No Scrub. No Pigeon.

Those of you born in the 80’s probably remember the 1999 hit No Scrub by TLC, and some of you from that same era may remember the retaliation by Sporty Thieves call No Pigeon.

While my post really has nothing really to do with either one of those songs, I have been drawn to recall upon those songs as we have pigeons nesting on our balcony!

Before our trip to Poland, Adam had discovered this pigeon nest beneath the wicker furniture on our tiny little balcony in Calgary, Ab.

He had told me that upon our return we should expect baby chicks. Needless to say I was exceptionally excited to check on the nest progress of our little family.

The morning following our arrival I went to check on the eggs and was a little surprised to still see the eggs still in egg form. Having not bred birds before I wasn’t sure if this was a good thing or bad thing, so as all people of our generation do – I googled.

Turns out I learned a lot of things. How to check to see if a pigeon’s egg is fertilized by “candling” or holding to a light to see the presence of veins and life and other interesting things.

You CAN Touch A Wild Egg

Contrary to common belief (being a past believer of this myself) you can handle a pigeons egg and they will still return to nest on it. Fact.

I know this because not 15 minutes ago I picked up my eggs to check to see what the deal is with my chicks! The parents came back and continued to roost on the eggs even after I touched both of them, brought them inside the condo and looked at the them through a light.

Fertilized or Not ?

Much to my disappointment after checking my candled eggs, I learn some cold hard realities of nature. Not all pigeon eggs make it.

Both of my eggs contained liquid in them and did not show veiny signs of being successfully fertilized. From what I read on many different websites and various online resources they all came to the same conclusion. At this point in time, if a pigeon egg was viable it won’t be a little vessel of liquid.

Next step?

So, Internet tells me this, I can leave the eggs and see if they’ll still hatch. (Which is very unlikely seeing as they are currently containers of liquid, where by now they should be solid and pulsating.)

Or I can dispose of them and hope my pigeon parents make new babies. Or I can leave them, let them go bad and explode and have stinky eggs on my balcony, whereafter the mommy and daddy pigeon will try to make new babies anyways….