Expert: Chrys Meatyard - 6/7/2006

Question
She still hasn't laid anymore eggs (It's been 4 days now) and the temperature is 72 degrees in here. Is that warm enough for the eggs? She goes in there occasionally to incubate her eggs, well atleast I think that is what she is doing, though only for about 15 minutes out of every 45 minutes. When they incubate eggs, do they sit on them constantly or when the eggs get warm enough will she just wait until they get cool again to sit on them again? She is with a male parakeet and I'm not sure if they have mated at all before the eggs, though lately they have been mating constantly (Does this mean that she will lay more eggs, while maybe still in the process of laying her others?) One last question: When you said they might take a "break" from laying eggs, how long does that usually last? Thanks again!
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Followup To

Question -
My parakeet has laid 2 eggs so far, and the last egg she laid was on saturday. It has now been 3 days later and she has hardly been in her nesting box at all. I thought that parakeets laid eggs ever 1-2 days, and their clutches were 4-8 eggs. Could she possibly be done laying eggs? She hasn't really started incubating them, just going in her box every now and then for about 10 minutes and sitting on them. If she doesn't incubate them, will they not hatch? Since she isn't really incubating them, does this mean she isn't done? Or could it be longer than 1-2 days in between parakeets laying their eggs? Sorry, so many questions.

Answer -
Hi, Marie.  Thanks for posting.

Keets normally lay 1 egg every other day and clutches average 6 eggs, but can be less or more.  Yes, it's possible she could be done laying.  Normally, keets don't start incubating until the second egg is laid, however, some start incubating with the first egg, some not until the 3d egg is laid.  If they aren't incubated, no, they will not develop and hatch.  However, be aware that if the temperature inside the nestbox and/or room is high enough, and the humidity is right, it may not be necessary for her to incubate constantly.  I've had some parrots who barely incubated their eggs in the summertime, when the temperature was high, and the eggs still hatched.  Perhaps this is what is going on.  The female monitors the temp and humidity of her eggs, and applies the correct temp/humidity as she sees fit.  Therefore, I would just leave her alone for the moment and see what happens.  It's possible she's waiting for more eggs to come but, with this "break," it could be possible she will double-clutch, that is, start laying a new clutch of eggs on top of the 2 she already has laid.  This means she may end up with 6-8 eggs in the end.  Is this her first clutch?  Sometimes a first clutch is small.  Is her mate in the cage with her (or is she a single female laying eggs)?

Chrys

Answer
Hi again, Marie.  

It may be 72 degrees in the room, but I'm sure the temperature is higher inside the nestbox.  In most cases, the female regulates the humidity and temperature of the eggs, based on ambient temps.  I don't know if she's doing this or not paying much attention to her eggs.  Usually, keets are excellent parents, but this depends on the individual birds.  Incubation is the process of keeping the eggs at the required temperature and humidity so the embryos develop properly.  This might mean the female sits on the eggs constantly (except to defecate and sometimes get a bite to eat when she's hungry and the male hasn't fed her...the male should be feeding her while she's on eggs).  If she allows the eggs to cool down too much, they won't develop properly.  Normally, the female controls all of this herself without any assistance from her human.  

Parrots only have to mate once to produce a full clutch of eggs.  However, the more they mate, the better chances of a full clutch of fertilized eggs.  Females don't have to mate to lay infertile eggs.  In other words, single female keets can lay eggs without a mate, but the eggs won't be fertile.  

When I referred to a break, I meant that obviously, they were taking a break from laying, since it had been 3 days (now 4) since the last egg was laid.  I didn't mean to suggest that this was normal.  Normally, a female will lay a full clutch of about 6 eggs every other day after the first egg arrives.  When a keet lays a couple eggs, then stops for 3, 4 or more days, this is obviously a break for some reason only they can explain!  She may lay more, maybe not...I can't say for sure because I don't know these birds.  Sometimes when parrots take a break like this, they will double-clutch, meaning they will lay 2 clutches of eggs in the same nestbox with a short break in-between clutches.  I don't know if this is what is happening with your keets...only time will tell.  The length of time of a "break" varies, therefore, I can't answer this question, but I don't mean a month or 2...I'm talking about a week or 2.  Again, this varies with individual parrots.

Chrys