Jelly egg.. sick pigeon?

[jak2002003]

OK, so this is something I have never seem before in my pigeons.

One female had an egg in the nest for a couple of days before I noticed. I had to throw it away as it was very dirty, covered in dried blood and poop. The female pigeon seemed ill, with droopy wings and lethargic. I thought she was egg bound, so I gave her treatment for that... trimmed her vent feathers, used warm water and steam to relax her vent muscles, gave her fluids and some drops of mineral oil in the vet to help the egg pass.

But nothing happened. After a week she seemed to get better so I returned her to the loft.

Now, about 10 days later, I go in the coop this morning to see she is standing over an egg. When I pick up the egg its got no shell.. its like a jelly egg, only having a membrane. It was disgusting... but it was clean and no blood on it.

The bird seems OK.

Do I need to worry? (I am always worrying about my birds).

Is this due to a disease or diet or something wrong with her internally? She is about 1 year old and this is the first time she has attempted to nest and breed.

In several years keeping pigeons and chickens I have never had this problem.

The pigeons main diet is mixed grains and chicken LAYER pellets. They also have minerals and oyster shell grit.

But maybe she is not eating the foods with calcium in them?


Any advise very welcome. Thanks.

 

[Hokum Coco]

One female had an egg in the nest. I had to throw it away as it was very dirty, covered in dried blood and poop. Personally I would have cleaned the egg off a bit and see if she would incubate it. First time parents sometimes only lay one egg in a clutch and are prone to do things wrong.

Now, about 10 days later, I go in the coop this morning to see she is standing over an egg. When I pick up the egg its got no shell.. its like a jelly egg, only having a membrane. This sometimes happens in birds that are just beginning to start eggs production or coming to the end of their egg production cycle. Your bird suffered some internal damage from laying that first egg and probably has not quite yet fully recovered.

Chickens when they begin or end their laying cycle usually lay under size eggs, eggs with no yolks (aka wind eggs), and membrane eggs. It does happen with pigeons but it is NOT common.
?
Do I need to worry(I am always worrying about my birds). Not yet my guess she will get it right in her next clutch.

I think she is a late bloomer and her reproductive system is not fully developed yet and a few of the spark plugs are not firing. She dodged a bullet by being able to pass that first egg. Pigeons are very resilient birds and I would be surprised if she did not make a full recovery.

You were smart by isolating her when recovering from laying that first egg and treating as if she were egg bound (pigeons usually lay 2 eggs.)

My opinion you
ALMOST LOST HER.

But maybe she is not eating the foods with calcium in them?
That is definitely a possibility.

In the instances that I cited calcium could be present in full force and you would still end up with the same results.

Any advise very welcome. Thanks.

 

[jak2002003]

Thank you for that in detail reply. You have set me mind at rest somewhat.

It was indeed her first clutch. She is a very late bloomer as I bough her and her nest mate as a young adults about almost a year ago. Her sister has already had 2 clutches and raised 4 squabs.

I threw away the bloody egg as it was really covered in LOTS of dried blood, veins and dirk.. and I mean like it was dipped in the stuff in a thick coat!

I think you are right about her doing herself some damage inside, that is why the egg was bloody, and probably why the 2nd egg took so long to come out and it was with no shell.

I hope she will do better nest time. I have decided to cage her up with her mate in a large dog crate with the nest in there. That way I can feed her away from the other birds and make sure she is eating the chicken layer pellets and not just selecting a few seeds she likes the best.

I will let you know what happens next time she has some eggs.