Would like fertile egg

[Jay3]

Originally Posted by Lovebirds

Well, I guess my question is, why do you keep the eggs in the first place?
Do you replace them with plastic eggs so that Beeka sits on them full term? Throwing away a pigeon egg is no different than throwing away a chicken egg or any other kind of egg for that matter. It's just an egg at the beginning. When I separated my breeders this year, I threw away 26 eggs. Most likely, at least 24 of them COULD have become baby pigeons, but what the heck would I do with 24 more? I just don't see the point in saving the eggs for three weeks and THEN checking to see if they are fertile. When you take them away, throw them away and be done with it.

That was my question. If you don't have the room, then why not just get rid of them right away, before they start to develop? Why wait to find out if they are indeed fertile?

[Lovebirds]

Originally Posted by rallow

Forgive me for my silliness, but I have these issues and ideas about life its value, where it really begins and such, so I cannot take this as casually as you do. It would also seem to me that an egg with the spark of life inside it, is different from one that is infertile. Since my post I’ve found a home for one of the chicks, should there be any, as a pet for my 11 year old nephew.

I don't think your silly at all and didn't mean to imply that.
We pigeon fanciers routinely take eggs from our pigeons and let them sit at room temperature for up to a week and THEN give them back to a pigeon. During that week, there is absolutely no life in that egg. If there was, it wouldn't live for a week without incubation. About two days into sitting on the egg, it THEN begins developement..........so all I was saying is that to take an egg that has just been laid and throwing it out is not killing any living thing. If that was the case, we may be eating baby chickens every time we crack a chicken egg and cook it for breakfast.

[spirit wings]

look at it as a type of birth control. like we spay and nueter our pets, that is what the dummy eggs are for....it is just being responsible, I eat my chickens eggs, and I do have a rooster, so if they get heat for a few days well then there may be a start to an embryo, so i get the eggs the day they are layed, and in to the fridge they go... so if I thought that there were "something" in there I would not be eating them!

[lizz]

rallow, i LOVED the videos of the evil dinkster! what a gorgeous boy he is! no doubt he KNOWS that! and i love how much you obviously adore him! soooooo sweet!

i was loathe to replace eggs at first, too. i was beyond relieved when the first four clutches went unhatched, and the only reason i left them, and didn't pull them was because i was SURE that trooper with his mangled legs wasn't able to 'do the deed'. i thought it was the perfect set up! until they faked me out, and the fifth clutch suddenly turned into tiny fuzzy yellow peanuts!!! actually, the second one to hatch, kiwi, was born right into my hand.

as much as i HATE to pull eggs, i do now, religiously. there are SO many pigeon kids already here, desperately in need of homes, i just can't create more of them. if it makes you feel any better, the first egg is laid, and momma isn't really interested in incubating it right away, then within the next two days the second one is laid, and then she gets serious about the sitting. now, i've read, and been told, that there is no real 'life' so to speak, in the egg, until the real incubation begins, SO - the first one gets laid, pull it, replace it with a fake right away. the second comes down, do the same.

it still bothers me to do it, and i think it sort of bothers all of us who have to pull eggs, but it bothers me MORE knowing that i'd be adding to the pigeon overpopulation situation.

i try to just do it, do it quickly, and not overthink it. i totally understand your feelings on this, but you'll be overrun with pigeons in a very short amount of time if the eggs DO end up fertilized and not pulled.

i feel for you, i really do. wish i had a better solution for you!

[rallow]

The development of the eggs has stopped, so there won’t be any chicks. Too bad really because I found homes for them both with a nephew and a niece who will now be disappointed. I guess I’ll destroy Beeka’s eggs from now on and save any trouble. She’s sitting in my shoe and clucking at this moment, which means that she’ll probably lay in 10 days or so. Strange thing, my Pidge, who was a lot bigger than Beeka had an awful time with her egg laying. Where tiny little Beeka cranks out eggs that are huge in proportion to her small body without a singled problem so far. I’ve told my wife that if we had a few more like her, and a backyard we could go into the pigeon egg business. (Asian markets sell pigeon eggs, and I’ve found several recipes for dishes using them online.) A few years ago I saved up a dozen eggs that Pidge laid and we gave them to my wife’s sister who fed them to her son. She said that she did this because he was allergic to chicken eggs, and had never tasted an egg before. Sounds odd to me, however there after a lot things that my traditional Chinese wife’s family does and believes that sound odd to me.

I saw a great pigeon video on Youtube the other day. If any of you do not believe that pigeons make good family pets, take a look at this.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=elPtOboW9PM
Do you think that this bird knows that he’s playing?
Looks to me like he/she is enjoying the game.
If you do a Youtube search on “Squeaky the pigeon” more Squeaky videos will turn up.

[lizz]

funny - my 'non-bird-eating' thing rolled over to eggs, too - i couldn't do it.

so when the first few eggs were laid, i thought, i won't eat them, but hey! the dogs!!! perfect!

and then i picked up one, all ready to crack it into their food, and my stomach did a cartwheel....blech...gag...!

so there went THAT brilliant idea. my dogs would have been thrilled, no doubt. oh well...

gonna go watch pij videos now!!!!!

[spirit wings]

Originally Posted by lizz

funny - my 'non-bird-eating' thing rolled over to eggs, too - i couldn't do it.

so when the first few eggs were laid, i thought, i won't eat them, but hey! the dogs!!! perfect!

and then i picked up one, all ready to crack it into their food, and my stomach did a cartwheel....blech...gag...!

so there went THAT brilliant idea. my dogs would have been thrilled, no doubt. oh well...

gonna go watch pij videos now!!!!!

thats funny....I don't think I would eat a pigeon egg either..too small, but the crows love them.

[rallow]

http://www.nicemeal.com/egg/egg02.html

http://www.chinavoc.com/cuisine/fami...h/f_pigeon.asp

[mr squeaks]

Rallow! You ARE a rascal!!

Since the eggs that Gimie and Woe have been sitting on are never fertile, I do not find the idea of eating them a problem. Those look like very interesting recipes.

Then again, all in one's perspective.

Love, Hugs and Scritches to Beeka and Dink

Shi

[rallow]

In viewing pigeon eggs as food, the only difference I can see from chicken eggs is the size. I can't see why each would not provide the nutrition per ounce, and taste just as good. Anyone ever had quail eggs? Aren't they suppose to be a delicacy?

[Jay3]

I know it's probably silly, but I just couldn't imagine eating my pets eggs. You'd just have to be sure it wasn't when they had been medicated.

[spirit wings]

Originally Posted by rallow

In viewing pigeon eggs as food, the only difference I can see from chicken eggs is the size. I can't see why each would not provide the nutrition per ounce, and taste just as good. Anyone ever had quail eggs? Aren't they suppose to be a delicacy?

some just do not like the flavor, what a bird eats can determine the flavor of the egg.and really there is not much in there, why use them when we have big chicken eggs, but waste not want not!

[lizz]

nope, couldn't do it...heck, i can't even eat chicken eggs anymore.....it's a total 'in my head thing', i know, but it just grosses me out, let ALONE the eggs having come from one of my birdlings....

[rallow]

I have not eaten Pidge's or Beeka's eggs myself, however when Pidge laid a dozen over a period of two and a half months or so, my wife's sister took them and gave them to her grandson who cannot eat chicken eggs, which I guess means that there is some of sort chemical difference between the two. For me there is a big difference between infertile and fertile eggs. I have a problem with destroying eggs with the spark of life in them, but not with those without.





My wife took this picture of me napping and Pidge sitting on me as she often did, about a year ago.
There are no words to say how much I miss her.

[Lovebirds]

Originally Posted by rallow

I have not eaten Pidge's or Beeka's eggs myself, however when Pidge laid a dozen over a period of two and a half months or so, my wife's sister took them and gave them to her grandson who cannot eat chicken eggs, which I guess means that there is some sort chemical difference between the two. For me there is a big difference between infertile and fertile eggs. I have a problem with destroying eggs with the spark of life in them, but not with those without.





My wife took this picture of me napping and Pidge sitting on me as she often did, about a year ago.
There are no words to say how much I miss her.

LOL........were you snoring?? Pidge has this look like "WHAT IS that NOISE??"........LOL
I know you must miss her. She was such a pretty little thing.