Pigeons are social birds. They are exceptionally comfortable being around with humans. They don’t mind making a family tree being around us. Laying eggs and hatching are the crucial parts of a pigeon’s life. There are many pigeon egg facts we don’t know about. But don’t worry. You’re in the right place.
We are going to talk about Pigeon eggs and all the facts that you really need to know. We will try to cover everything you have in mind or trying to find answers regarding pigeon eggs.
Let’s get started.
When Do Pigeons Start Laying Eggs?
Pigeons usually lay their first egg at 5 to 6 months of age.
From the day one of hatching, it takes around five to six months for a female pigeon to lay the first egg. Some species may take a bit long, but the general case is to lay eggs within five to six months.
Why pigeons take 5 to 6 months for their first egg? Well, it’s about their maturity. They need at least 5 months to get matured. And when they are mature, they are ready to breed and after that, start laying eggs.
But it is necessary to make sure that pigeons are getting regular nutritious food and pure drinking water. It matters a lot. Pigeons that are not having proper nutritious food and water may take a bit longer to get matured.
At the age of 3 or 4 months, you may see pigeons mating with other pigeons. Don’t worry, it’s their natural behavior. But don’t expect that pigeon to lay eggs immediately after they are done mating.
It’s not possible because they are not matured enough to produce eggs and as I have said before, mating at that age is their normal behavior. It’s totally fine.
How Often Do Pigeons Lay Egg?
Well, normally a pigeon can lay eggs twelve times a year, that means you are supposed to get 24 eggs a year. You may say, getting two eggs every month is possible.
But it would be quite unreasonable to say that it is possible to get 24 pigeons out of 24 eggs. Because many eggs may not end up getting hatched. You may find many eggs infertile or probably may get lesser eggs.
But the usual scenario is that you will see them laying eggs constantly with a break of one month in-between approximately.
In my experience, pigeons that are being kept in a cage, are more likely to concentrate on having eggs than the pigeons that are kept open.
When the process of egg hatching is done, you will see the mother is preparing everything for laying eggs again within two weeks. That’s really cool. This is the common scenario for most of the species of pigeon. There might be some exceptions.
But it is better to keep male and female pigeons separate for a while to give them a rest. Constant laying of eggs may end up increasing the rate of infertile eggs. And also, it may affect the pigeon’s body badly. If you want to get fertile eggs and healthy baby pigeons, it’s better to give them a rest.
How Many Eggs Do Pigeons Lay?
A Pigeon normally lays two eggs at a time. The second egg will come within the next 24 hours to 48 hours. If you see three eggs being laid by one pigeon, then it would be quite unusual.
In that case, you may find the third egg to be smaller than the other ones and there are chances of that egg to end up being infertile.
But if you see four eggs in the nest then it’s quite certain to say that both the pigeons are female. It’s better to change the pair by bringing two male pigeons.
In case you want to know that, what should you do if you see pigeon eggs on the balcony? Then click here.
Do Pigeons Lay Eggs Without Mating?
Yes, Pigeons can lay eggs without mating with other pigeons. And this is quite a common scenario.
As it is known that, at the age of 5 to 6 months, pigeons get matured and ready to breed. But if the female pigeon doesn’t find any mature male pigeon available to make a pair, then the female will lay eggs without mating with anyone.
There comes a certain period when a pigeon gets matured to lay eggs. When the time comes, the female pigeon tries to attract the male by making a beautiful noise. Basically she wants to make a pair with a male.
At the same time, the female pigeon tries to search for a place for making a nest and also for the eggs. By this time, if she manages to make a pair by getting involved with a male then both will be going to live together and make a nest. This way it is expected that their eggs will hatch.
But if the female pigeon doesn’t manage to make a pair by finding a male, then she will find a place for nesting herself and when the time comes, she lays the eggs. Not only that, you will see them incubating the eggs.
Don’t expect those eggs to be hatched. It’s not going to happen. Because the female pigeon didn’t get the chance to mate with the male pigeon.
For the eggs to hatch successfully, the female pigeon is required to mate with the male pigeon. It is the sperm from the male that makes the eggs possible to be hatched. And only then we can expect baby pigeons come out of the eggs.
Well, I’ve gone through some interesting facts and experiences. One of my female pigeons which hasn’t managed to make a pair with a male yet.
But I noticed that the female pigeon somehow managed to mate with a male who already has a pair. That’s quite interesting. And they got involved in mating for several times in different situation.
As a result, the pigeon laid two eggs after a few days. Then I decided to keep those eggs under its mother’s incubation. I was pretty confident about those eggs to be hatched because I’ve seen her mating with a male pigeon.
After 5 days, I’ve checked the fertility of those eggs. And guess what? Yes, those are fertile eggs. The female pigeon was incubating the eggs alone and it feels bad to see a pigeon doing everything single handedly.
As she didn’t have a pair to help her, she didn’t spend much time in having her own food and used to return to the nest quickly for incubation. I waited until the incubation period to end.
And finally the day had come. On the day of 17 or 18, those eggs hatched with all its glory. Then the female did the feeding and caring for the baby pigeons by herself.
It definitely proves that a female pigeon alone can incubate the eggs and raise her babies with no questions. That’s incredible.
Pigeon Egg Size
The size of a common pigeon egg is 3 cm to 4 cm. It varies with different species of pigeons. Bigger pigeon lays bigger eggs such as King Pigeon. They are relatively bigger in size than the other common pigeons. That is why their eggs are also bigger than others.
A pigeon egg in reality looks a little less than half of the size of a chicken egg. The shell of the egg is not very strong. It can be broken easily by getting a small hit. So, it is recommended to take precaution while carrying the pigeon eggs. Also, one should not press hard while holding it.
Pigeon Egg laying Process
It’s beautiful to see the pigeon sitting on their eggs and incubating them, right? Well, everything progresses forward in a systematic process which is more beautiful. So, let’s talk about the process of laying eggs of a pigeon.
After breeding, both male and female pigeons get busy in making a beautiful nest by collecting nesting materials like straw and stuff like this.
Male pigeon starts making wonderful sounds in the nest to attract the female and try to tell her to get close to the nest. It would be more obvious to say that male pigeon is taking care of the female, as they are going to have eggs very soon.
This time female pigeon always stays at the nest except for the time of having food and water. Male pigeon brings necessary nesting materials to the female and the female decorates the nest with that stuff.
Both the male and female pigeons are very conscious about their nest during this time. They do not let other pigeons come even close to the nest. If any other pigeon gets into the nest by mistake, you will see the male pigeon fighting with him and get him out of the nest.
It is very important to have proper nutritious food and grit for the pigeons. Grit will help pigeon better digesting and also make the eggshell strong.
Now, the day comes. Female Pigeon is going to lay the first egg. She barely comes out of the nest unless she has to. She’s out only to have food and water. The male keeps doing his job, protecting the nest and his family.
A pigeon usually lays an egg at the time of the evening. But it can be done at any time. You probably may see the moment of laying eggs if you keep eyes on them regularly. And trust me, It’s beautiful to look at it.
When the female pigeon lays the first egg, the first thing for you to do is to replace the real egg with a fake egg and wait for the second egg to come out.
The pigeon normally lays the second egg the day after laying the first day. Sometimes it may take a whole another day.
Don’t worry, it’s normal. If you don’t see any egg after two days, that would be quite unusual for pigeon but which possibly also may suggest that the female pigeon won’t be laying anymore eggs.
After laying the first egg, the female sits on the eggs to protect it. Or sometimes she stands over the egg but she never leaves the egg alone. She leaves the place only when it’s time for having foods but that requires the male first to come and protect the egg.
Now, when you see the second egg being laid by the female pigeon, you have to take out the fake egg and put the real egg on the nest.
The reason behind doing so is that if the first egg is not replaced by the fake egg, then the pigeon may start incubating the egg. And at the time of hatching, the first egg will hatch a day before the second egg.
If that is the case, then the babies will not be the same size. As the first baby comes earlier than the second, it can eat more from their parents which results in making that baby bigger in size. On the other hand, the second baby will always be smaller than the first baby as he or she is weaker and gets less chance to have food from the parents.
If the eggs hatch on the same day, both babies can grow in the same ratio. Both can take the same amount of food they need. And only then it is quite possible to get them as healthy pigeons.
Pigeon Egg Incubation Process
When the two eggs are laid by the female, they start incubating the eggs. During this period, both the male and female become so much attentive and conscious about their surroundings.
One pigeon incubates the egg and another one tries to be around the nest. The eggs are kept under full protection by both the male and the female.
The male pigeon incubates the eggs from morning to afternoon. Then the female comes and incubates the eggs all over the night. Then, the next morning, again the male takes the duty and the cycle continues similarly for the next couple of days. The process ends when the eggs hatch successfully.
Can You Touch a Pigeon Egg?
Of course, you can touch a pigeon egg. Pigeons don’t mind even if anyone touches their egg several times.
What I mean is that, if anyone touches the egg the pigeons will not abandon the eggs. Of course, they will try to protect their eggs by frightening you and they will be much more aggressive.
Most of the times when you go to touch the eggs, the pigeon sitting on the eggs will try to peck you. But it doesn’t hurt you that much.
Sometimes you actually need to touch the eggs if you want to check the egg’s fertility. And it is very important to check fertility. For that you definitely have to hold the egg. But don’t worry, they are not going to abandon the eggs.
How to Check Pigeon Eggs Fertility?
When the female pigeon is done with laying two eggs, it’s better to note down the date. It will help to calculate the age of the eggs.
After 5 days, it’s always better to check the eggs if it’s fertile or not. If you find both of them fertile, then it’s good. But if one of them or both are found infertile, then that one or both should be taken out of the nest.
To check the fertility of the eggs, first, you take the eggs from the nest and shed light on the egg in order to check the inside. It can also be convenient to use mobile flashlight for this test.
The light will be passing through the eggs and you’re going to have a close look at the color of it. Before that, you just put the flashlight on the table and place the eggs directly on the flashlight and two possible colors can be seen – either purely yellow or little bit of vein like red amongst the yellow.
Now, if you see the egg to be completely yellow which is the yolk, then it is not a fertile egg. Fertile eggs after 5 days look a little red if you put it properly on the flashlight. And if you closely see the egg, you will notice some red veins covering up the whole egg.
If you find something like this, then know that you got fertile egg. Now put the fertile eggs back to the nest and let pigeon do the incubation properly.
Infertile egg will never hatch no matter how many days you incubate them. If both eggs are found infertile, removing those from the nest will help the parents replan about having eggs.
And within a very short time, they will again start breeding and preparing the nest for the eggs.
How Long Does It Take for Pigeon Eggs to Hatch?
For a common pigeon the incubation period is normally 17 to 19 days. But it may vary depending on the species of different pigeons. Like, Victoria Crowned Pigeon takes approximately 30 days in incubating their eggs. It totally depends on the incubation temperature.
From day one of laying eggs, both the male and female pigeon work really hard in incubating their eggs. They eat less than usual during this period. And it takes around 18 days to end the incubation process for most of the common pigeons.
Exceptions might happen depending on the health condition which can be determined by noticing their behavior. When pigeons get sick they are not going to be incubating properly.
If the situation goes like this, it would be quite unreasonable to get eggs to be hatched within 19 days. This may take a bit longer or the eggs may fail to get hatched due to lack of having proper incubation temperature. Yeah, temperature matters a lot.
Pigeon Egg Hatching Process
On day 17 to 19, the two eggs start to hatch. If you closely look at it, you will notice that the egg shell has a crack on it. The crack indicates that the babies are going to come out.
First, the baby makes a little hole from the inside of the egg shell. Then the egg shell starts to break and at that moment noticeable crack can be seen. The baby gradually breaks the egg shell beautifully in a round way. Then finally it comes out of the shell.
The whole process is very beautiful and so much satisfying to look at. Don’t expect the process to be so quick. It’s a very slow process. Baby pigeon coming out of the egg takes quite a bit of time. But trust me, you won’t get bored looking at it, rather you are going to enjoy it.
After hatching the eggs, mother will remove the egg shell by taking it with her beak. But it is recommended to remove the egg shell as quickly as possible by hand.
Because the broken egg shell has sharp edges and the newly hatched baby pigeon has very soft skin, the baby can be wounded very easily by the sharp edges.
The moment the eggs start hatching, the parents become excessively attentive of the surroundings to protect the babies in the nest. When the babies are out, parents start feeding them the crop milk and taking so much care.
Now, the babies need a lot of heat and you will see parents giving them the proper heat. It looks like parents are incubating again. But no, they are providing heat to the babies which is necessary.
Why Pigeon Eggs Are Not Hatching?
It is possible to get a lot of eggs from the pigeons. But it is not certain that all the eggs will hatch.
As I’ve discussed before, pigeon eggs should be checked when it’s been five to seven days under incubation. It’s because to make sure that the eggs are fertile. In this process, it is quite expected to get the two eggs being hatched.
But sometimes things might not always go right. After the incubation period, one or both eggs may possibly end up not getting hatched. If the eggs won’t hatch after 25 days, know that it won’t be going to hatch anymore.
Sometimes a situation may arise where the baby pigeons may end up dying while being hatched or even before the beginning of the hatching process.
It’s because the babies aren’t mature enough yet to come out by breaking the egg shell. Also, the babies can be dead after getting hatched due to not getting proper heat from their parents.
How Long Can Pigeon Eggs Survive Without Incubation?
Without incubation, a pigeon egg normally can survive up to 5 days if someone wants to keep it fertile and make it able to hatch. It may survive up to 7 days depending on the temperature it goes through.
Pigeon eggs are not like chicken eggs. Chicken eggs can be kept quite a few days in conservation. Even if they are reserved in the refrigerator, it’s still possible to hatch them later. The fertility of those eggs won’t be wasted.
But pigeon eggs can not hold up the fertility that longer like chicken eggs. And it is also not recommended to keep the pigeon eggs in the refrigerator for reservation. It draws the moisture out of the eggs which leads them to lose its fertility.
If a situation comes forward where the parents somehow die while leaving two eggs in the nest and you want the eggs to be hatched, then it’s better to keep those eggs under the incubation of another pigeon.
Most of the time they won’t be abandoning it. If that is not possible either, then, it’s better to incubate them in an incubation machine. Hope that’ll work fine.
Can You Eat Pigeon Eggs?
Of course anyone can eat pigeon eggs. There is nothing wrong with having pigeon eggs being eaten. If the pigeon meat can be eaten, then their eggs are totally edible.
How does the pigeon egg taste? Well, it’s totally subjective. Some say it’s not bad and pretty close to the chicken eggs in taste and some say it’s delicious. As the pigeon egg is very small, you need to combine 3 to 4 eggs to make it equivalent of a chicken egg.
If boiled, the white part of the pigeon egg is rather transparent. It’s clearer than chicken eggs. Also, it has more rubbery sensation while touching it. And the yolk is proportionally larger than a chicken egg.
Why Do Pigeons Abandon Their Eggs?
Pigeons can abandon their eggs for many reasons. Normally they don’t abandon their eggs. Rather they are more determined to incubate them. But there are facts where it can be seen that pigeons are abandoning their eggs from incubating. Let’s talk about it
Most of the time, pigeons abandon their eggs when the incubation period ends. And as I’ve discussed earlier that the incubation period remains from 17 to 19 days. If the eggs don’t hatch within 20 to 22 days, then the pigeon understands that the egg will no longer be hatching. And the pigeon leaves the eggs unhatched.
Pigeons are very sensitive about their nest and its placement. If you move the nest from one place to another for any reason and if there are any eggs in it, pigeons might abandon the eggs or may even leave the home and find a new place for making a nest. Moving the nest makes them uncomfortable to live there and take care of the eggs.
If the pigeon gets scared of anything, they can leave the eggs unhatched, specially during the incubation period. Pigeon doesn’t like too much involvement with humans. If someone goes to them too much, they get disturbed which makes them decide to stay away from incubation and leave their nest.
Pigeons can get sick any time. And they don’t do their best in incubating their eggs when they get sick. It can be noticed by their behavior. Most of the time they will be swelling instead of sitting in the eggs. At the end they abandon the eggs.
If one pigeon from the pair dies of a disease or any other reasons, the remaining pigeon may or may not continue incubating their eggs. But there are many cases where a pigeon alone incubates the whole period and raises the baby pigeon.
Another case might happen to them. If they suspect the presence of their enemy, then they might leave the eggs along with the nest. Enemies like snakes, falcons, weasel, etc. can make the pigeon decide to leave the nest.
There are some species of pigeons who are actually not very good in parenting. They look like they are too lazy to take all the responsibilities. If they lay eggs, they don’t incubate them properly and even if they hatch the eggs, they don’t feed the baby pigeons well.
Can Pigeon Carry Their Eggs?
No, it is not possible for a pigeon to carry their eggs. They are not designed that way. As they don’t have hands, they do all the stuff with their beak. And their wings support them doing all that stuff.
At the time of incubation, the pigeon needs to move the eggs and they use their beak to do so. Also when the eggs are hatched, pigeon take out the egg shell with their beak.
Due to the fact that the egg shell is broken, it makes it possible for the pigeon to carry the egg shell. But pigeon can not take the whole egg in its beak.
What’s Inside the Pigeon Egg? Male or Female?
It is not possible to say whether the pigeon egg has male or female inside just by looking at it. There are no official methods or signs to recognize the gender of a pigeon before hatching. Some use their own methods to recognize but that’s not 100% proven all the time.
Most of the time out of two pigeon eggs, a male and a female can be found. It’s the most common case for every two pigeon eggs.
But it is possible to get both male or both female out of the two pigeon eggs. And it has happened to my pigeons several times. However, in most cases, I’ve gotten a male and a female baby pigeon.