My Junday Conure laid an egg, Need Help

Hi, I wanted to ask some questions, to see if anyone can help me. First of all, thank you for this wonderful forum. My husband and I have been proud owners of birds for years.

I have 2 Junday Conures. I know for sure one is female but I am not sure of the other one. We had them for 3 years now. I let them stay the night at times in one another's cage and I also have a separate cage for them for when they enjoy some space.

Tonight my Junday Conure laid an egg. Her abdomen has been swollen for a couple days and is still swollen. I bought her some mineral and cuddle bone for calcium as well as a wood avian select nesting box along with natural nest material refill. The nesting box is 10 by 11 and is very big. Too big for her cage. When I brought it home, they were scared of it so I am not sure what to do. I was told not to touch the egg because she would not sit on it. She is sitting on the egg and is very protective right now with it. I am scared to disturb her with a nesting box that scares her and or place nesting material in her cage. Is there any way to do another nesting box that will fit of help the egg? Can the egg hatch without a nesting box if she is afraid of it? Also, do I need to buy heat lamps?

She is also regurgitating and boobing her head while she is on her egg. Is that normal? What warning signs, if any should I look out for? She seems to be active. Still eating and drinking but very swollen.

I also heard that the baby should hatch in 21 days. I do not know how to care for a baby so any advice would be great. Do Conures usually lay more then one egg at a time. Any help to all these questions will greatly help me as I am concerned. These are our babies and our life and we want to make sure we are doing everything the right way.

Thank you so very much for this forum and for your help.

it can hatch withought the box but the chick wont have a safe place an probably wont make it, keep the room at 75 and you dont need heat lights and yes 21-24 days touching the eggs wont make her abandon them thats only true for wild birds i always handle my birds eggs and chicks for health checks and candling the egg if i were you i would leave the egg for now and if they start to get interested in the nest box move egg in there! and conures and most other birds will usually lay an egg every other day till shes finished laying she will probably lay up to 4-6 eggs swollen is normal thats the egg forming you see there ad she will feed her mate and he will feed her until the baby comes then they will feed the baby so yes regurgitating is normal.

Thank You so much! The other thing I noticed is that she is pressing down on the egg, will it crack? Because the cage bars on the bottom are like bars and open spaces. Should I place a towel ob bottom? I was also thinking of placing the egg on the natural nest material. Should I just wait for a couple of days before doing that?

i dont know about the breaking it i know they do lay down snug on it and sometimes puff up for extra warmth a towel sounds like a good idea maybe with some nest material on top the towel hope all goes well keep us updated!

If your cage have multiple feed doors, dis-mantle one of the doors and place the nest box entrance there. Then you wouldn't have to cut a hole on your cage. You need to drill holes on the top and side of the nest box for attaching it to your cage. I use heavy duty zip ties cause when they're done, you can just cut the zip ties so you can clean out the nest box. Then use soft pine bedding, the brand I like to use is by kaytee as the other brands are kinda rough in texture.

Introduce the nest box to her by placing the egg inside the nest box. The egg will not last being on the grates. It will break eventually! Another thing you can do is if she refuses to use the nest box, you can remove the grate and let her lay on the bottom of the cage. Yes they can hatch them on the bottom but they can also break them easily if they get disturbed. Most of the time they won't make it. Wait a week then candle the eggs like by using a flash light to see if there's any embryo development. If there's not, then it's not fertile egg.

Have you seen your conures mate? Since your not sure if the other Jenday is a male or not....

on my youtube channel i have a couple videos of how i set up my nest boxes the could help you get and idea probably i put mine outside the cage take a look at my video of it my cannel is on my signature!

Two female birds can mate and go through the entire breeding and brooding process.

If you have a male and female, and it's possible the egg is fertile, do you want to allow it to hatch? If it does hatch, are you prepared to hand feed if the need/desire arises? Do you have the supplies to hand raise a chick?

It's honestly not easy advise to give over the internet, as it's much better to learn all this from an experienced breeder/hand raiser... so I would suggest checking and seeing if the egg is fertile (conures typically lay 3-4 eggs) after 5-7 days of the hen laying on it, and if it is, I would highly suggest looking for local breeders or hand raisers who could teach you what you need to know. Even an avian vet who could help you out in case of emergencies.


If you are unable to do so, I'd be hesitant to suggest allowing the egg to develop. Day old babies need to be fed every 2 hours around the clock if for some reason the parents wont. Weaning time is typically 8-16 weeks of age, although birds nearing the age of weaning only need to be fed 2-3 times per day.


Hand feeding, IMO, is extremely easy to do... but because it's so easy, I also feel it's just that much easier to make a mistake that could potentially be fatal. Not only do you need to know how to hand feed, but you need to know the temperature of the formula (not too cold and not too hot), the consistency of it, the temperature and humidity that the chick needs, and how to wean the chick. It's a lot to learn.

Thank you all for your help. We went to the Avian doctor today and He said she is very healthy. She has another egg that is ready to come out and maybe the 3rd or 4th after. Of coarse we are ready to do whatever it takes to raise little baby Conures. The Avian vet said that she is very active eating and moving around, as well as sitting on her egg, so he does not see that there will be a problem of her not being able to feed her babies.

Both my husband and I have had birds for 15 years and we would love nothing more then to raise the little birds. We have helped raise wild baby birds in emergency situations and set them free. Many years ago, one of the baby blue jays that we helped raise, we set out to fly free and it visits us with his entire family of 6 all the time in our huge tree in the backyard. It is a great blessing!

We showed the Avian doctor all of the supplies we got and he said we are doing a great job and have everything the birds need. I feel so much better that we received conformation that she is very healthy and we are doing all the right things. Yay! We are so excited. We both have a lot of time in the day to give them all plenty of attention and let them out most of the time, so it would be no problem for me to feed them if I have to every 2 hours. I know about the temperatures and the not so cold and hot thing as well. We belong to bird avian society in our state and they have plenty of hand feed breeders that can help if needed. Also, our Avian vet is great, he said whenever we need anything to just give him a call.

Thank you again for all your wisdom and support. I will keep you all updated as we look forward to being grandparents.

im so happy everything is fine and well! god luck with whatever comes of it sounds like you are very prepared!

Thank you so much Marcia. Your U tube videos were very helpful and wonderful. They were so cute and we loved watching them.

oh thanks so mcuh! im glad they are helpful, i know ive made my share of mistakes over the years ive owned birds