So my cat did it.

[FEIGNPHANTOM]

Please do not flame me because my cats go outside, we have a fenced off yard with cat fencing so they never leave it. They are a danger to nothing except things that fly In, most of the time nothing does as we have bird scarers and various other things.

I do own birds and have owned chickens before and never had any issue with " family members" being harmed.


Sadly today, my cat managed to get hold of a pigeon and somehow she managed to get it inside the cat flap. It was a very large pigeon. I investigated outside and a tree inside my yard had a nest in it with 2 eggs, presumably the pigeons (i checked my cameras that cover my garden and it appears a pigeon chose the tree to nest)

My problem now is I don't want to "throw these away"

I plan to try and incubate them, as it seems they are fertile and they have started incubation.

I'm unsure exactly what the best way to do it would be, I know temp and humidity and I have an incubator that hasn't been years for years.

Can anyone throw any basic tips at me that may help? I already have them under a heated blanket every now and then so they don't die, but pigeons aren't my usual thing and my birds are far too small to incubate them.

Thank you for anyone who helps or advises.

I've already checked locally and nobody has pigeons who can take them on as theirs already have their own.

 

[Debbie292d]

From what I've seen in hatchalongs, they get incubated like chicken eggs. 99.5F and 40-50% humidity. They take 17-19 days, so I guess lockdown would be their 14th day when you stop rotating the eggs and turn the humidity up toward 65-70%. You don't know how much incubation they have, so try candle as guess how many days old they are.

Perhaps someone who actually hatches them will come along and correct me though, but for now, it's best to get them into the incubator asap!

 

[townchicks]

Your problem will come when they hatch. Pigeon s feed their babies with crop milk which the birds produce from partly digested food. It's hard to replicate. Even wildlife rehabbers struggle to raise them .it's kinder to toss the eggs now.

 

[Zenmonkey]

I'll second what was said above. The incubator settings provided should be good. The problem isn't getting them to hatch, it is keeping them alive the first two weeks or so.

As @townchicks states, it is kindness to dispose of the eggs.

If you're determined, source baby bird formula now. You need something that is suitable for pigeons / doves / parrots. There is a YouTuber Paradise Aviary who occasional hand raises parrots deliberately for the pet trade. I believe he provides sources for food. Pigeons grow at an insane rate, particularly in the first 2 weeks, but also slightly less so through week 6. Trying to feed them a light weight oat or wheat gruel is possibly the slowest, cruelest way to starve them to death.

Mother birds will often massage the baby bottom, stimulating a poop response. I don't think this is optional if you want the bird to live. I believe Paradise Aviary also has something about how to do this.

I believe you can go a few hours through the night without feeding, but you'll be needing to feed them every two hours or so the first few days, and slightly less often until about week 2 or 3 when they can start to get by on just a couple meals a day.

I believe a 1 ml oral dosing syringe is effective for this. Disposable ones are available online for not much cash.

There is also a way to directly crop feed the bird. I suspect that to learn this skill without a hand over hand teacher likely requires the sacrifice of more birds than you'll have to work with.

Somewhere here on BYC is a pretty good tutorial of how to syringe feed a baby bird. It is easier than you might think, once you've done it a couple times, and harder than you might think of you've not tried.

Your suggested project here is a very challenging one, and doomed to heart break without some sincere preparation and a bit of luck.

No issues with the cat. Cats do what cats do, and I've never tried to confine a cat inside 100% of the time.

 

[Zenmonkey]

My apologies, I just realized that you're probably not in the US, and Paradise Aviary is in Florida, USA. I'd still seek out his videos, but you may have to apply some effort to locate pigeon milk substitute, as he likely recommends materials available in his own country.

Also please don't be deceived by chickens. They hatch out with several days supply of food built in. They're precocial. Pigeons are altricial. I believe they'll need feed from day 1. Which is why I suggest seeking out materials now.

Best wishes!

 

[CCsGarden]

I have a link to some pigeon milk I use. Would you like it?

 

[Debbie292d]

Your problem will come when they hatch. Pigeon s feed their babies with crop milk which the birds produce from partly digested food. It's hard to replicate. Even wildlife rehabbers struggle to raise them .it's kinder to toss the eggs now.

I'm not sure how different raising a mourning dove is to a pigeon, but many, many years ago I rescued a bald one found on the ground by my dog. It was cold and obviously going to die, but brought it in the house and put it on a heating pad.

I didn't have BYC back then, nor chickens, so I googled. I bought cat milk replacer and mixed baby parrot food I had with that, and fed her with an eye dropper about five or six times a day. After a few days, I started mixing some of my parakeet seeds into that mixture, and she would eat this by herself now. However, unorthodox this may be to some, she lived.

I tried to release it when it was fully grown. She flew in the trees, then came back to my shoulder. I called the Humane Society, which knew of someone who raises doves who came to get her.

 

[Gill-b]

I have rescued and rehabilitated more baby birds (of various species) than I can count, but all the nest bound birds (including insectivores) had already received feedings from their parents, giving them the boost they needed in order for me to help them make it through their first few weeks.

I personally hope to never have to take on a newly hatched nest bound chick for the very reasons that @Zenmonkey has mentioned. It is possible, but can lead to heartbreak due to complications brought on by malnutrition.

Please consider carefully before deciding to hatch the eggs, especially if you have never raised a nest bound chick before.

If you do decide to go ahead, be prepared, be available with your time, and be committed to the task.