Expert: Chrys Meatyard - 8/22/2008

Question
Hi. I Have two Parakeets. I think 1 is a female and one is a male. Last night I went in the room to feed my birds and there is a egg in the food bowl. I have a  sack and a bowl in there but I dont know what to do. I dont know if I need to try to get a nesting box and move it or just let it be. When I go to put my hand in the cage the male goes nuts and jumps in the food bowl to cover it. But I checked on them several times last night and today and they are not laying on it. I've only had these birds a couple of months. I got them for my three year old daughter. They are still not trained. We can't even touch them. Please help me as soon as you can. Thank You

Answer
Hi, Kelli,

What kind of a "sack" are you referring to?

Male keets have deep blue ceres (the cere is the colored area above the beak).  Females have white/brown/tan/beige.  Females can also have blue ceres, but their ceres are framed in white and aren't usually as bright as a male's cere.

If you have a male and a female, this egg (and others they may lay) could be fertile if the birds have mated.  If they are both female, female birds can lay infertile eggs without having mated with a male.  In this case, leave any eggs laid right where the bird has laid them until the bird abandons them on her own (you'll have to use another food dish for them to eat out of).  

Your next action(s) depend on what you want of your birds.  If you want them to produce offspring (provided you have a male and female bonded pair), you can get a nesting box and install it on their cage.  If you do not want babies, do not install any type of nesting box and you probably need to remove the "sack" if this "sack" is something they can nest and/or lay eggs in.  If you decide to put up a nesting box, you can try moving the first egg into the box, but they will most likely abandon that egg.  This is because they will have to get used to the nesting box first, then make the nesting box the way they want it before they will lay eggs in it.  Do not put any substrate in the bottom of any nesting box.  

Most parrots (yes, your keets are parrots) don't start incubation until the second egg is laid.  Your birds might lay as many as 6 eggs. Birds with eggs/offspring are very protective.  Therefore, it is normal for them to behave as you are describing.  You can't change this, so just let them be as they are until they are finished with egg laying, etc.  Female keets stay inside the nesting box with the eggs/babies, males guard the outside of the nesting box and usually stay inside the cage feeding the female mate beak-to-beak while she is on the eggs/babies, only coming out to defecate and sometimes eat on her own (depends on the individual bird).

Taming your keets is an entirely different story!  Learn more about this on my website:  www.angelfire.com/falcon/birdinfo/index.html.  Birdchannel.com is also a good website.

Chrys