Two newborns late in the season

[rherriman]

A friend of mine has a mother pigeon on her balcony, and she just hatched two cute little babies. Only, it is very late in the season. It just started getting cooler. Does anyone have any advice on how to help them survive?
or are they able to survive in the fall weather?
-Riley

[cyro51]

Hello and welcome to pigeons.com,

At about 10 days after hatching (I hope I have the number of days right!) pigeons stop sitting on their babies overnight, regardless of the weather. This has led to death by hypothermia even in lofts, they are found with full crops but dead in the morning. If the temperatures drop it will be safer to take the babies inside over night.

Cynthia

[maryco]

Hello, welcome to pigeons.com and thanks for your concern

They should be just fine, pigeon parents breed all year round and care for their young well. If you put out some seeds that will help them alot so they won't have to go around looking for food in the colder weather and will have food available in their crops all the time for the babies.
I find that babies who grow up in colder weather are actually healthier than the ones in the hot weather, so not to worry
Moms will sit on the young even when they are quite old (10-12 days old) like Cynthia mentioned and after that she stays close by while the babies can keep their bodies warm and start developing feathers.

Keep us posted!

[rherriman]

An update on the two newborns.
The young ladies balcony that the pigeons call home for now told me they are doing fine.
So far they have not eaten any seed she has left out, but they do look healthy.
She was a bit concerned cause we recieved a cold front with lots of rain recently, but they hung in there.

-fini

[maryco]

Hi rherriman,

Thanks for updating us