Eggs are hatching!

[Thepigeonguy]

So it would appear that everything is well. Is the pale yellow near his(or her) throat the milk in the crop? This is day 3.

 

[biophiliac]

thanks for the photo update! As an only child he or she should be very well nourished I would think? Hope to see more of the little guy.

 

[Hokum Coco]

This is day 3.

You can see it growing each day. It's eyes are either open by now or just on the verge of opening. Thank you for sharing. It will develop even faster as an only child. I can tell it has excellent parents.

No nest bowl only a single hatch.

 

[purslanegarden]

That's so sad, knowing that the 2nd egg was pretty much viable also but now lost.

Yes the part of the baby that you mentioned, is its crop area.

I'm also new to pigeons and I'll learn as I go, but I think the stories we have heard about avoiding to touch eggs, babies, etc in case the parents abandon them... I'm not sure how true that is.

Many people have had to relocate eggs and babies, and the pigeon parents still take them (as in the case, for example, when the eggs was newly laid and it needed to be moved to a better spot).

I ended up using a kind of nest box design that is typical for chickens, so there was no chance the egg can roll out. I have also found that the material doesn't seem to be as important as the parents sitting on the egg to give it the right temperature. For example, I've seen pictures of nests made of sticks only, straw only, or even on the floor of a newspapered-up cage -- all babies hatching just fine. (Well in the case of the newspaper, there was a little bit of stuff near where the parents sit so that the egg doesn't just roll everywhere).

I was also worried about cold temperatures for the naked babies, but I think as long as the parents are attentive, that should be helpful for the baby. Well, I forgot that I had 2 of them, and their proximity helped keep each other warm, too. But I'm sure in your case, the parents will be even more attentive to keeping the single one warm.

 

[Thepigeonguy]

Actually I’m not new to pigeons, I’ve kept them for 2 years. I started with 6, 2 homers and 4 Birmingham rollers. After a month one of the rollers broke its neck on the aviary wire. The first bird I let fly was gone for 3 days before returning (a roller).One of my roller males and a homer female successfuly raised 2 babies who I will discuss later. When the squabs were about a week old the mother(a homer) and my other homer flew of. This was after many loft flys. Around a months later a saw the other bird. One of the babies( female) went to an older man in the neighborhood who had a single feral pigeons who he had raised as a baby. The other( a male) flew of moths later along with the father. I suspect hawks played a factor in this. This left me with 2 rollers, who attempted numerous times to raise babies but only ever raised one. That one flew away after several flys. The mom was having seizure like moments and died(this was about 10 months ago) the remaining male, a self black, was alone so I got more birds from a guy in Utah. 2 rollers( I suspect Birmingham rollers) and 2 classic frills. One died in July, a raccoon victim at a rental house( we were moving) the other died in January, again a predator victim. They weren’t very smart and I won’t be keeping those again. The 2 rollers I still have along with my original black roller and my 2 pairs of Turkish tumblers. I guess I still am knew to pigeons and have had a very rocky start. However I’m changing several stupid moves including 1: no nesting places and 2: flying fed birds. I was obviously making bad, bad moves. I appreciate the support that I’ve found here. Looking back I’m horrified at my loses. Btw what is this color called. One of my rollers.

 

[Thepigeonguy]

Also the frills didn’t have their home so the raccoons just reached thru the wire of the aviary.

 

[Thepigeonguy]

And I forgot to add I got the takla in October.

 

[Thepigeonguy]

Here’s the squab on day 4.

 

[Thepigeonguy]

On day five his eyes are open now.

 

[Hokum Coco]

On day five his eyes are open now.

Not that it makes any difference but usually that happens on day 3 as a rule of thumb.
Just like pigeon eggs usually hatch on day 19 but I have had them hatch as late as day 23.