Wow, we found an egg today

[Shelly]

Well, today after I got home from work I had a quick look in the box and saw one egg. Both my girls are very excited,

Frank, you told me to look in the egg in approx 10 days with a penlight torch, do I do this in the daylight or night-time?

I've instructed the girls not to go looking in the box all the time and to just let the birds be for a while, so let's hope they listen, they know not to try and catch them or do things like that which will stress them out.

Any tips on what I can do (or not do) while they're incubating and hopefully hatching.

Shelly

[hillcresttiels]

Hi Shelly incubation probably wont start till at least the 3rd egg is laid hopefully if all goes well 5 days after the 3rd egg you can check for fertility at this stage let them be and just keep an eye on the hen that she is doing ok the eggs will be laid every second evening and best to check out of direct light also better for the birds if one person does the nest inspections taht way they will get used to your checks cheers Frank

[josiedownunda]

Hi Squitzy,
Congratulations on your egg! Seems like we are nearly neighbours...I am at Brackenridge. Great to see a local here.
If the hen starts sitting on the eggs feom the time she lays the first egg then in about 5 days you should start to see signs of veins developing. I never have much luck with a torch so i use the sunlight. I hold the egg up to the sunlight and it usually shows easily enough if something is developing or not. You will see a darker area with veins radiating from it like a spiderweb. If you leave it too long before candling them you will not be able to see these veins as the egg looks totally solid and not see through.
Jo-Anne

[hillcresttiels]

The key with the torch is use one with a lens approx the size of the egg thats why i like to use Maglite pencil torch and i shine the light thru the the large end(air sac) of the egg sunlight is ok but you get to see a whole lot more with a good torch.As mentioned before you also get to see the heart pumping with a good torch light ;D The obvious sign of a fertile egg is the silky opaque color of the egg up against a dull clear egg which is infertile ;)cheers

Frank

[Shelly]

Well, we're up to 2 eggs now which I would expect, (we found the first one Wednesday and she laid another one yesterday (Friday)). She's not laying at night though, because they're being laid during the day while I'm at work. But I don't care when she does it, I'm just happy that she is, and she's already sitting on them a fair bit (not all the time though). I'm a bit concerned about another female who is in the aviary with her, she's always sitting on the perch which is attached to the breeding box and looking in, and today I actually saw her go in the breeding box and sit on the eggs. The mother didn't seem to mind this (I thought she would go ballistic but she didn't even move once she spotted her, she was sitting on a perch at the time). Should I be worried that she might smash the eggs or is this typical behaviour. She does have a male bird but he's just not that interested, he's is however interested in the mother bird who has laid the eggs. Oh what a funny life my birds are leading, if it's not boys in love with boys then everybody is in love with the same girl.

Josie, yes we are very close, if you know Kallangur at all I'm right near Dog Tyred. Maybe one day down the track when we get to know each other a bit better I'd love to come and have a look at your aviary, at the moment I'm a budgie girl but Cockatiels fascinate me. Our neighbour has one and he's the cleverest little thing, I love to listen to him whistle.

Shelly

[josiedownunda]

Hi Shelly,
Congrats on your eggs! There is nothing more exciting than seeing new eggs in the box......nor more frustrating than waiting for them to hatch...then waiting for them to feather up...then waiting for them to let on what sex they are.....then waiting till they are old enough to breed...all to start the waiting cycle all over again!!LOL I just love it!
I would love to get together one day down the track. Seems some other members have been lucky enough to meet up in other states but I sort of feel a bit out on my own being on the northside by myself. I would have o luck even trying to get to those on the southside as anything south of the Brissy river is another planet to me!!!
Jo-Anne

[Shelly]

The Southside scares me!!!!

I just get so lost anytime I venture over the River, lol. Actually we're heading that way today to Springwood, a friend is giving us 3 male budgies as she doesn't want them anymore so I'll gladly take them off her hands. Let's hope I get there without getting lost more than twice. Speak with you soon.

[ollie]

I know how you girls feel about the southside but we are not so bad. I lived on the Northside all my life well from 6 year old and only moved south 16 years ago.
When I first moved John's daughter used to have to draw mud maps for me just to get to the shopping centres and one day I thought this is ridiculous and I just started driving and got myself aquainted now I get lost a bit on the Northside!!! ;D ;D ;D. If you ever venture over let me know and maybe we can meet up somewhere. Congratulations on your eggs my budgies have two tiny babies and more to come.

[Shelly]

Is this normal??

Got home from work today to check on the egg count, box empty??? Where are the eggs, I look down and they've been thrown out of the box onto the floor of the aviary, it looks like there is a hole where a beak has pecked through. Now I don't know who did it, mum or the other budgie I mentioned in my posts above.

Also inside the egg it looked just like a normal chook egg, yolk and all. Is this normal, or weren't they developing, I thought theyre might have been a sort of birdie embryo (if you like) developing inside.

Should I separate my egg laying bird from the others for the time being to see if she still lays more?

[Laraine]

It can be frustrating getting started with the egg laying. Sounds like they might not have been fertilised. I'd leave things as they are for the moment, but I'd watch the other hen when babies eventually hatch. I had the same thing happen with my Bourke parrots, actually saw them mating and waited for eggs only to find 2 on the floor of the cage pecked open. So we will have to be patient.

[beachbird]

I've also found eggs (that look just like mini-chook eggs when opened) broken on the floor of a couple of my budgie's enclosures.
Do you think that when the birds push them out of the box, that they're generally infertile?

[AcaciaWattle]

I, personally, have found this to be the case but some birds won't lay in the box and lay off the perch and some birds kick the other birds eggs out.