First clutch of IRN eggs - Any advice appreciated

[Wessel Gordon]

I can't see the entire inside of the nest and my nephew insist there's 3 eggs and no chicks...if he's lying I'm feeding him to the female, lol.

All joking aside: I can't hear any chicks inside the nest. I had budgies, cockatiels and sun conure chicks in the past and I could always hear the chicks and in this case I'm hearing absolutely nothing.

One of the remaining eggs had a dent in it (according to the description I heard) so it wouldn't have hatched anyway. When we did a nest-check earlier today that egg was cracked. The female is still trying to incubate the two remaining eggs although it seems the male has given up. Not sure if it's habit keeping her in the nest or if she knows something I don't know.

[Wessel Gordon]

The only way to find out for sure is to check the nest myself. Will be a bit tricky considering the nest is about the same height as I am and it's an indoor cage it's in but I'll find a way.

[rod038]

Your right you can definately hear them after a few days. They just keep getting louder as they grow. The female will stay in the box until the eggs are gone or she has had enough time waiting.

[Wessel Gordon]

Checked the nest again: the remaining 2 eggs are in the back of the nest where there's no way the hen could comfortably incubate them (could easily spot them myself even at the awkard angle I am in relation to the hole of the nest). Looks like my best strategy to remove the eggs is to wait till the hen leaves the nest then place my net over her (since she's got plucking issues she can't really fly which makes getting the net over her easier) and remove the nest completely so I can remove the eggs and clean the nest while I'm at it before putting it back in the cage. The tricky part is going to prevent her male from escaping but if a heavy towel or something covers the cage and door as much as possible that should help.

[rod038]

Check the eggs when you get them out and see if there is anything inside. This may give you an idea of whats going wrong. I would not put the nest box back in as I dont think she will go down again as this will be her third clutch. It hasnt been a good start to the breeding for you but at least you are learning.

In my first year I had 6 pairs and 3 pairs layed, all were young 2 year old Hens and all had fertile eggs. 13 in total from them and all except one hatched which was dead in the shell. But then 2 of the hens killed all their chicks and I was left with 5 babies in 1 nest. So I had 5 young from 6 pairs.

I would try and find a way for next season to get that nest box on the outside of the cage. It may be disturbing the pair too much by having to check it the way you do, specially if she is a bit nervous.

Can you take a photo of your set up and we may be able to advise of any changes?

[Wessel Gordon]

Rod, I'll see if I can organize a few pics.

I keep my birds as pets so the fact that she decided to lay eggs was a bonus.

[Wessel Gordon]

Rod,

I don't know what you mean with her laying a third clutch of eggs if I removed the nest for cleaning and putting it back. We only noticed the first eggs over the weekend of August 15 so it's been roughly a month with not enough time to lay a clutch in between.

We're going to move the birds to a better spot for summer in the next day or two so I haven't removed the nest and eggs yet...thought it would be less stressful for the birds if everything is done in one go. The hen is also spending a lot more time outside the nest than she have been over the past few weeks so it seems she lost interest in breeding for now.

[rod038]

Sorry I thought you said that she had laid before this round and the eggs were no good and this was her second round. Yes best to do all the moving in one go.

[Wessel Gordon]

No problem, rod.

[Wessel Gordon]

Just moved the cages and removed the unhatched eggs.

Of the two that was still in the nest one had a cracked shell on the bottom so the egg dried out. The other egg was intact...when I opened it all I found was the yellow and white yolk (or whatever it's called) so the eggs was obviously not fertilized.

Needless to say the hen is a bit upset that I dared to touch her eggs and from being moved but she'll settle down soon.

[rod038]

Yes it sounds like they werent fertile. She may lay again. Some pairs will lay 2 clutches if the eggs are removed or even if the chicks are removed for hand raising at up to 2 weeks of age. I removed 5 eggs from one of my pairs on the 14/08/2011 and she layed again on the 8/9/2011. She now has 4 eggs and I will let her raise this clutch. I put in some fresh nesting matierial in between clutches.

[Wessel Gordon]

I cleaned the nest and replaced the nesting material (wood shavings). Since the nest and the cage-door is roughly the same dimensions I had to clean the nest inside the cage...luckily my nephew helped to distract the female so I managed to do it without getting bitten. Will have to wait and see if she decides to lay another clutch, but since I'm not a breeder it won't matter if she doesn't.