Doves are sitting! Can they take an extra?

[shelleyd2008]

Okay, some of you may remember a few days ago when I found an egg from one of my roller pigeons on the floor of their pen. So far, none of the rollers have laid any more eggs, so I've still got the egg in the 'holding' turner.

Today I noticed that my doves were spending an awful lot of time on their nests, so I decided to check them. 2 of my pairs have nests with 2 eggs each

Hopefully they'll have better luck this time

So I'm wondering if I can give this pigeon egg to one of the pairs? If it hatches, would the doves be able to care for it and their 2 babies as well? Do pigeons and doves take the same amount of time to hatch?

These are ringneck doves and birmingham roller pigeons.

 

[Teach97]

never done it...my ol' pigeon buddies told me not to so i listened! Went long enough trying to learn things the hard way now when a knowledable person tells me not to...I don't...usually...sometimes...you try it and tell me what happens cuz that could really speed up pigeon production around here!

 

[shelleyd2008]

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Yeah, okay, sure....I just don't want to lose the dove babies!

I'm thinking probably not since pigeons are so much bigger...but I thought I'd ask the experts here first

 

[Teach97]

That is why I never tried it! Except all I have are pigeons....there are several breeds yuo have to foster their babies out with...I avoid those because of the whole you gotta count and pay attention thing...I still think it is a surprise when eggs hatch in the bator! One of the reasons I am on here is so folks will remind me to move my eggs

 

[shelleyd2008]

I can imagine it being like those birds that lay their eggs in the other bird's nests? Then when that one egg hatches it's like 5 times bigger than the 'real' babies and pushes all the other ones out? I can't remember what that species of wild bird is, but I remember seeing pictures of the 'baby' taking up the entire nest of this little bird! I can picture a pigeon baby being like that with my doves

 

[Teach97]

that is the.....dang...I just taught that last week...it is...nope..it is lost...

I know what you are talking about and I bet you are right...it is amazing the size baby a roller will raise though! I have pigeons that are easily twice as big and have had a roller mommy adopt and raise...I have some strange birds...I have a friend that had two cock birds mate and would take over nests and raise the babies

 

[shelleyd2008]

Yeah, we had a homer sit, hatch, and raise both his babies year before last when his mate was taken by a hawk one day...though it seems like he might have taken a new partner in the process? Don't remember

We also had a hen roller that lost her mate last spring who hatched and raised her babies...all 3 of them

We had 2 hens, but only one was on the nest, so when the male disappeared mama was left to her own defenses since she'd run the other mama off.

Idk, maybe I'll try it, what can it hurt? So far the doves are batting '0' with their eggs, so maybe they'll get a baby to take care of this way

Plus, I'm sure this roller egg is from one of the pigeons that Creekside Lofts gave me...gotta try it

 

[puredelite]

I would just put the extra egg under the doves and candle them after a few days and be sure all of them are fertile. If so then I would toss one egg as three babies would be asking a lot for the doves to raise. The roller baby would quickly outgrow the doves and they would not be able to get enough to eat and at least one would probably end up dying anyway. Also there is a strong chance that an egg that is found laid at random on the floor came from an unmated pigeon and most likely isn't fertile. Strange thing with pigeons and doves is that usually the parents start sitting on the nest as soon as the first egg is laid and the second egg is laid the third day. One egg hatches before the other and one squab most times out grows the other. Must be natures way to insure the strongest survive.

 

[Mary Of Exeter]

If you put the roller egg under the doves, you'll need to take away the dove eggs. Think of how much bigger pigeon squabs are compared to dove squabs

I would think to raise the roller baby and it be nice and fat and healthy, it'd need to be alone. Plus, it may dominate over the dove babies, being bigger, and take all the food

 

[shelleyd2008]

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Yeah, that's what I was thinking too.