[Guest]

A pigeon laid an egg on our balcony and sat on it for half an hour. She then flew away and the egg has been left alone for about 20 minutes now. Will she come back? Will it survive?

 

[wolfwood]

Yeah. She'll be back. Probably just went to get something to eat/drink. Pijies generally lay 2 eggs, about 48 hrs apart, and don't start sitting full time ("incubating") until the 2nd one is laid.

btw, congratulations! You now get to watch the Circle of Life unfold right there on your balcony for the next month+ (incubation = ~19days + maturity to fledge = ~25days),

 

[Kancora]

Ahh, great, thanks.

 

[Kancora]

She didn't come back all through the night and only laid one egg. Now its morning and shes back.

 

[Skyeking]

Thank you for the update, she should be laying another egg later today, and then her "husband" will join her, to take his turn in the nesting duties.

 

[Kancora]

She did lay another egg. It's been four days since the arrival of the first and two days since the second. The thing is she leaves the next at night. Every evening when the sun goes down she flaps off and doesn't return til morning. This is April in London, UK, it's not freezing but it does get cold at night. Will these eggs have died by now?

 

[maryjane]

Usually the female will lay on the eggs at night, so possibly you're seeing the male and maybe something happened to the female. The male will sit on the eggs during the day, but usually waits until the female comes to the nest at dusk before he flies away. Is it possible she's coming at night after you see him leave?

 

[Kancora]

Nobody's coming back at night - I've checked from 1am til 5am BUT ... today a different pigeon is sitting on the nest.

 

[Kancora]

It's now 7pm and the original pigeon is back on the nest so I think they are taking it in turns now, as you said they would. Just worried there were a couple of nights when they were left unattended.

 

[Kancora]

So, is it possible for the eggs to be OK if they were left for the first two nights? The parents are still sitting but I wonder if we will actually get babies?

 

[wolfwood]

Well - there isn't actually a baby there until the adults incubate it. Until the embryo starts to develop its - well - just an egg, yolk & white - like the chicken egg you eat. As long as the yolk & white didn't freeze, and now that the parents are back incubating the eggs, I would expect you'll have babies about 19 days from when the 1st egg was laid.

Time will tell, eh?

 

[Kancora]

Yay! They haven't left them since night three. It's been 10 days since the first egg was laid so we'll keep waiting...

 

[Kancora]

See my post in 'will the eggs survive' thread in Wild "feral" Pigeons forum. Photos included.