What if a pigeon egg gets wet?

Question

Please help me out.

My Pigeon Layed two eggs and one of them

got wet, what are its chances of hatching?

thanks.

Answer 1

Its going to be fine it will hatch if you pigeon gets broody and decides to set. I wash my duck eggs in the sink before I put them in the incubator sometimes. It never harmed them.

As for the temp. if your pigeon did start to sit on them which I don't think she did. For an egg to be harmed by cold it has to be below 57 degrees F and to warm would be above 72 degrees F. That that temp to store eggs for hatching at.

If she did start to sit on them and incubation started the temp can flux a few(4-5) degrees up or down without harm to the baby for Short Periods of Time. Moisture on the eggs when the mother is setting on them is good too! In a incubator most of them you have to place a cup of water in them to keep the egg from losing to much moisture.

I hope I helped...

Answer 2

If she just laid them and hasn't been sitting on them yet, it should be ok. But if it also got really cold and she had been sitting on them for several days, it probably won't hatch. Or if it was dunked underwater for  several minutes or hours, it won't hatch.

Answer 3

The egg should be fine, depending on how much water got on the egg. Eggs do need moisture to stay 'alive' and hatch, but dunking them in water after they have started incubating the eggs (which if there are two eggs, they have already started) is not good. The temperature of the water is a big issue. Temperature shock and contamination are two that would hurt the egg badly. You have to remember the egg shell is absorbent, so anything that touches could possibly absorb through and hurt the egg. It would be nice to know how wet it got, but my guess is it was only a few drops of water. In that case it should be fine. Let the parents continue to sit on them and see if it hatches. If the egg does not hatch a day or two after the first egg, then remove it. It can't hurt to let the parents sit on the egg, whether it's going to hatch or not.

Becky

Answer 4

It depends how much water got into the shell.  If you can weigh the eggs an egg that soaked up too much water should be somewhat heavier.  I'm not sure the average weight of a pigeon egg though so best I can suggest is comparing to the one that didn't get wet.  I would imagine the farther along the chick is the less water it would take to drown it or interfere with it's growth.

Also the temp of the water makes a difference.  Colder water will cause the contents of the egg to contract and pull bacteria through the shell.  Contaminating the egg and in the case of fertile eggs killing the forming chick.  One reason why washing eggs can actually make them more likely to go bad.