Expert: Chrys Meatyard - 9/1/2007

Question
I have 5 budgies. I decided to breed them. I have done this once before and got a few chicks. All five are in the same cage but since i wanted to breed them i put a male and female in a cage together. They have mated a few times and 2 days ago she layed her first egg. It had some blood on it. Today she laid another and it has blood on it too. I candled both of them and all i can see is the yellow yoke.I assume this means they are infertile. Should i remove the eggs and try again later? i dont want to stress her out but i dont want her to ware herself out either, what should i do?

               Thank you for your advice. if there is anything else i need to know please let me know.

Answer
Hi, Anonimous!

It is fairly normal for laid eggs to have some blood on them.  After all, an egg is a rather large object to push out a small vent!  You won't see anything inside a laid egg until the female has incubated them for at least 7-10 days.  The embryo inside an egg doesn't begin to develop until incubation begins.  If you still don't see anything inside the egg after its been incubated 10 days, then it could be safe to assume that egg is not fertile.  However, be sure you know what to look for.  

No, don't remove the eggs.  Leave them alone until the female finishes laying a full clutch of about 4-6 eggs.  Allow her to incubate them for about 18 days and see if babies start hatching.  If you start removing eggs as they are laid, she will continue to lay and lay and lay, which can be detrimental to her health (and why not wait to see if they are fertile).

There's a whole lot you need to learn, but there's not enough room on this website!  Start with my website and another one I'll list and go from there.  Perhaps you need to become more knowledgeable first before allowing your birds to breed.

www.angelfire.com/falcon/birdinfo/index.html
www.birdchannel.com

Chrys