We have Eggs

[SpanischeRose]

My little girl from the last Post she laid 7 Eggs so far. Egg 1 on June 1, Egg 2 June 2 and Egg 3 on June 4 and Egg 4 on June 6 and Egg 5 on June 8 and Egg 6 on June 10 and Egg 7 on June 12 . If she is going to lay more then it will be tomorrow. She is doing great and sitting tide and he is taking so great care of her. I will go and candel the Eggs on the Weekend to see how many will be fertiled.
I'm not sure how many are actually fertiled. How many more will she lay? She is doing great and so is he. I can only check the eggs when she is out the Box. She won't let me look when she is in there
This Morning I saw my breeding pair which has 7 eggs right now mate. I thought that they don't mate after she laid her third or fourth egg. I candled the eggs this morning and from what I have seen she has 7 so far last one laid last night but a lot have like yellow yock and I maybe 2 have with vains.

[maxollie]

Hi, Bianca! Congratulations!! I'm so happy for you. I would think she would be finished up laying soon. Generally, I think they only lay about 5-7. Maybe a couple more! As you can see by the days she laid them, the first three were laid daily, and then she went into the mode of every other day, which generally is the pattern. Being new to laying, this is not unusual. I hope you get some chicks from that clutch.

As to the other pair, It is possible that the mating today could result in fertile eggs. If she lays any more eggs in the next few days, then keep track of those as you would if it was another clutch, because they will hatch later, and you need to be able to count the 21 days with them. Do you mark the eggs in anyway when they are laid. Some folks take a pencil or pen and mark a small # on each one so you know which ones were laid on a specific day. Especially with mating in between clutches this is a good way to keep track of them.

Thanks for the update. I hope the breeding goes well with both pairs. I'll look forward to hearing how things are progressing with them.

[SpanischeRose]

Hello Ellen, I thank you for your reply. I guess now i have to wait and see if there are some pinkies

[maxollie]

Yes... and you will love the journey!!! Good Luck!

[SpanischeRose]

I check on the Eggs today to see if she had laid another one. We have 8 now. I hope she will stop soon. I hope it is good for her to lay so many.

[maxollie]

As long as you are giving her plenty of calcium, and see her eating it (cuttlebone), she should be OK! Any fresh veggies you can get her to eat (minus any cabbage family, including broccoli, parsley, etc.) should help her gain some calcium in her body. Kale can be fed, but I would limit it to a very small amount and only about once a week. Parsley is definitely out. It has some sort of phytochemical in it that is deadly to parrots. She definitely has the "hang of it" now, and is laying every other day. You probably know to candle the eggs you need to wait a few days (5 or so). If you have a pen flash light, that is perfect to see into the shell. Like you, I hope this will be the last one. She will have a big challenge trying to set on all of those eggs. And I don't know if you observed the behavior of your other pair when they were nesting, but with budgies, the male never goes into the nest box. You should notice that your males will play out on the perches and with their toys until the first egg hatches. And then, you will notice that the male will immediately hop off the perch, and jump right into the nest. This happened to me when I bred my pair. He will help feed the new ones. My one concern already is that if they were all to hatch they will have so many to take care of, there could be a problem with splayed legs, because they have to be situated in the nest box so that their little legs are not flat on the bottom for too long, or that they are not all scrunched together on the bottom of the nest box.

This is her first time laying, and being young, it should not be of concern. (only that there will be so many in the nest if they were all to hatch). Also, with a first timer, sometimes just a few of the eggs are fertile. But do not discard any of them. If you look into the shell and see no embryo, she needs to keep them anyway, because birds are intelligent and they know exactly how many eggs they are laying and setting on, and if you disturb the process in anyway, then she may abandon them. Further, she will most likely go right back to laying again, which can happen anyway, but it is best to not take any of them away from her should you see no embryos in some of the eggs.

[SpanischeRose]

Thank you so much Ellen for your reply. They get fresh fruit and pellet seed mix and also egg food. They have a cuddlebone and also fresh veggies.
I tryed to candle the eggs but I only can do that when she is out the box and I have to be quick because when she sees me she will hop back in. I see a lot on eggs with yellow yock in it and I seen 1 with vains maybe 2 but there I'm not to sure.
So I'm thinking not all of them with hatch. The eggs which not hatch how long should I leave them in the box?

[maxollie]

Once the chicks have all hatched, and after a day or so, then IF they will let you, I would remove the other eggs and try to clean up the nest box a little. But do not disturb the area where the babies are and where she is setting with them. I would not remove any of the eggs until all the eggs that are viable have hatched. Do you have any nesting material in the box? Some folks use nesting material and others do not. When I bred my budgies, I read that there should not be any, so I didn't use it. However, I would say, in this situation, with so many possible chicks hatching, and after they have hatched, you may need to put a little nesting material of some kind in there so maybe she will pull some of it close to her and move the chicks around so they will have some "padding" under them. I spoke about splayed legs, and I think sometimes that is more of a possibility also when they are laying on the hard wood. But budgies are different in their behavior and habits when it comes to nesting, and from what I have read, they want to "perch" (the female takes her beak and perches little pieces of wood off the bottom of the nest box, and considers that to be her nest material), rather than have the nesting material. I would say it often depends upon the pair. If they would allow you to clean that nest up some after a few days of all of the eggs hatching, and take out the ones that did not hatch, and give them some sort of nesting material, in my view, that would help to keep the babies from laying on the hard wood to not have splayed legs. She may not accept the nesting material and cast it aside and put it in the corners of the box. It is hard to tell what she might do, until you would try this method if you choose to do so.

[SpanischeRose]

Thank you Ellen. I have shavings in the box just a bit not to much. She was throwing abit out before she laid her eggs but the is still abit in there and she is happy with it because she is leaving it in there. I hope that the 1 possible 2 eggs are fertile and that they hatch. Like I said there are a few with yellow yock in it.

[SpanischeRose]

Here we go again. OMG i was hoping today when i was vhecking the Breeding Box not to find another another Egg but she did it Egg 9 on June 16. I really hope she would stop now. My worry now is; if they should all hatch will they be able to feed them all and will the Nextbox be big enough?

[maxollie]

They are very tiny when they hatch. I think the box will be big enough. The eggs hatch every other day, so the first few chicks should be OK. Any of the others will need to be watched to be sure their little crops are full and their little toes are pink. We will cross that road when we get there. And hope she does not lay anymore. Each day the first ones hatched should get stronger with seeds fed by parents. If need be those can be hand fed. And hopefully the parents would feed the tiny new chicks.

[SpanischeRose]

Yeah I really hope so aswell. We will find out tomorrow that's when she will lay another one if she does. I better get familiar with hand feeding just I case I have to help feeding the young once if they should hatch all.

[maxollie]

You can go on YouTube and search...handfeeding baby budgies! Great videos of all kinds of info on most any subject on YouTube!

[boomer girl]

Yikes, nine eggs is so many eggs and if they all hatch you will probably need to help them out once they get a bit older. I will be looking forward to seeing how many of the eggs actually hatch out and especially looking forward to seeing the cute tiny babies.

[SpanischeRose]

Finely she stop at Egg 9 no more Eggs today. Yeah I can't wait to see how many will hatch she doesn't like me touching the Eggs to candel them so I just have to wait and see. Egg 1 was on June 1 and Egg 2 June 2 so I think if they hatch then it will be soon.