Expert: Chrys Meatyard - 1/26/2008

Question
hi!
i have 2 parakeets and we always knew that one was a male and one was a female. around 2 weeks ago one of my birds had an egg but we found it broken. later we added a box with some twigs and like cotton pieces thinking maybe she can make her nest. but all shes doing is is spillin everything and she building a nest under the rails of the cage. and she  hasnt made any other nests well she just had 2 eggs like 3 days ago and we havent seen her sit onn her eggs at all and she doesnt have a nest their on the rails of the cage cuz she keeps fliping the boxes. our living room is curently 70  degrees or so. but i dont know if the eggs are still alive? what do i do? help!!

Answer
Hi, Lizzy,

Regarding the first egg that was found broken, your bird could have laid this egg from a perch or other, and the egg broke when it fell to the cage floor.  Regarding the nesting box, remove anything that you've put in it and don't put anything in it.  Keets do not like substrate in their nesting boxes.  This is why she is taking the stuff out and not laying her eggs in it.  Once you remove substrate from the nesting box, your female will most likely lay her eggs in it and incubate them, if she is old enough to know what to do.

You can try putting the already-laid eggs in the nesting box once you remove any substrate.  However, she may not accept these eggs.  Eggs that are laid do not start development inside (if they are fertile to begin with) until the female starts incubating them.  You will not be able to determine if the eggs are "alive" until they have been incubated for 7-10 days.  You can then candle them.  Candling is the process of shining a light source through an egg to see what you can see inside.  After about 10 days of incubation (incubation is when the female starts sitting on her eggs 24/7), shine a light source through each egg (without touching the eggs with your bare skin).  If the inside looks like a chicken egg from your refrigerator, it is not fertile.  If you can see red veins running to/from a dark spot on the inside of an egg, the egg is fertile.

Visit my website for more general information:  www.angelfire.com/falcon/birdinfo/index.html.  www.birdchannel.com is a good website, too.

Chrys