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Hi all,
I have a mated pair of house pigeons, Philly (the male) and Newbird (the female). They are both indoor, non-releasable pigeons (both were found with broken wings that left them flightless), and we are practicing birth control by removing the eggs Newbird lays and replacing them with false plastic ones.
Philly and Newbird were introduced to each other in June and July, and they first mated at the end of July or beginning of August. Newbird laid her first egg on August 10, and we immediately replaced it with a plastic egg. She laid her second egg a few days later, and we also replaced it with a plastic egg.* They have been taking turns incubating the plastic eggs since then, until today when they didn't seem to be so interested in incubating them.
I am wondering what I am supposed to do at this point. They built a very nice nest for the first pair of eggs. Should I remove the plastic eggs from that nest so they can use it again? Also would that help them fully get past the old eggs, so they can mate again and Newbird can lay again - hopefully in that nest if they'd like to use it? I've been told that it's very important for Newbird's health for her to be able to continue to lay eggs, and that abandoning the old eggs is important for that. (Should the plastic eggs in general be removed after the normal incubation period of 18 days after the second egg was laid? I realize now that I should have asked this much earlier - I hope she's going to be OK...).
This is my first experience with a mated pair of pigeons and pigeon birth control, so I'd be most grateful for any help you can give me with this.
Thank you so much!
Howard
P.S. Does anyone know if pigeons feel frustrated or depressed by multiple rounds of unhatched eggs? Philly and Newbird seem to have been happy enough with the procedure so far; I only ask because I was a bit surprised by how quickly after the normal incubation period they gave up on the eggs, I know that birds can be really quite smart (smarter than we usually assume), and I know that amniotes in general can get frustrated and depressed. I wouldn't have thought that pigeons would cognitively represent things like repeated failures of eggs to hatch, but evidently their bodies are letting them know that it's time to move on, and I hope that this doesn't involve anything disturbing for them. Everyone's told me that, since you can't spay or neuter birds, this is the only possible method of avian birth control. I just hope that they're going to be OK with it in the long term...
*Philly and Newbird were actually both boarding at our vet's when Newbird laid the eggs, and the vet techs were the ones who actually did the replacements, so unfortunately I am not 100% sure as to when the second egg was laid, but my information tells me that it should have been 44 hours after the first egg was laid.
I have a mated pair of house pigeons, Philly (the male) and Newbird (the female). They are both indoor, non-releasable pigeons (both were found with broken wings that left them flightless), and we are practicing birth control by removing the eggs Newbird lays and replacing them with false plastic ones.
Philly and Newbird were introduced to each other in June and July, and they first mated at the end of July or beginning of August. Newbird laid her first egg on August 10, and we immediately replaced it with a plastic egg. She laid her second egg a few days later, and we also replaced it with a plastic egg.* They have been taking turns incubating the plastic eggs since then, until today when they didn't seem to be so interested in incubating them.
I am wondering what I am supposed to do at this point. They built a very nice nest for the first pair of eggs. Should I remove the plastic eggs from that nest so they can use it again? Also would that help them fully get past the old eggs, so they can mate again and Newbird can lay again - hopefully in that nest if they'd like to use it? I've been told that it's very important for Newbird's health for her to be able to continue to lay eggs, and that abandoning the old eggs is important for that. (Should the plastic eggs in general be removed after the normal incubation period of 18 days after the second egg was laid? I realize now that I should have asked this much earlier - I hope she's going to be OK...).
This is my first experience with a mated pair of pigeons and pigeon birth control, so I'd be most grateful for any help you can give me with this.
Thank you so much!
Howard
P.S. Does anyone know if pigeons feel frustrated or depressed by multiple rounds of unhatched eggs? Philly and Newbird seem to have been happy enough with the procedure so far; I only ask because I was a bit surprised by how quickly after the normal incubation period they gave up on the eggs, I know that birds can be really quite smart (smarter than we usually assume), and I know that amniotes in general can get frustrated and depressed. I wouldn't have thought that pigeons would cognitively represent things like repeated failures of eggs to hatch, but evidently their bodies are letting them know that it's time to move on, and I hope that this doesn't involve anything disturbing for them. Everyone's told me that, since you can't spay or neuter birds, this is the only possible method of avian birth control. I just hope that they're going to be OK with it in the long term...
*Philly and Newbird were actually both boarding at our vet's when Newbird laid the eggs, and the vet techs were the ones who actually did the replacements, so unfortunately I am not 100% sure as to when the second egg was laid, but my information tells me that it should have been 44 hours after the first egg was laid.
