should i be looking at the eggs from the outside of the cage?

[heidi18]

One of my finches laid an egg about 11 days ago. Im not exactly sure but that is my estimate. My question is i look at the egg in the nest every day from the OUTSIDE of the cage. I DONT touch the egg or the nest but my husband says that if i look at the egg no matter what the circumstance the mother will abandon it and it will more than likely not hatch. Im looking for advice on whether i should just stop looking at it or not. I havent been able to find anything about it on the internet. Thank you very much!

 

[Fleabuskitty]

It is a myth that mother birds can smell when people touch their eggs and will abandon them; birds have a very weak sense of smell. You shouldn't touch the egg often and when you do wash your hands first, but taking it out to candle won't hurt at all (unless, of course, it gets dropped or something).
Same goes for baby birds. If a baby bird falls/is pushed out of the nest, it is best to just put it back, the mother will not smell people and abandon it.
Is the finch sitting on the egg? It's odd that she only laid one... There is a male in the cage with her, right?

 

[heidi18]

yes there are 2 males in the cage. and she is sitting on it every day. it is just one egg. which a heard there are usually more. is that a sign that it is probably a bad egg? i just dont want to have to be a birdie killer. ha ha. so i dont want to throw it out if im not sure.

 

[Fleabuskitty]

Yeah, the single egg is weird... I had canaries for a short and they hatched 2 clutches in the time I had them, there were always 4 eggs. Try candling it - get a small, bright flashlight and hold the egg against it with the lights off. If it is clear, it's bad. If there is a large blob moving around, it's ok.

 

[heidi18]

should i put gloves on while handling it?

 

[heidi18]

i can do that to ZEBRA FINCH eggs? everybody says not to.

 

[Fleabuskitty]

It should be fine. They're probably more fragile/sensitive than chicken eggs so don't do it often, but doing it just once to see if it is alive should be okay. However. Zebra Finch eggs take about 14 days to hatch and you're on day 12, so if you just wait a couple more days you'll know. But if you're really anxious to know (I candle my chicken eggs almost every day until day 18

) I'm sure it'll be okay, just don't mess with it any more after that.

 

[heidi18]

ok thank you very very much! I appreciate it

 

[Fleabuskitty]

You're welcome

Oh, and I forgot to say that you do not have to wear gloves, but you should wash your hands thoroughly before handling the egg.