Parakeet Eggs- Bad news...and good news

[77horses]

well, we didn't find a peeping baby parakeet this weekend like we thought we would. Instead, the baby parakeet somehow died.

The father, who isn't suppose to even be in the nest, was in the nest and we think he may have "smothered it" by trying to sit on it.

We also threw out 4 eggs because they were rotten.

And I learned how bad rotten eggs really smell!

2 eggs are left now, and Toddra is sitting on them still.

The good news is that the 2 eggs that are left are showing signs of life. when we candled them, they both had veins in them and we saw the chicks moving in them. And today, we may have seen one of the eggs wiggling a tiny bit, and we may have heard faint peeping!

Those 2 eggs are our last hope. If they don't hatch, then we will have to wait a while before they lay any more, so Toddra can take a break.

So we are hoping that they hatch and at least one or both of the chicks live!

 

[arllcountrygirl]

Sorry to hear about the baby --
The father does help - You need to keep in b/c he will help feed the mother keet.

 

[77horses]

Quote:
That's what I thought. But I also read that the father isn't suppose to go in the nest with the mother. He's suppose to feed her through the hole in the nest box, and if he does go in, the mother is suppose to kick him out. But Toddra, the mother, doesn't kick him out.

Maybe because she's not too experienced, since this is her second egg experience, but we had to take him out or he would smother the babies by trying to go in the nest box with the mother.

 

[arllcountrygirl]

mine go in also.

 

[77horses]

Quote:
did this affect the baby chicks at all like it did with ours?

 

[arllcountrygirl]

Mine had 3 chicks and lost one but the other two did great.
Unfortunately she started laying again the other day and I think she ended up eggbound -- we lost her.

I have others but none are laying.

 

[clhbubba]

I used to have breeding keets and the father went in all the time. They hatched out between 6-9 babies each time. Papa needs to stay to help out. Mama cannot do it alone. Good luck and enjoy. They are a lot of fun!!

 

[crtrlovr]

My cockatiels share the parenting duties -- papa sits on unhatched eggs and/or chicks during the daytime; mama has night duty (usually) or they may do 1/2 day 1/2 night then swap. The papas also feed the babies (so amazing how they are SO gentle when feeding the tiny new hatchlings!)

BTW: one pair sneaked in a mini-clutch on me.

Anyone care to give a good home to a 'tiel or two?

 

[77horses]

OK we are going to put Kiwi(the father) back in. I feel bad because we kept trying to keep him out of the nest, when he was just trying to help.

 

[babylady4]

There is a awesome site through yahoo groups called budgie-place. I was there all the time when my budgie hatched her eggs out. You will learn a lot about the interactions between mom, dad, babies and all the other birds you happen to have in there too! I had one bird that kept trying to help feed the babies for mom and dad!

Good luck with your budgies! We managed to have 5 of the 7 babies survive (all 7 hatched but two were smothered).

M