Need to disturb nesting pigeon

[nesting]

On my balcony, my bikes are stored under a tarp. A pigeon has made a nest under there, between the bike tires. There were 2 eggs in the nest and 2 days ago I saw one hatchling. I'm not sure what happened to the other egg because over the past two days, whenever I've looked in on them, I only see the mamma sitting on the nest with no sign of either baby. Is this normal? My main question, however, is what can I do if I need to remove the bikes? I am moving in about 2 weeks and have to take them out. I can leave the tarp, but how much disturbance can a pigeon take? Any suggestions?!

[Reti]

If momma is sitting there has to be at least one baby, maybe the other egg hatched too and there are two babies. If you remove the bikes, she will probably leave but she will be back to care for the babies.
My concern would be if the people moving in after you, how would they react to the pigeons.
Do you know who will be moving in?


Reti

[wolfwood]

What Reti said! If mom has been sitting - there's at least 1 tiny baby tucked in under her. The babies are soooo little that she/he tucks both of them underneath and you won't see them unless you happen to be watching at feeding time, or you actively lift the sitting bird up a bit to check underneath.

[conditionfreak]

Pigeons can take a great deal of disturbance,. As a matter of fact, pigeons that are kept by humans, will refuse to leave their nest and fight you by flapping one of their wings at your hand (they can not hurt you. It just scares you a little), if you try to remove them or push them aside to look underneath them. I do not know too much about wild pigeons in this regard, but I assume they would fly away if disturbed. But you can assured that they will return as soon as you leave their nest.

Moving the bikes will not be a problem as long as the nest and babies are intact in the same spot or very close to it. Move your bikes in the early day so that the parent bird is not scared off the nest in the dark or close to darkness. That will give him or her (they take turns sitting on the nest) time to return before it gets dark.

Thanks for caring.

[nesting]

Thanks so much for the very useful advise and reassurance. We know the people moving in after us but I'm not sure if they'll want balcony pigeons are not...

[Reti]

Originally Posted by nesting

Thanks so much for the very useful advise and reassurance. We know the people moving in after us but I'm not sure if they'll want balcony pigeons are not...

If you know them maybe you can just ask them. And if they don't want them what measures are they going to take to get rid of them.

Reti

[nesting]

They’re very compassionate people so I’m sure the nest won’t come to any harm. Probably they’ll just leave them there. We all practice Falun Dafa meditation and live by its principles – truthfulness, compassion, tolerance – so they birds are in safe hands. As long as the pigeons don’t mind meditation music… now that the weather is warm, it’s nice to meditate on the balcony.

How long do pigeons keep a nest exactly?

One more question. I saw the one chick today and am amazed by how quickly they grow in just a few days. But the other egg is still there. Is it normal to be born so many days apart or is that egg never going to hatch?

[Reti]

it will take about 5 weeks for the baby to leave the nest.
In the meantime the parents may lay another egg, best to remove it as soon it is laid, otherwise the cycle will never end.
The second egg should hatch no more than 48 hours later than the first one.

Reti

[Ed]

remember if you allow them to stay they more than likely stay for a long time
maybe raise 2 or 3 clutches of eggs
I would let them new ppl renting know that 3 to 6 months maybe
I might be wrong and someone with more feral pigeon knowledge will chime in shortly

thanx for caring about the pigeons
most ppl wouldnt have cared at all and just kicked the nest off of the porch

[nesting]

Today we removed the bikes and managed to keep the tarp up and the nest is OK. I don't know where the parents are but the ''baby" turned its back to us and cowered in the corner during the operation. S/he looks normal again now. So, is there a way to kindly remove the nest? I'm not sure they'd want to become landlords to multiple generations of pigeons. If they wait til the baby can fly (how long is that after birth? It's looking pretty big already), is there a way to move or remove the nest so that the family will relocate OK?

[Reti]

You can tell them to just remove the eggs, if they lay more.
When the eggs are laid they are not fertilized yet, so no embryos will be killed. If the egg/s dissapear the parents will get the hint hopefully and move on. Also by that time the baby will grow and won't need a nest anymore.

Reti