off during the day and just reattach them at night.

 

[Qwerty3159]

I've seen in numerous spots that raccoons can't generally figure out carabiners, so I added those to every latch we have that had a spot for them. Kind of a pain going in and out, but we leave them off during the day and just reattach them at night.

Agreed, they work well for me.

Another option is to just buy a cheap padlock to keep the doors shut and have the keys somewhere near the coop.