Do Pigeons Lay Eggs Without Mating?

Yes, Pigeons can lay eggs without mating with other pigeons. And this is quite a common scenario.  

As it is known that, at the age of 5 to 6 months, pigeons get matured and ready to breed. But if the female pigeon doesn’t find any mature male pigeon available to make a pair, then the female will lay eggs without mating with anyone.

There comes a certain period when a pigeon gets matured to lay eggs. When the time comes, the female pigeon tries to attract the male by making a beautiful noise. Basically she wants to make a pair with a male.

At the same time, the female pigeon tries to search for a place for making a nest and also for the eggs. By this time, if she manages to make a pair by getting involved with a male then both will be going to live together and make a nest. This way it is expected that their eggs will hatch.

But if the female pigeon doesn’t manage to make a pair by finding a male, then she will find a place for nesting herself and when the time comes, she lays the eggs. Not only that, you will see them incubating the eggs. 

Don’t expect those eggs to be hatched. It’s not going to happen. Because the female pigeon didn’t get the chance to mate with the male pigeon. 

For the eggs to hatch successfully, the female pigeon is required to mate with the male pigeon. It is the sperm from the male that makes the eggs possible to be hatched. And only then we can expect baby pigeons come out of the eggs.

Well, I’ve gone through some interesting facts and experiences. One of my female pigeons which hasn’t managed to make a pair with a male yet.

But I noticed that the female pigeon somehow managed to mate with a male who already has a pair. That’s quite interesting. And they got involved in mating for several times in different situation.

As a result, the pigeon laid two eggs after a few days. Then I decided to keep those eggs under its mother’s incubation. I was pretty confident about those eggs to be hatched because I’ve seen her mating with a male pigeon. 

After 5 days, I’ve checked the fertility of those eggs. And guess what? Yes, those are fertile eggs. The female pigeon was incubating the eggs alone and it feels bad to see a pigeon doing everything single handedly. 

As she didn’t have a pair to help her, she didn’t spend much time in having her own food and used to return to the nest quickly for incubation. I waited until the incubation period to end.  

And finally the day had come. On the day of 17 or 18, those eggs hatched with all its glory. Then the female did the feeding and caring for the baby pigeons by herself. 

It definitely proves that a female pigeon alone can incubate the eggs and raise her babies with no questions. That’s incredible.

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