Little bit of an odd situation here...UPDATE

[beakkeeper]

Well I haven't posted in a loooooooooong time but there's a little bit of an emergency at my house.

Yesterday my sister told me that a pigeon had injured itself and was hobbling around in the back alley. I carefully grabbed it and put it in a bucket in my yard, with a towel over it, then I had to leave. (We also put some bread in there). While I was gone my dad released the pigeon--it's probably dead now--but when he took the towel off there was an egg in there! Currently is actually in a model of one of my chicken coop designs,

with paper towels for cushioning under a hot lamp. I don't know the temp or anything though!

I'm pretty sure it's fertile, because when I was "rescuing" the female, a male pigeon flew down and puffed up around the neck, cooing violently at me. I think it was the mate.

Is there any way we can incubate and hatch successfully? I don't want to buy an incubator, but i do want to see what happens with this egg.

 

[beakkeeper]

UPDATE: Upon closer inspection, the egg is cracked a little--it must have hit the hard plastic bottom of the bucket. However, the membrane is still intact and all that cracked was the air cell. THE AIR CELL DID NOT RUPTURE. I have it in a heating pad now, on high. It's hot, I guess.

 

[bethandjoeync]

don't you need some sort of humidity source?(just from what I read, it just as important to have the right humidity as it is heat)

 

[beakkeeper]

Moistened paper towels is all I have now...

 

[monarc23]

sadly you were already incubating it while putting it under that hot lamp....and you may have been "cooking" it if the lamp was over 102. It's hard to say. Cracked eggs can still hatch but you may need to cover it with wax (though I never do).

 

[beakkeeper]

Well the lamp was definitely not over 99.5, it was probably under. Right now I can't get a reading on the temp, but I took a preemie hat and made a "nest" with it for the egg. The heating pad is under and over it. (medium temp setting--high was WAY too high!)

Anyone else have any ideas? Thanks so far!