worried

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alana8819
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worried

Post by alana8819 »

hi the 2 alex pairs have 7 eggs 3 to one 4 to the other, thing is they laid the eggs end of july beginning of august and they still havent hatched.
what should i do? one hen wont leave her eggs she sits on them constantly and the cock feeds her, the others she is on and off them all the time but when you go to check on them she gets in. they've both had live clutches for the last 2 and 3 years what do you think the chances are of these hatching should i take them out of the nest box? any advice would be great.
Fah
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Post by Fah »

You need to go in and check the eggs. Take a torch with you, and check the eggs are fertile to start. If they are fertile you need to remember when the last few eggs were done... as the hens can often only start incubating when there are several in the nest.

Incubation is about a month... 28-30 days... so I wouldnt be that worried yet.

Note: this really doesnt belong here, it should be in the Alexandrine section :P
alana8819
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Post by alana8819 »

Thanks for that Fah one of the hens is very aggressive when you check the eggs any tricks? the other one should be fine.
Fah
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Post by Fah »

Ah well, from friends experience, especially if this is the first time breeding with them (for you), I would not cause the aggressive hen too much stress. I have seen hens leave the nest for a few days before coming back after being man handled, which once incubation starts... thats enough to kill the young.

I would just check the happy pairs nest, Alexandrines incubation of eggs is a full week longer than Indian Ringnecks, so its no suprise they have not hatched yet... my guys only hatched a week ago, friends IRN's are just hatching now... yet they went down with the first eggs roughly the same time.

If the pair you can check seems fine, let it run its course.

If you can see an egg that has had a tiny hole made in it by the young but nothing else, help the process yourself with very clean hands (but with no chemical residue on them) and a small pin to help open up the shell.

I would check the happy pairs clutch daily, maybe once in morning once at night if you have the time.

This way you can really see whats going on, and also the parents will get used to you "medling" with their nest.
alana8819
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Post by alana8819 »

thanks so much, yeah it is our first time with them, the birds have done it many times. we've breed and hand reared other birds but these guys are very different.
alana8819
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Post by alana8819 »

I dont think the eggs are fertile there are no veins looks like their is just liquid in them.
Jim
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Post by Jim »

Are the eggs from both of your pairs infertile or just one of the pairs?

Jim
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alana8819
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Post by alana8819 »

just one pair haven't checked the other, but she has just laid another 2 eggs i was going to give it a week or so then check hers.
is there any reason why they wouldn't be fertile? or if they were and the chicks died? it was exceptionally cold and rainy when they laid.
i was very surprised because these eggs were from the hen who wouldnt leave the nest box at all and wouldn't let us check the eggs then she just got off them yesterday and let us take them out, maybe she knew.
Jim
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Post by Jim »

When you put the torch (or flashlight as we like to say here) to the eggs, was the liquid completely uniform in color or did you notice a slightly darker spot somewhere or a dark ring around the edge of the liquid? If you saw either of those, it may have been fertile but died very early and the cold weather you mention is certainly a possible culprit.

Unfortunately, there are a myriad of reasons that eggs can be infertile. Even under optimal circumstances an egg will sometimes not get fertilized and improper diet, disease and environmental contaminants can all lead to infertility. (And I should emphasize that I'm NOT implying that there's anything like that going on with your birds.) If you find that the other pair's eggs are also infertile it does suggest that there's some sort of systematic issue and if it's important to you to breed the birds you might think about having a vet take a look at them.

Jim
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alana8819
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Post by alana8819 »

thanks jim, two of the eggs looked as if they may of had something in them at some stage, one egg was completely liquid.
am very happy to say that two of the eggs from the other pair hatched this morning, she has another 4 in there am not sure if these are fertile or not but will leave them for the moment.
pinkdevil
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Post by pinkdevil »

Congrats on the successful hatchings so far. :)
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