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Administrator · . Data inscrierii: 26/Noi/2006 Mesaje: 634

Author & pictures : Pascal Lanneau
Edited : Martin Degrave

Some possible answers
Breeding starts when the pigeons are coupled,
Normally after ten days they will have one egg in the evening, a second one the day after in the early afternoon.
When the second egg is being laid, the incubation period of 18 days starts.

Problem period 1:
Sometimes a hen can be found death, before she laid an egg, and without seeing any sign before.
Infection like Paratyphoid, Streptococcus, … or even intoxication can be the cause, but especially during breeding, an internal ovulation can be on the base of this sudden death, now and then with some hours being apathetic before …
Normally a kind of funnel will pick up the small egg to start his way in the oviduct. Sometimes the egg misses this funnel, and than you can have an internal ovulation. There will be a sterile infection in the body of the hen, and after a short period, this will cause death. Once the egg is in the wrong way, there is nothing much to do about it.

It is possible that there are some pigeons that don’t lay an egg, or just one.
The age of the female pigeon can be the reason for this problem. Sometimes can an injection be helpfull.
Infection of the ovarium is also possible.

You can have rough shelled eggs, soft shelled eggs, or not good from size.
An infection of the salpinx can be on the base of this problem. There is a gland in the oviduct that will form the shell. When this one doesn’t work properly like it should be, the egg won’t be formed like an egg, and then you have some problems.

Whenever an infection is suspected that could give breeding problems, the vet will help you to treat those specific pathogens, so the problems concerning breeding can be solved.
When the problem doesn’t exist to long, the results can be pretty good, when, however the infection is already long time present, the results are most of the time desolated!!

Also some medicines that are given to short to the breeding period, can give eggs that are not fertilized, or that have an abnormal shell, like soft shells.

Sometimes the hen isn’t able to lay her egg, because it is to rough, to big, the hen is to weak,…due to a shortness of Calcium, …
Administrating Calcium (like grit or in tablets), injection with a kind of hormone (oxytocine), can be the answer, or when nothing helps, the vet can do a sectio caesarea.

Note: putting oil in the cloaca, to have a more sliding effect of the egg, is a bit controversial. This technique is good, but one very important remark: There is a possibility that the oil will go further in the oviduct than it should be, and causes over there infection, which can lead to infertility, periodical or even permanent!!!

After having laid the egg, some hens are paralyzed, aren’t able to walk or even fly anymore, most of the time, only temporary.
Most of the time this is due to a to big egg that will push against the lay bones, the nerves are a bit crushed and this gives the paralyzing of the legs.
Also a lack of calcium can be the cause of this (see earlier edition of “Het Duivengazetse”)
This is also the reason why an appropriate food will be of a very great importance during the breeding period!!!

After 5 day you can normally see the blood vessels already around the new being formed youngster. From day 5 till day 10 you can candle this egg and you can see the vessels around the youngsters.
Normally after 10 days the egg becomes opaque and you only see one air chamber at the top of the egg, the rest is filled with the embryo.

Problem period 2:
The eggs are not fertilized, due to the age of the pigeons, the not natural period of breeding, the hen or cock that isn’t fertile, also management factors like jarring and shaking during the foster parents occupations…
These times many fanciers will pass the eggs of very important breeders to foster parents, in order to have much quicker, much more eggs and descendants. During the handling of those eggs, you must be very careful. When there is much jarring or shaking of the eggs, eg during transport, this can cause the death of the embryo.

Sometimes the eggs can become very dark, due to embryonic death, this can be caused by different causes:

When it are not only individual pigeons that have problems, but the whole flock, be aware of infections in the loft, or management factors!!!

The environment, temperature and ventilation in the loft is very important!!

When the environment parameters are not suitable for the pigeons, eg when it is to cold or to warm in there, or when the humidity is not like it should be, you can have embryonic death, not only the first days, but also the last 6 days, because the shell can become to hard and rough, so the youngster won’t be able to pipe out of the egg.
Making that the temperature is much lower and the humidity higher by means of giving baths, etc, can solve already this problem.

Disturbances from inside and outside the loft can have a very important negative influence on the hatching of the eggs. When there is a light that shines to much in the breeding loft, or some pigeons that are very nervous or agressive can have a bad influence on the other pigeons, …
Make sure there are as minimum as there can be disturbances during the incubation, when the parents go often from their nest, the eggs can become cold, and the baby can die in it.

The parents that are old and crippled, will may be also leave more the nest with all consequences…
The medicines that are given are not appropriate for that period, like deworming,…
Hygiene is very important, not only inside the loft, but also in the different cages.
You can see this as two different climates, a macro climate (the complete loft), and a micro climate (the nest and cages).
When the loft is clean, this will help to avoid an infection in the loft, but also in the nest, much problems can be obtained from there, because the shell has a surface that will let water and air through, and this can give infection.

Infection caused by Paratyphus, Chlamydia, Herpes, Staphylococs, E. Coli, virus,… and so can be very dangerous for the incubation.

Genetic and nutritional factors are also very important!!

Day 18: the egg will hatch, followed one day later by the second egg. This can last from 5 to 20 hours before the youngster is completely out of the egg. Once the youngster is out of his shell it becomes a real living creature of the nature. The parents will feed it with crop milk from day 0 till day 7, after the fourth day the crop milk will start to have little small portion of grains, and after seven days the youngsters will receive completely digested grains.

Problem period 3
Sometimes, the youngster won’t have enough force to pipe out the egg, due to disease, or when they are exhausted, because of the a hard shell that they need to break through (cfr Micro climate)

If the birds are ill or if they have not enough force to develop such a crop milk, the youngsters may die, especially if it concerns older birds: they are sometimes only capable of feeding one youngster. Therefor you can let them raise only one youngster.

Infections like paratyphoid, trichomonas, … can cause severe illnesses in youngsters, sometimes followed by the death!!!

[img]http://img204.imageshack.us/img204/5223/pipa2ob8.jpg[img]
A 21 days old youngster, infected with Salmonella, note the lungs!!

Salmonella can give youngsters that don’t grow like it should be, that become thinner and thinner and after a while they will die. Sometimes the parents don’t have any problem at all, but they are carriers of the salmonella bacteria and can infect their youngster, in the egg, during incubation, or when the youngsters are already a living creature.

Trichomoniasis is a very common problem during breeding, not only for the old birds, but also the youngsters. There can also be formation of a nodule in the youngster, fe at the umbilicus, the parasite will go in the body and cause there an infection, the umbilicus stays wet and after a time the youngsters can die. Also a very manifest infection of tricho in the crop of the youngsters can already cause the death!!

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Un documentar : pt cei care stiu engleza Un documentar : pt cei care stiu engleza

Wet nests, watery droppings

After 10 days the hormone levels in the parents will change (especially the level of prolactine). This will give a change in the crop milk and also in the food the youngsters will obtain from their parents. Due to this change there can be seen a diarrhea by the youngsters and sometimes also by the parents. After some days this will normally be finished without doing something on that.

Be sure there isn’t any disease in the loft that can cause also this symptoms such as: Paratyphus, Chlamydia, Herpes, Trichomoniasis, Coccidosis,…

Splayleg in squabs is often seen, and almost just then, when they are all alone. A combination of genetic and nutritional factors will surely be important, but the combination of inappropriate nest material and the way of brooding of the parents are also very important. Sometimes the parents will tight sitting, and this will push down the youngsters, and when they don’t have enough appropriate material to stop the force, their legs will be bent over. When they have a colleague youngster in their nest, this will happen not so fast. Splayleg is almost only seen when the youngster are alone.

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