egg! help!

[erynn]

Someone please help me! I found a little pigeon egg yesterday, and I don't even know if it's still alive....I did some reading, apparantly it takes 18 days to hatch...but how do i know if it's even alive still? how warm does it need to be? ...i called a local bird sanctuary and the lady there told me i should just throw it away!...but i don't have the heart to unless i knew for sure it wouldn't make it. Someone please help!