raising a short faced pigeon from hatch?

[tacothechicken]

Ok so currently I have my 4 Figuritas. My first pair was sitting for about 10 days. They then abandoned the egg last night. I have it in an incubator and still alive. If I can hatch it successfully, what's the best feeding tools and set up for raising a newborn short faced pigeon straight from the egg? Best feed mix? I've only raised babies 15 days or older :/

 

[biophiliac]

Ok so currently I have my 4 Figuritas. My first pair was sitting for about 10 days. They then abandoned the egg last night. I have it in an incubator and still alive. If I can hatch it successfully, what's the best feeding tools and set up for raising a newborn short faced pigeon straight from the egg? Best feed mix? I've only raised babies 15 days or older :/

I've only tried to hand raise after the crop milk stage but I've seen descriptions once or twice of people raising a newly hatched. I think perhaps one of the Kaytee formulas might be the starter they used. @Hokum Coco has mentioned warm egg yolk as a first food.... Best of luck!
@Pyxis any thoughts?

 

[biophiliac]

Ok so currently I have my 4 Figuritas. My first pair was sitting for about 10 days. They then abandoned the egg last night. I have it in an incubator and still alive. If I can hatch it successfully, what's the best feeding tools and set up for raising a newborn short faced pigeon straight from the egg? Best feed mix? I've only raised babies 15 days or older :/

https://www.pigeons.biz/forums/f27/hand-feeding-newborns-5331.html
Above is the first thing I found,...I think you would use syringes of the correct sizes as it grows, it also mentions a formula product....

 

[Pyxis]

I've only tried to hand raise after the crop milk stage but I've seen descriptions once or twice of people raising a newly hatched. I think perhaps one of the Kaytee formulas might be the starter they used. @Hokum Coco has mentioned warm egg yolk as a first food.... Best of luck!
@Pyxis any thoughts?

I might try Roudybush's formula that's specifically for squabs, for a better chance, since it's made nutritionally specifically for them. It has special instructions for the first 4 days.

 

[jak2002003]

Can you foster the egg with another pigeon pair? Perhaps a fellow pigeon keeper can use their birds to help out?

I would discourage you from attempting to hand rear the squab from hatching, because most will die as they really need the crop milk from their parents. Without this, even with the best hand rearing formula and technique, nearly all will die, and those that survive are often stunted or have health problems.

If you leave you pair to settle down to nest again, it will only be a few weeks before they have new eggs, so perhaps you would be better to be patient and wait.

 

[tacothechicken]

@jak2002003 unfortunatley our othe pair is still in the nest building stage and not able to foster and i no longer have my homers other wise i"m sure id have some willing fosters.
Normally id just dump the eggs as the 2nd one was infertile but give how far along the egg is at this point, due in 2 days. I feel i may as well give it the opportunity to hatch and try my hand :/ ill see if i cant contact my nearsest breeder in case he can foster the baby for me but from what i know his own swifts often require fosters so he might be full handed as for the parents they have already repicked a nesting sight and will probably be laying a little post Christmas I expect, hopefully they'll stick it through a full 17 days next clutch.

 

[tacothechicken]

on another note I went and read through any relevant or shared posts of successful baby raisers and think I have worked out a good idea of feeding and schedule for weaning, if it survives. Its gonna be a loooong 2 weeks if so. if it does make it I will post the set up I used in reference to feedings, times and amounts in relation to days of age, along with anything I may note important. wish me luck!!!

 

[biophiliac]

Of course I'll be wishing you and little figurita luck!

I find it helpful to get a weight before and after each feeding - in grams not ounces - for more precision.

 

[Hokum Coco]

I think you would use syringes of the correct sizes as it grows,

Some fanciers use this method with a small hose attached which seems to give even better results. Check out YOU TUBE for described methods on feeding squabs. There are several approaches shown there.

 

[jak2002003]

OP... have to say it will be more than 2 weeks that you have to hand feed it LOL (having rescued and hand reared many feral pigeon squabs myself).

Good luck, and please keep us posted. I would be very interested in its progress, as I have never know anyone who as successfully hand raised a pigeon squab from hatching.