I have eggs laid... now what

[LamarshFish]

The pair I thought was gay has laid an egg, thus solving the gay pairing question. How long before they hatch?

Also, she sits on it most of the time, but I do catch the egg by itself sometimes. Is this normal? These are the first eggs they have ever laid, the birds are only 7 or 8 months old.

 

[Spartan22]

Eat them!!(eggs) 7-8 month old hens are less likely to be broody(hatching eggs) which might take 20-21 days of 24/7 sitting on them. Though I had one French hen that went broody on me after laying for 3 months, rare case on egg layer breeds. Also do you have rooster that fertilized these eggs? If not they will never hatch.

 

[biophiliac]

Wow, that is exciting!

 

[biophiliac]

Eat them!!(eggs) 7-8 month old hens are less likely to be broody(hatching eggs) which might take 20-21 days of 24/7 sitting on them. Though I had one French hen that went broody on me after laying for 3 months, rare case on egg layer breeds. Also do you have rooster that fertilized these eggs? If not they will never hatch.

these are pigeons! lol

 

[Spartan22]

these are pigeons! lol

LOL- I got no experience w/ pigeons, disregard my ignorant advice

 

[biophiliac]

Not ignorant! It's so easy to overlook the section of the thread.

 

[biophiliac]

The pair I thought was gay has laid an egg, thus solving the gay pairing question. How long before they hatch?

Also, she sits on it most of the time, but I do catch the egg by itself sometimes. Is this normal? These are the first eggs they have ever laid, the birds are only 7 or 8 months old.

So this is the pair you thought was 2 males, right? Is there only one egg?

 

[LamarshFish]

So this is the pair you thought was 2 males, right? Is there only one egg?

Yes, this is the pair I thought was two males, and for good reasons. My hens all act like hens, they do not coo, all they do is growl. My cocks coo and strut and puff up their neck feathers. Both these birds, #6 and #9, coo and puff up their neck and strut. But #9 laid an egg, so apparently she is indeed a hen. So, folks aren't joking around when they say you can do all the guessing you want with the physical traits and behavior, but you never truly know until they lay or you do a DNA test.

There was no egg yesterday, so I imagine she laid this one today and there will be another tomorrow.

 

[LamarshFish]

LOL- I got no experience w/ pigeons, disregard my ignorant advice

Yes, these are pigeons. They only lay 2 eggs per clutch, so even if you wanted to keep them for egg laying and eating, they are really not the right bird for it! I have chukars that lay an egg a day of equal size, now that is another story, they are great for egg collection since they will lay and lay and lay (reason is they do about 14 eggs to a clutch).

 

[LamarshFish]

Also one question, their nest isn't great. Would it mess anything up if I pick up the egg and sort of add some nest material below it, and then put it back?