Expert: Marie Charon - 11/7/2009

Question
Dear Marie

This is regarding my pet buddies. I have two pairs of buddy birds in my house and one pair started breeding and layed eggs and during laying eggs female died in night by difficulty in laying egg (6th egg) and the eggs are in the breeding nest.  The female died yesterday only i require your urgent reply so that i can rescue the eggs.  Is there any possibilty of hatching them artificially by putting 100 Watt bulb or any procedure please suggest me.  I am eagerly waiting for ur urgent reply.

Regards
Teja  

Answer
You can defiantly hatch them yourself. Be ready for a HUGE time commitment though. The eggs need to be kept at around 99.1 - 99.4 degrees. You will have to keep careful track of the temperature if you do not have an incubator. I suppose a light bulb might work in a pinch, but wow, there is defiantly a huge danger of burning them, and it will be very tricky to get the temperature right. I might see what a heating pad, and a lower wattage bulb do for you, or a warning light for reptiles. definitely get a thermostat that fits inside or by the eggs.

Incubators are definitely the way to go though if you can afford one and get one quickly. I've never tried to hatch with anything but incubator, but if you get the temperature about right I can see where it might work.

The eggs must be turned every two hours, otherwise the developing chick can become deformed among many other development problems.

Blessings,
-m