Removing eggs..

[birdman55678]

Does anyone remove a new egg from the nest and wait until the second one has been laid before putting back the first one in the nest.  Seems like I have always done this because of the cold, but with the warmer temps here in Washington state not sure if I need to.  If you do remove eggs why do you do it and if it because of the temp what do you believe the coolest is to insure the egg stays good.  Thanks.  Ed

[MsPigeon]

I don't do that Ed, and I have babies in the nest now! Both eggs hatched.

Carol

[stevebelbin]

Dont see the need to do this - Just leave them alone as they know whats right and wrong better than we do, let nature take its course etc

[MsPigeon]

After thinking about it, I remembered I do do that with my canaries. But with the canaries it is because they lay 5 eggs and five days difference in the size of a youngster can be a lot. If you didn't remove them so they would hatch nearer the same day the bigger babies would get all the food and the smaller ones would eventually die if you didn't do some switching of babies or hand feeding or something to ensure the younger ones are getting fed.

Carol

[symbro]

usually pigeons know how to keep the egg at the right temp.  you will see that on colder nights they sit on the single egg lower... and on warmer days they dont sit on it at all.  usually one egg will hatch an hour or so before the other... but i read somewhere that parents dont even feed that first day.

[westy]

i dont do that they should normally leave the egg ontill the lay the second one then sit em both together so they hatch the same time.