UPDATE: Parakeet eggs didn't make it. =(

[77horses]

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Yeah but I don't know of any vets near us. And I bet it would cost like $20 to have an appointment; and how can we bring Carla and the eggs to the vet when it could stress her out????

 

[danielnv]

I am a long term budgie breeder, except that I stopped the last 2 years and have just been enjoying my chirpin beauties! Anyway, they usually won't just set on eggs in the bottom of the cage like that, but it's cool they are taking care of them. They usually start setting after the first 2 or 3 are layed, and so the first ones hatch near the same time. After that, they hatch every other day if all are fertile, because they are layed every other day. The eggs can hatch from 17-21 days after they were layed, but if mom wasn't setting until 3 were laid, then it could be up to 26 days from when the first egg was laid til it hatches.

One problem I had when I bred in the small pet keet cages, was that sometimes the mom will kill her babies as they leave the nest and start flying. I think this has to do with overcrowding, because I never have had this problem once I went to laregr cages and then to a large walk-in aviary. At the end when I had these small cages, I just would take out the mother when the babies were 4 weeks old, and let the father finish taking care of them. It is always the hens in the budgie world that end up being murderous, and I would hate for you to experience that!

Whole wheat bread is great to give budgies, and of course all the veggies that are good for us. No chocolate or avocado! They are poisonous.

They really need some sunlight at least part of the day, but I don't think I would move them while dealing with eggs/babies. You probably shouldn't touch the babies at all that small--they are so delicate when they hatch, with a tiny head the size of a pea, and can take a chill super easy. Ideal would be if you were to get a full spectrum fluorescent bulb and put it right on top of that cage to get them some vitamin D before they move outside.

 

[danielnv]

Oh yeah, I'm pretty sure the best bet for the finch egg is back in the nest with the finches. The other one may have cracked by accident--even by you touching 2 together or something when you tried to candle them. I don't see it surviving in with budgies.

 

[77horses]

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Thanks! But we aren't planning on putting them outside.

They are uncovered halfway during the day to get some air and light. During the night they are covered up to be kept warm and to have some quiet time.
They are fed seeds(a mix, such as millet, etc.) that are specifically made for vitamins. They are just now being fed some egg supplement, with real whole egg in it, vitamins, honey...really good for them. And some veggies and fruit(they have recently had some apple and some celery).

Yes, Carla has been faithfully sitting on the eggs a few days after the first 2-3 were laid, even though they are on the bottom of the cage. We provided her with pine tree shavings and newspaper shavings(non-colored). She's also a first time mother.

So since the cage isn't very big, when the chicks are about 4 weeks, we should take the mother out and leave the father to take care of them, so she doesn't kill them?

Thanks!

 

[77horses]

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No it wasn't cracked by accident; You could tell that the damage was done on purpose. And that pair of finches, who laid the two eggs, are known to crack and eat many of their eggs for some reason.

The father may have done it, though. They may have smelled the human scent after we candled them.

Do you think we could put the egg in with another pair of finches? We have 2 finch cages; one with the two that are known for cracking eggs, and the other one has two finches that have hatched out 2 eggs and the chicks survived, until they both died of natural hazards.

 

[danielnv]

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It's actually more of an urban legend about birds smelling human scent, because they have a very poor sense of smell. I don't have finches anymore, but when i did I just let them take care of their own eggs. Society finches in particular are excellent foster parents, and I think zebras are pretty good too. If they have eggs of their own, they are more likely to take care of this one.

 

[danielnv]

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my budgies love carrots and peas, lettuce (but only use dark lettuces like romaine, greenleaf, redleaf, spinach, etc. (Please NO ICEBERG LETTUCE since it is just empty filler and will fill them up without giving any nutrition!) You can even offer dandelion greens or other weeds from outside if you are sure they haven't been sprayed with and pesticides/herbicides ever.

I don't know your setup or if your budgies are ever allowed to free-fly in your room, but I used to do that when I had budgies indoors. If they have done this before, it might be OK to do it again when they get to that age so that the size of the cage just suddenly got a whole lot bigger. This could be done in a small room such as a bedroom, but you must have a sheer curtain or something on the window to make sure they don't fly into it and break a neck. The same goes for mirrors-they would need to be covered with something. If they have never been out of the cage, I would put the hen in another cage at 4 weeks old, or at a minimum keep a very close watch on them. Not all budgies will do this, but I had too many of them do it to want to chance it again. The fathers help a lot with taking care of the babies and can wean them just fine. 6 days after they leave the nest they are weaned. In your case I guess this means 6 days after you see them flying around the cage.

 

[BellLisamo]

awwwwwwwwwwww! what an amazing thing! thats awesome

 

[77horses]

OK so should we leave the finch egg with the mother Parakeet, since she's acting like it's her own, or do we put it back with the finches??? I'm afraid that they will eat the egg after it's been with the Parakeet.
Also, I think that another reason that the finches killed the first egg may have been because my little sister didn't know that she wasn't supposed to take the finch eggs out so she put one with the mother Parakeet and her eggs. Then she put it back. After that, the mother finch killed the egg. That's why I'm worried about putting it back; maybe they can sense that another bird has been touching the egg???

We are unsure of what to do right now!

Thanks!

 

[redhen]

wish i could help hun!

finches are small also...could the parakeet hatch it??