Chicken incubating pigeon eggs?

[jak2002003]

DO NOT DO IT!

Raising pigeon chicks from hatching is VERY hard to do. They will most likely die within the first few days.

This is because they need PIGEON MILK which the adult pigeons make in their crop and feed to the newly hatched chick for the first week or so.

We can not replicate this 'milk'.

If the pigeon chicks has been raised by its parents for a few days - then we can hand feed them no problem.

You will not be doing a kindness by experimenting with their lives.

 

[spikennipper]

Yes listen to the others, please do not let your curiosity overcome you, pigeon chicks are very different from many bird chicks and are not easy to raise even for experienced people, as others have said they need special food from the beginning that needs to be crop fed into them at regular intervals throughout the day ( they do not beg, you need a syringe and a tube ) starting at the crack of dawn to the last thing at night this will be hourly to begin with for the first few days do you really have all this time to devote to them? if you overfeed they can aspirate and choke or get aspiration pneumonia, if they hatch and that is a big if as she will most probably crack them before they do, they will most likely die shortly after, I am sorry to be so negative but we do not want anything to suffer here.

 

[wildflights]

Wolfy - I have homers and rollers that are sitting on chicks or eggs right now. If you'd like 2 or 4 of either of those breeds, I will give you some young birds when they are weaned. OR I could part with some older homers that you can have. Assuming that your parents are OK with you having pigeons.

Normally, I sell all of my king babies locally as pets. I have two of those that will be weaned in about 4 weeks.
These make good pets for people that are looking for birds that don't fly much and are easily handled. Maybe those chicks would be a good fit?

I'm in Puyallup, WA. If you're interested my direct email is [email protected]

Best wishes,
James

 

[laughingdog]

if you really want to hatch them then find a pair of ringnecks to hatch and care for them as soon as possible, as for some reason my doves i had could and would feed any baby at any time and they did fine, and try to hatch any and every egg given (some types of eggs will require more or less humidity in nesting material according to eggs hatching). feed the parents layer feed, as its easy for parents to break down quick to feed even newborn doves pigeons and parrots. chickens create a lot more heat and humidity and ive tried and had success and failure, but oddly hatching chicken and quail eggs ect under doves and pigeons works well (except that the dove chase the poor chicks around and try to love and feed them and stress the chicks till they just all learn that the chicks will feed from the regurging parents close to their mouths. it maybe heartaching but sometimes the experiance is fun to try if you can stand the negative results at times.

 

[jak2002003]

if you really want to hatch them then find a pair of ringnecks to hatch and care for them as soon as possible, as for some reason my doves i had could and would feed any baby at any time and they did fine, and try to hatch any and every egg given (some types of eggs will require more or less humidity in nesting material according to eggs hatching). feed the parents layer feed, as its easy for parents to break down quick to feed even newborn doves pigeons and parrots. chickens create a lot more heat and humidity and ive tried and had success and failure, but oddly hatching chicken and quail eggs ect under doves and pigeons works well (except that the dove chase the poor chicks around and try to love and feed them and stress the chicks till they just all learn that the chicks will feed from the regurging parents close to their mouths. it maybe heartaching but sometimes the experiance is fun to try if you can stand the negative results at times.

I don't think that is a good idea. The ring neck doves are so much smaller than a pigeon - and the strain on them to raise 2 massive pigeon squabs would be too much! Also the pigeon may even injure it adopted parents when its getting ready to leave the nest, or with its rough begging actions and wing slapping.

Also don't do this for a 'fun experience' - its not fair on the birds!

 

[laughingdog]

my ringneck doves would raise one pigeon egg or baby given to them, sometimes two, and still each lay and raise a pair of their own alongside or right in nest with until i seperate largely differant sized babies, then they care for seperately. course i also let my doves out to free and exercise which i conditioned them to slowly first, feed them properly, and kept them in aviaries big enough for them to exercise (not tiny cruel cockatiel cages at biggest like most think acceptable home). also maybe due to great variation of food and stimuli, as also kept other birds in aviary with but provided many types of perching thickness and nesting materials and houses (they seemed to prefer nesting in the ferns, or in dug out pots, on ground or hanging). only time my ringneck doves got thin or stressed was when id take them out of aviary and put in baren cages on grates so they couldnt nest and breed. theyre pretty to look at and listen to, and breed or foster, but as interactive pets they were pretty useless as even letting them out to free fly (which is advised against as many times most will just fly off into something and then sit there and starve or die from exposure to elements or predators), but they would sometimes take a week to come back if not nesting already, but then theyd usually bring mourning doves home with them (i think the doves must have seen and then followed the pigeons, parrots, and cockatoos home, or heard them following sounds).

 

[Wolfy1313]

Just to let everyone know that my chicken has been doing wonderful with the eggs. I bought special formulated milk and set up a tank but it looks like the eggs will not be hatching. The first egg started to make a small hole but died before any real progress could be made, which my vet tells me most likely stemmed from the parents being underfed and kept in poor conditions. The second egg im pretty sure died within the week it was laid from the same conditions. For those of you who kept saying my chicken would crush them, she didn't and gave good care to the eggs. Also as for the people who said I wouldn't have the time to care for them, I just graduated high school and don't begin collage for another 6 months so I had nothing but time. Thank you for all the advice and hints I received about the eggs/birds.

 

[Hokum Coco]

I thought the odds were against you going into this project to be honest. However I was hoping you would succeed just so you could share your information and experience to all of us who had the deck stacked against you. Sometimes valuable information can be acquired when someone is will to commit to a challenge. I was told it could not be done when I tried to raise newly hatched as well. In one case they were only half right.