Well done with raising that chick. It is very difficult to raise pigeon chicks from just hatched. This is because we can not replicate the important pigeon 'milk' the parents feed the chick the first few days. Without this the chick are prone to get infections and not thrive, usually they will not make it.
So great job!
I have also had a situation when one pigeon was left with the eggs. But this was from a female leaving her mate!!! She does it every time. She will share incubation, and raise the chicks for about one week, then she abandons them and her mate totally (usually taking up with another male and doing the same to him!).
The male always does a great job rearing the chicks, and he has raised 6 this season. I don't know why, but he always takes the female back next time... very forgiving lol.
Whenever you are getting eggs squashed, or chicks in the nest scalped, you have to look at the way you are keeping the birds. This often happens due to something wrong in the loft, maybe overcrowding, too few nest boxes (so birds are fighting to get one), nest boxes that are too open and not easy for the pigeon owners to defend etc.
Also lack of proper nutrients, such as calcium and protein will make the eggs shell very thin, and the parents may break the eggs if they step on them, or the chicks will die and be crushed just after hatching as they were too weak to make it. Then it looks like the parents killed then, when in fact they died after hatching, and then got trodden on.
One great tip I was told was to have some wooden boards on the coop floor leaning against the wall. Then when the young birds leave the nest for the first time, then can run and hide behind these boards and so avoid getting scalped or beaten up by other adult birds in the loft. When they hear their own parents they come running out to get fed, then go back behind the boards.
