Breeding Season - why so many clear eggs?

[Laraine]

How is everyone's breeding season going. Mine has started slowly but have had a couple of surprises. The birds that always bred i.e. Eastern Rosella and Lutino Red Rump haven't this year. However I have a baby Elegant Parrot and a English budgie. My Kakariki has been sitting on 6 eggs for a while now and I don't think they will hatch.

I'd like to know why my birds lay so many clear eggs. The Elegant was sitting on 5 and only 1 hatched, the same with the English budgie. My Superb Parrot is also sitting on 5 eggs due to hatch in a couple of weeks hopefully. Don't talk to me about the Plumhead!!!!!!

Can anyone offer me any suggestions.

[avinet]

If you get an egg that doesn't hatch do you break it open to see if it was clear or whether an embryo started to develop and then died in the shell? That is essential information into why babies aren't in the nest.

If they are clear, i.e. not fertilized, then you have to look at the performance of the male - is he not mating properly, are the pairs truly compatible, or maybe he is infertile. As a general rule if a hen produces eggs with a yolk then they are capable of being fertilised, and a failure to fertilise is a male problem - either he isn't mating properly or he isn't producing sperm. Sometimes it can be the females fault by not allowing the male to mate with her - she just doesn't like him so that is a compatibility issue.

If the eggs were fertilised but the embryo is dying in the nest there can be a few problems. Perhaps the hen isn't sitting tight and spends too much time out of the nest - maybe something disturbs her during the night (mice for instance) and she leaves the eggs and only returns when it gets light. Maybe the humidity is too low - the eggs dry out - or the humidity is too high - the embryo ends up drowning as the egg absorbs moisture. Getting the humidity right is one of the big factors in successful egg incubation in an incubator. Maybe if their is no nesting material left in the box - some hens are determined to toss it all out - the eggs are rolling around too much and either the embryo dies as a result of the eggs get small cracks which can allow moitsure to escape or allow infection to get in.

However the first fact needed is whether the eggs were fertile by breaking them open.

cheers,

Mike