Roller Pigeons For Sale. $50 Young Birds and $75 Adult Seed Stock. Proven Line of Ruby Roller Pigeons. Bred From Proven Breeders
The Original All Roller Talk Discussion Board Archive > Cold Eggs
Cold Eggs


Click To Check Out The Latest Ruby Rollers™ Pigeons For Sale


Login  |  Register
Page: 1

Double D
117 posts
Feb 04, 2006
11:40 AM
Does it hurt the egg if the birds are not sitting on it the first day or two while they're waiting to lay the second one? Don't they need to be kept warm as soon as they're laid? I thought I read where someone takes the first egg and keeps it in his refrigerator until the second one is laid and then he placed them in the nest bowl. Provided they're fertile, will the eggs be okay if the birds don't sit them the first couple days or until both eggs are laid?

Question #2. I have a couple cocks who don't seem to want to be doing their job of sitting the nest during the day. Keep in mind the second egg hasn't been laid yet. Is that normal behavior for young cocks? Do they get serious once the second egg is laid?

Thanks for the responses.

Darin

Last Edited by Double D on Feb 04, 2006 11:59 AM
Shaun
268 posts
Feb 04, 2006
12:32 PM
Darin, you don't want them sitting the first egg; the parents should wait until both are laid - so, usually, the first is not sat for two days, pending the laying of the second egg. Mature pigeons know the score and simply squat over the first (less experienced pigeons, however, may sit the first egg). Some just leave the nest with one egg in it until the second arrives. Either way, it doesn't matter - you don't want them sitting the first egg. If they do, one bird will hatch before the second - perhaps a full two days. Not good. By the time the second bird comes along, the first can be demanding too much food, to the detriment of the second. Some birds will kick a later hatching squab out of the nest to die - that happened to me.

Having said all this, I had two hatch on the same day a week ago. This morning, one of them had grown so large that the other was one third of the size - this in just a week. The small one, this morning, was half dead because the parents - as they had been covering the bigger squab - hadn't managed to also cover the smaller one. It got very cold in the night, so it was on the way out this morning, barely moving. I quickly put it under another pair which had two squabs of a similar age. This seems to have worked, but I just hope I haven't put the other two at risk.

These are the reasons why people who breed through the winter expect losses. Unless you can provide some means of warmth (that's a whole post in itself), the squabs are at risk when the temperature drops. The next risky stage is when the second round is due and the parents leave the first round squabs unattended - at barely a couple of weeks old, they may not have enough feathering to cope without parental warmth so, once again, if the temperature drops, they can succumb.

I'm right in the middle of all of this right now and it's fortunate I'm at home most of the time; I can keep a close eye on things and hopefully take action if things are looking dodgy.

Shaun
Fr.mike
58 posts
Feb 04, 2006
12:33 PM
Hey double D--Iam no expert this my first year--but what i did was take the first egg out put a fake egg in and i put the eggs in alittle clear tupperware thing with a lid that i drilled holes in ---put a little bed of sand--I marked the eggs with a fine tiped marker--and put them in an unheated bedroom it stayed an average of 50 deg. I turned the eggs two or three times a day. when the second egg was laid i just switched the fake egg with the real one. sofar no problems-I had two nests with babys hatching at the same time two days ago--and five more due today or tomorrow. I hope this helps.just remember I am a newbee and someone with more experince might have better advice.
Fr.mike
Sourland
34 posts
Feb 04, 2006
1:15 PM
Double D, basically I do the same as Fr. Mike. Remove the first egg and replace it with a wooden nest egg from Foys. Place the egg with pair I.D. number in a small container on top of the dresser in my bedroom. (The Princess has come to accept this practice as "my" normal behavior. Turn egg twice daily and return to the nest two days later when the second egg is due to be laid. Needless to say, remnove the wooden nest egg. Somewhere on some site I read that the second egg is laid by 4P.M. I have found this to be pretty much the case. Once it warms up, you do not need to go through this added work.

Good luck, Geo.


Post a Message



(8192 Characters Left)




Click To Check Out The Latest Ruby Rollers™ Pigeons For Sale