Too cold?

[AceRoller]

What is considered too cold for pigeons to lay eggs and raise squabs? Here its like 10°F...

 

[LamarshFish]

What is considered too cold for pigeons to lay eggs and raise squabs? Here its like 10°F...

I just went through this whole process. The short answer is, that is not too cold for pigeons to incubate eggs successfully, or even for them to raise squabs to about the 2 week mark, but after the squabs are a few weeks old the parents stop sitting on them constantly, and in temps like that you then begin the risk that they could freeze to death when the parents begin not sitting on them as much. I'd say they are out of the woods at about 3-4 weeks of age when most of their adult feathers come in, but at about 10-18 days of age I think they are at risk in those temps.

A month or so ago, a pair of mine raised squabs in temps below zero and never higher than 10 degrees until the squab was 3 weeks of age. The smaller squab died at about 10 days of age I think not due to cold but due to not being fed enough and the parents being first time parents. To help with warmth at the age when the parents stop sitting on them as much, I placed a chick heating pad under the nest bowl during night time when they'd be least likely to be disturbed, and the surviving squab did just fine, and he is thriving now, and I named him "Frost."

Here is a link to the heat pad I used. I would not use this during incubation or the first week or so of them being alive in order to avoid the risk of the parents thinking it's too warm and abandoning the nest bowl and squabs. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00JHK375E/ref=oh_aui_search_detailpage?ie=UTF8&psc=1

If you don't want to deal with this process, simply replace the eggs with fake ones and wait another month or two for the temps to warm up.

 

[AceRoller]

Oh i see. I will definitely invest in those heating pads. I currently have the breeding cages in the garage where it is slightly warmer always than it is outside. Hopefully that will help them. 3 pairs are successfully on their eggs. One pair doesnt seem to sit on their eggs and left them to freeze. Idk why. But thanks for the reply. I appreciate it alot!

 

[purslanegarden]

I think your garage shouldn't be at freezing temperatures...maybe just at refrigeration temperatures. So you might want to warm up their area a little bit, not just for the babies, but also the adults.

I did have an egg laid near a couple of days where we had freezing temperatures (outside). I thought maybe it got frozen but continued to let the parents sit on it and a few weeks later, both eggs hatched successfully. Since then, we range from 18-F to 50-F, so fortunately it's not really long cold times but the parents do seem to be helping out properly on those cold times. The babies are now around 90% feathered up at around 3.5 weeks, not necessarily full feather growth though, just that the feathers are around their bare skin. How much more they need before being able to hold their own heat properly, I don't know, but it seems like those cold days as naked babies seem to have passed without a problem.

 

[LamarshFish]

Oh i see. I will definitely invest in those heating pads. I currently have the breeding cages in the garage where it is slightly warmer always than it is outside. Hopefully that will help them. 3 pairs are successfully on their eggs. One pair doesnt seem to sit on their eggs and left them to freeze. Idk why. But thanks for the reply. I appreciate it alot!

I think temps above 35 degrees you do not have to worry about using heating pads at all. My garage is attached to my house, but is not heated at all, and the only time the garage temp gets below freezing is when it's below zero outdoors. Even when it's single digits my garage temp stays above freezing, similar to what purslanegarden said above. I will say, however, that my attached garage sits below one of my bedrooms, so it is not a bare roof above it, perhaps making it better at insulating than other garages.

Either way, I think in your garage they should be ok without heating pads. Another nice thing about a garage is you don't have to worry about drafts. You do have to ensure they receive natural light though.