Pigeons reproduce fairly quickly, if you don’t keep an eye on your pigeons, and keep an eye on how fast they are reproducing and laying eggs, then you may soon realize that you have too many pigeons on your hands.
Pigeon birth control is a must if you don’t want to be overrun with pigeons. This is how to stop pigeons from laying eggs:
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How to stop pigeons from laying eggs:
Pigeons will keep laying eggs if you let them, laying eggs is a fundamental part of pigeon life, but this isn’t always helpful for you. Here are some tips and tricks on how to keep your pigeon numbers under control:
Limit their daylight hours:
Pigeons will lay their eggs all throughout the year, but peak egg production happens during the spring and the fall when daylight hours are the longest.
Keeping your birds up and keeping their lights on for long periods of time during the day will make the bird think that it is breeding season, spring and fall.
This will make the birds reproduce more, and thus lay more eggs.
To combat this, make it seem as though the days are shorter by putting your birds to bed early and turning all of the lights and sounds off.
Keep pigeons separated from their bird mates:
Having a mate around will not only relieve your bird of boredom but, this can lead to more egg-laying as well. A female pigeon will lay more eggs whether she is around a female or male mate
(Pigeons don’t need to mate to lay eggs, unfertilized eggs can be laid without the male involved, but these eggs will not hatch into a chick).
When 2 pigeons are together, they will eat together, feed each other, nap together, and preen each other.
The presence of a mate, of any sex, will also turn on the female pigeon’s egg-laying hormones. Mates are strong sexual stimulants for pigeons.
Separating two birds that are bonded together will turn off this hormone
Keep your bird from doing mating behaviors with you
We know that these birds will lay eggs when a pigeon mate is around, but did you know that a pigeon can see you as a mate as well? A pigeon that sees you as a mate may exhibit some mating behaviors with you, and this will trigger her to lay eggs.
Mating behaviors that pigeons do with you include tail lifting, vent rubbing, or regurgitating food.
Separating yourself from the bird will turn off their egg-laying hormones.
You can also discourage your bird from doing these behaviors by giving the bird a time-out when she does these behaviors. Do this by putting her in her cage when this happens.
Petting your bird’s tail, and petting your bird on her back, is also sexually stimulating to the bird. Don’t do this if you want her to stop laying eggs.
Keep contact restricted to the bird’s head and neck only.
Leave her eggs alone:
An animal’s primary objective is to reproduce. If you remove your pigeon’s eggs, the pigeon will simply lay more eggs to compensate for the lost eggs, this will only make the problem worse.
If you want to stop your pigeons from laying eggs so quickly, then leaving the pigeon’s eggs in the nest will help.
Pigeons usually incubate their eggs for 17 to19 days. If you swap out the bird’s real eggs for dummy eggs the bird won’t realize and will not lay new eggs. She will incubate the dummy eggs for 17-19 days giving you time between egg-laying.
Hormone implant:
This is a more invasive way to stop your pigeon from laying eggs, but it is very effective. The hormone implant solution involves subcutaneously implanting an implant between the scapulae of the bird and then sealing the site afterward.
These implants will greatly reduce egg production in your bird. They do this by controlling the secretion of the hormones involved in egg production.
These egg production controlling implants are not known to cause adverse effects on birds, but, if there are any signs of behavioral changes, inflammation, or irritation in your bird then you’d need to take the bird back to the vet to be checked.
The medications that control egg production can also be given as an injection.
Surgical sterilization
This is another medical procedure done by vets that can help your pigeon stop laying eggs. This procedure is similar to what is done to rabbits and guinea pigs as birth control.
You’d need to contact your vet and have a thorough discussion to determine whether this is the best treatment option for your bird.
If you enjoyed this article then you may also be interested in other bird related articles. Here are some articles that you may be interested in: How To Scare Pigeons With Sound, Signs Your Bird Is Going To Lay An Egg, Why Do Birds Eat Other Birds?, Why Are Pigeon Nests So Bad?, How To Keep Big Birds Away From Feeders?