[Madison]

I have two homers, male and female, and they layed their first clutch and 18 days later they hatched, they are 9 days old now, I checked on them earlier today say around 3ish and the mother or father wasn't sitting on them, it didn't alarm me, because in the past few days she/he would get off randomly for about 5 minutes then right back on again, and when I handled them they were warm. I checked again about 6 hours later she was not laying on them. Then when I held them they were cold, though they had grain in their crop. I closed the opening to the outside of the loft and put the mother on the level with the nest(she and I have a very trusting relationship) she got on the nest immediately but still seems tense and doesn't seem as if she is trying to care for her babies, it's an hour later she is still on them, but still tense. Advice? Is there anything I should know or do? I'm a bit worried.

 

[minimonkey]

Just keep an eye on things, and keep the loft as warm as you reasonably can. It's normal for the parents to start leaving the babies alone for longer and longer times at about ten days after they hatch, but that doesn't mean it can't cause problems. If the babies are getting truly cold, you may need to bring them inside and finish raising them.

I'm not sure where you are located, but this is sort of an off time of year for rearing young -- generally breeding in the springtime is best, when the weather is warmer.

Is this a young parent?

 

[Madison]

Allright, ill just watch them for a day or so, they are about a year and a half old.

 

[minimonkey]

Have they raised babies before? Sometimes the first clutch or two are learning experiences for the parents, as well.

 

[spirit wings]

I have two homers, male and female, and they layed their first clutch and 18 days later they hatched, they are 9 days old now, I checked on them earlier today say around 3ish and the mother or father wasn't sitting on them, it didn't alarm me, because in the past few days she/he would get off randomly for about 5 minutes then right back on again, and when I handled them they were warm. I checked again about 6 hours later she was not laying on them. Then when I held them they were cold, though they had grain in their crop. I closed the opening to the outside of the loft and put the mother on the level with the nest(she and I have a very trusting relationship) she got on the nest immediately but still seems tense and doesn't seem as if she is trying to care for her babies, it's an hour later she is still on them, but still tense. Advice? Is there anything I should know or do? I'm a bit worried.

first, do not fly/let out parent birds on hatching eggs and or babies. At this point the parent birds do not sit on them as much, in winter it can be a bit of a problem if the feathers of the babies are not in yet, another week and they should have some feather and then they should be fine. as they grow they sit on them less and less, they start weaning at 4 weeks of age so they do grow quick.

 

[Charis]

It's true that when babies are 9-10 days old, the parents stop laying on them and they start a new nest. They still feed the babies but their attention goes to the new nest.
I don't know where you are located but if it's cold you might want to think about adding a heater to the loft. I use one of the oil filled electric one and set it on the low setting to keep the temperature above freezing. We do have a member that lives in Michigan and found 2 babies frozen solid one morning a couple of years ago.
I also agree about not letting the mom and dad out to fly as long as they are feeding babies.
Another thing to consider, is to replace the eggs with fake ones until the weather warms again. Actually, you can don this all the time to control the populations of pigeons, if you want.[