Tidbit

On Thu, 01 Jul 2004 01:10:30 GMT, Onorio Catenacci
<NoSpam RemoveThis @NoSpam.NoWay> wrote:

>tonyf wrote:
>> Have you ever checked a pair of eggs and there be a
>> small dent or crack in the shell? I always save a few
>> shells from nest where the babies hatched out on hand.
>> Break off a piece of shell big enough to cover the
>> dent/crack and put some saliva on it. Place it over
>> the spot and hold it there for a few seconds. The
>> membrane will get sticky and will adhere to the egg
>> you are trying to save. It will keep the membrane
>> from drying out and you will save baby 95% of the
>> time. This isn't etched in stone but it has saved
>> many eggs for me.
>> tonyf
>>
>
>That's a good trick Tony. Had you ever tried petroleum jelly? No joke.
> I mean a person's saliva is going to have a lot of bacteria in it so I
>would think either wetting the eggshell with a little bit of water or
>maybe petroleum jelly might be a little safer for the developing embryo.
Well I have tried plain water. It doesn't make it sticky enough. The
petroleum jelly wouldn't let the shell breath. Also it wouldn't let
the membrane in the patch to stick to the egg. It would let the
patch side around. I haven't kept a record of how many of those
patched eggs didn't hatch. The best I can remember is only a couple
in all of the time I have used this trick. My uncle showed me this
trick probably thirty five years ago or longer. Since I have bred
the Voutes I have had to rely on the patch lots of times. They
are an aggressive pigeon. I watched two cock birds today and
they must have chased and fought for three hours or longer.
One caught the other in the nest and it wasn't good enough
for him to throw the other bird out of his nest., but had to chase
him around outside and all over. With all of this tussling they seem
to ding up a lot of eggs. The pairs fight over who is going to sit on
the eggs. They will try to stick their head under the other bird to
force them off of the nest.The hen and the cock will sometimes sit on
the nest together. I have had to use the patch trick a dozen or more
times this year alone. I keep a plastic container of egg shells in the
loft cabinet. Once they hatch the eggs they are as tender and caring
as can be. They are the only pigeon that when the babies hatch out
different days they never let the smaller bird go unfed or fall way
behind. They seem to take special effort to feed the smaller bird.
They kind of remind me of parakeets by the way they feed their babies.
I very seldom have to switch babies around like I would on other
breeds.
tonyf
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I have found those and put a peice of scotch tape over it and it workes
fine.
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On Mon, 5 Jul 2004 21:50:46 -0400, horaceoglesbee.RemoveThis@webtv.net
(Horaceoglesbee@web) wrote:

>I have found those and put a peice of scotch tape over it and it workes
>fine.
I hadn't thought about the scotch tape. I will try it the next time
this situation appears. I have had to patch an egg yesterday. I
guess that is the price to pay for having an aggressive breed of
pigeon. Thanks Horace. By the way would you mind letting me
know what part of NC you live in? My wife was from Yancey Co.
She goes down every year for Decoration Day, which is the
first weekend of August. I was thinking if you was close enough
to where she goes that I just might go with her this year.
tonyf
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