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A pigeon egg can be cared for by keeping it in an incubator (opens in new tab) set at 37.2 to 37.5 °C with around 55 to 60% humidity, which gives it the best chance to hatch. The steps below cover caring for a found egg and how to tell whether it contains a live chick.
What To Do If You Find An Abandoned Pigeon Egg
If you find an abandoned pigeon egg first of all you need to establish if there is a live pigeon chick in the egg.
How To Work Out If There Is A Live Pigeon Chick In The Egg
There are a couple of ways you can do this:
1. Listen To The Egg
Give the egg a light tap and listen carefully for any noise. If the egg is close to hatching and there is a live chick in there you are likely to see or hear some movement.
2. Candling
The best way to work out if the egg is fertilised or if there is a live chick in a egg is by what is called candling.
To do this go into a dark room and shine a bright light through the egg from below. If the egg is fertilized and developing, you will see veins forming in the egg and a dark patch in the middle.
If there are no veins the egg has not been fertilised.
If the chick has died in the egg you may see a red ring of blood (a “blood ring”), or the shadow of the chick may look blotchy and stop moving.
Call A Wildlife Authority To Take Care Of The Egg
If there is a live chick in the egg then you can contact a local wildlife or pigeon rescue to see if they can take care of the egg.
They may be able to hatch it and later re-home or release the pigeon when it is ready.
..Or Look After The Egg Yourself
If you are going to look after the egg yourself then you will need to find a safe warm place to keep it.
An incubator (opens in new tab) is the ideal solution for this.
16-Egg Fully Automatic Egg Incubator
Check price on Amazon (opens in new tab)A simple cardboard box with a heatlamp is also an option, but you will need to keep checking the temperature.
Whether you use a pigeon egg incubator or a box and heat lamp you should ensure that the temperature remains between 98.6°F and 100.4°F (37.2°C – 37.5°C) for the safe development of the egg.
If you are using an incubator you should set it to around 57% humidity (give or take).
Pigeon eggs typically take 18 days to hatch once laid, so make sure to regularly check the progress of your egg. Depending on how long it had already been incubated, it may hatch within a day or take up to about two and a half weeks.
When your pigeon does hatch you need to be ready to take care of the newborn baby pigeon so don’t forget to read our article on that!
Is It Okay To Touch Pigeon Eggs?
It is safe to touch pigeon eggs, parent pigeons do not reject eggs just because a person has touched them, so if the egg has only been left for a short time the parent can come back to it as normal.
The only worries you should have when it comes to touching a pigeons eggs is keeping your hands clean and trying avoid any food or liquid getting onto the shell, as this could cause bacterial growth that can kill a developing embryo inside of its protective membrane if left unchecked for too long.
How Long Can Pigeon Eggs Survive Without Incubation?
Eggs that have not yet started developing can survive several days without incubation, but once an embryo is developing, being left cold for more than a few hours can kill it.
The key element that determines how long an egg will be without being incubated is the temperature.
In warmer weather, eggs cool more slowly and may survive longer.
In cold weather, a developing egg may only last a few hours.
Use the candling method (mentioned above) to work out if the egg has survived.
Sources:
The Warm Water Trick For Hatching Eggs Explained: 6 Simple Steps
The warm water trick is a way to encourage eggs that are overdue to hatch.
If your pigeon hasn’t hatched her eggs within the usual 18 day period, then it is likely there is a problem.
An incubator may help, but not always and not everyone has access to an incubator.
It is sometimes said that only about half the eggs put into an incubator will actually hatch.
The warm water trick is an alternative method to help your chicks hatch.
You need to keep the temperature between 37.2°C to 37.5°C to support the development of the egg.
You need to rotate the towel every 6-8 hours to ensure the heat reaches the whole egg. This is also important so the embryo doesn’t stick to the side of the shell.
Moisten the towel again with warm water every time you turn it and hopefully your baby pigeon should hatch within a day or two.
There are various reasons why pigeon eggs don’t hatch within the usual time and why they may not hatch at all.
These include:
- The eggs may not be fertilized. Female pigeons can lay eggs without mating with a male, but without fertilization, they won’t hatch. Pigeons will often sit on infertile eggs for the usual period and then give up on them.
- Sometimes young, first-time mothers don’t have the experience to incubate their eggs.
- Breeding pairs take turns sitting on the eggs. Normally, the male sits on the eggs from mid-morning to late afternoon, while the female sits for the rest of the day and through the night. If, because of some accident, one of them doesn’t come back, the survivor usually can’t complete the incubation alone. Hatching normally takes two.
- Female pigeons usually lay a clutch of two eggs. If there is only one in the nest, she may be waiting for the second to emerge before she starts sitting on them. This is quite normal behavior and it isn’t abandonment.
- Eggs that have not started developing can survive a few days without incubation, but developing eggs are much more sensitive to cold.
- Female pigeons may stop incubating eggs that are not developing properly.
- Eggs that fail to hatch are eventually abandoned, usually some days after the expected hatching date.
- Birds may have been scared off by predators or some other kind of threat that caused them to abandon their nest.
- A female whose mate is killed may pair with another male and abandon her first clutch.
See also: Why A Pigeon May Not Sit On Their Eggs: 5 Reasons
Last updated 31 October 2026 · Baby Pigeons