Takeing the eggs.

farmerjoecoledge wrote:

Yeah, she's sitting on the light ones i had from a couple of years back. I guess I'll wait a bit before I try and switch them again with the wooden ones, I was hoping she would reject the wooden ones.

Why were you hoping she would reject the wooden eggs?

Well, she's got to reject something sometime. I know you said they can sit for months, I interfeared with nature now I'm concerned about Mama.

Don't worry about that, they're making double sure the eggs won't hatch. Some pigeons just don't want to give up!
The actual sitting on the eggs won't do them any harm, even if it is for long periods of time -- in fact, it's restful for them, and they don't have to replace the body reserves of calcium etc, as quickly as if they were breeding repeatedly.

And you're right, they're so 'human' sometimes, it's really funny!

Today is the 2nd day Ma's sitting on wooden eggs.

Papa doen't stay with Mama, I have no idea where he hangs, he found the box and let Ma move in. Now, is Ma going to hang here? I mean eggs or no eggs, is she going to remain?

Maybe she gave up and I don't know it, and she's just being a homebody?

farmerjoecoledge wrote:

Today is the 2nd day Ma's sitting on wooden eggs.

Papa doen't stay with Mama, I have no idea where he hangs, he found the box and let Ma move in. Now, is Ma going to hang here? I mean eggs or no eggs, is she going to remain?

Maybe she gave up and I don't know it, and she's just being a homebody?

The way you write your observations is really funny! You know, blog or no blog, you should write a book about all this when things have settled down a bit!

In theory, pigeons are very democratic, they take turns on the nest. Generally the female takes the morning duties, while the male forages for food and exercises. Then he takes over in the afternoon, while she goes off. At night they either stay in the nest together, or else one is in the nest and the other perches nearby. Well, that's the theory...
Whilst most of my pigeons and my local ferals do exactly that, there are exceptions. My Hercules hardly ever sits on the nest, leaving his partner to do really long shifts. And she barely gets time to come out for a couple of minutes to eat, drink and stretch her wings, that he's pushing her back towards the nest, grumbling and puffing up his chest.
Now Pa may be a democratic chap, taking his turns, or he may be a macho pigeon and leave it all to Ma. The only way to know for sure is to observe them at frequent intervals during the day.

Happy bird watching! You've got all the makings of a soap opera there...

Teresa wrote:

farmerjoecoledge wrote:

Today is the 2nd day Ma's sitting on wooden eggs.

Papa doen't stay with Mama, I have no idea where he hangs, he found the box and let Ma move in. Now, is Ma going to hang here? I mean eggs or no eggs, is she going to remain?

Maybe she gave up and I don't know it, and she's just being a homebody?

* The way you write your observations is really funny! You know, blog or no blog, you should write a book about all this when things have settled down a bit!

In theory, pigeons are very democratic, they take turns on the nest. Generally the female takes the morning duties, while the male forages for food and exercises. Then he takes over in the afternoon, while she goes off. At night they either stay in the nest together, or else one is in the nest and the other perches nearby. Well, that's the theory...
Whilst most of my pigeons and my local ferals do exactly that, there are exceptions. My Hercules hardly ever sits on the nest, leaving his partner to do really long shifts. And she barely gets time to come out for a couple of minutes to eat, drink and stretch her wings, that he's pushing her back towards the nest, grumbling and puffing up his chest.
Now Pa may be a democratic chap, taking his turns, or he may be a macho pigeon and leave it all to Ma. The only way to know for sure is to observe them at frequent intervals during the day.

Happy bird watching! You've got all the makings of a soap opera there...

I agree with Teresa, Grant, Your description of Ma and Pa's events are wonderful.
And if you're not doing so, you should jot them down for possible future use.


Our Pij'ette sits in her basket nearly 24 hours, weather she is sitting on eggs or not. She does get up to eat and drink and move about a little, but for the most part she sits in her basket. I would definitely say she is a 'homebody'.

Thanks for the encouragement, a book? How about a bunch of short stories? You got some, we can put them together, and call it the Pigeon Bible.

Macho, that's Pa, out having fun and he's always the first to show up for supper, I look out periodically during the day and Ma, I presume, is in the nest. She remains in the nest while the feeding frenzy is happening, later when everybody is fed and gone she's still not moving. I havn't seen her eat or fly in 21 days. Except when I swapped the eggs.

No more scares from the management since the Sunday no-show. I got one more new member, Blackie, Freeda's guy, I think, he's super friendly, I try to keep it cool so the pigeon haters don't get their hatred in a knot.

farmerjoecoledge wrote:

Thanks for the encouragement, a book?

How about a bunch of short stories? You got some, we can put them together, and call it the Pigeon Bible.

Macho, that's Pa, out having fun and he's always the first to show up for supper, I look out periodically during the day and Ma, I presume, is in the nest. She remains in the nest while the feeding frenzy is happening, later when everybody is fed and gone she's still not moving.

I havn't seen her eat or fly in 21 days. Except when I swapped the eggs.

No more scares from the management since the Sunday no-show. I got one more new member, Blackie, Freeda's guy, I think, he's super friendly, I try to keep it cool so the pigeon haters don't get their hatred in a knot.

That could certainly be doable.

Sometimes they sneak in their meals without us knowing. However you might want to see about putting a little dish of seeds and water next to her nest.

Good idea!!

Were back to square one. This morning when checking the nest there's no Mama bird. First time since laying the eggs. I go out and retieve the wooden eggs.

Not even a half hour later Pa is back in the nest cooing away. I guess that's full circle, Pa don't waste no time. Now if I see Mama in there for lenghts of time, out come the woodies again.

I had this posted and here's Papa and some house-wrecker makin out on the balcony, I'm blowin away what does Pa think Ma's got fixed?

Maybe it's a one-off thing, that's the most likely. Spirited hens have been known to wingslap their partners when they catch them being unfaithful, but most look the other way.

Or it could be he decided to have two wives. That has happened in the past when a female relative became a widow, or her mate left her. I know it happened with Cindy's pigeons.

Let us know the next instalment of the thriller!

It seems Pa's lookin to start a harum. There was no feed left out and Pa was lookin starved, I put some for food out and Ma 'and' the new chick feading with him!

I was shocked again, man are these women getting liberal these days, Pa was puttin on his strut, for the new chick, "RIGHT IN FRONT OF MA" I thought, good thing he's not a human.

Now I notice there's two pig'es behind the nest, I can't tell who he picked for the night. No more faithful birds, it's a 'love in'.

I got a new arrangement since I took Pa's pad. I mentioned this on other posts but Freddie/Freeda would come inside to the nest and coo, he was attracting a mate. I put the nest outside and 3/4 days later there was eggs. So out with the wooden ones, I would take the eggs out and they would put them back, until I noticed one egg not put back so I take that egg, then it was another 5/7 days she/they finally gave up. In comes the nest.

Now Freddie has new girlfriend and is coming back inside and cooing. She's coming in to check out his offer.

Like don't these birds know winter is coming? If I put the nest back out will there be more eggs? This is Alberta and could be -20C now, it's been a really nice fall, but where is their biological instincts?

If I don't put it out, will they still have eggs elsewhere, now, this time of year?

Pigeons who live outdoors in places where the winter is cold don't usually breed during the cold months. But sometimes you never know, as the mild Fall may have made them think there was still time for another clutch, and especially if they can find food.

I hope they don't have any more eggs now. Babies born at the change of the weather have a slim chance of surviving. Let us know how it goes.

Well it seems they got a feeling winter is coming. I put the nest out and Freddie was cooing away for a couple three days and his girlfriend wasn't interested anymore, so I just brought it in until next year, I guess.

This year I got six eggs. It's not fair to Freddie, Speck, Freddies younger brother, got himself a girl and two kids, which he brings here to eat. I robbed him of parenthood, is that good? Seems the males grab new women when the eggs don't hatch. I at least, had one kid, maybe next year I'll let him have one.

Even with my 'taking the eggs' there's Specks two kids and their mother, another two young ones,(I'm not sure who from) Freddie his now girlfriend, Blackie and Spot all coming to eat. Then off they go to wherever it is they nest.

In an ideal world, we could let the pigeons have as many babies as they want, but unfortunately when neighbours or condo managers complain, the only way to keep protecting those pigeons that have formed a stronger bond with us (or those who find it harder to get by without our help) is to keep the numbers down on the balconies.
I know it wasn't an easy decision for you to replace the eggs, but you may have saved quite a few lives -- it's not even good to think of what might have happened if the manager of your building had got fed up with lots of pigeons and decided to have them destroyed!

Nice to know they're settling down for the winter and you can have a break from egg duties!

Thank You, to Teresa, Cindy and all that found some knowledge in this post. It's been quite the experience for me. Personally, I don't mind the Pigeons and now I've created a abortion clinic. Not fair to Freddie when Speck went elsewhere and had a family.

Be back next spring with more.