Green Cheek Conures Breeding and Laying Eggs

Hello, I am Bree c:

I was hoping that somebody might be able to help me with my 2 green cheek conures. I have 2 green cheeks which have been breeding for quite some time now and have laid 5 eggs thus far. Although this is FANTASTIC NEWS I want to be much more prepared for when the eggs hatch...

Fertile eggs?
I do know that there are multiple methods of seeing whether or not the eggs your bird has laid are fertile. However I am concerned that by in an attempt to see whether it is fertile the parents will disregard the eggs after I have touched them. If this is a possibility, I believe I would rather just wait and see to be certain. I was just wondering if there was any advice on all that sort of stuff?

When the eggs hatch?
Last year my birds laid eggs for the first time and they did end up hatching. Obviously I was over the moon but being as inexperienced as I was the parents ended up turning against the babies in the end? This has been the only possible conclusion I have drawn from the experience. I do hope not to go through that all again and was wondering what I should do? I cannot handraise the babies from the start as I have schooling but I figured that maybe once they reach a certain age I can start separating them from the parents or feeding them myself? What age can baby birds start to eat seed?

Anyways I do have other questions which I intend to ask further down the track as I'm expecting the babies to hatch around Christmas/new year. I look forward to updating and hearing your responses !!

Welcome to the forums, Bree! Breeding is a solemn responsibility with offspring capable of living for decades. I'd respectfully advise reading the following, written by one of our highly experienced and ethical breeders: http://www.parrotforums.com/breeding-raising-parrots/54987-before-i-start-breed.html

There are never guarantees the parents will accept some or all of the chicks and raise them to the point of successful weaning. Once you grant them a nest box, best be prepared to take over nurturing at a dreadfully young age. That is precisely what my mom did 20+ years ago with a pair of Goffins over three year periods. They were outstanding right up to the point the chicks were 2 to 3 days old. Abandonment by parents followed by 24/7 care for the first few weeks.

I have been breeding Green cheeked conures for over 2 years now
Firstly to check if the eggs are fertile, shine a bright torch or a phone light through them and if you see red blood vessels in the eggs once the eggs have been incubated for a couple days, it means they are fertile
Second, conures will not abandon eggs, in fact, I check all my conure eggs and remove them from the nesting box to be candled, then get put back in
Third, let the conures raise the chicks for at least another two attempts, if they kill the chicks (which is highly unlikely), then handrearing is an option and then you must be experienced with handrearing before considering even doing it
Thanks
Noah Till

If you’re still in school and your birds have abandoned the chicks before they are likely to do it again. I would not breed them if you are not able to care for the babies should they need your help which they likely will this time around.

Thanks and although I am still in schooling (when the eggs are hatched I will have 6 weeks to look after them) I also have other family members who can devote their time to looking after the chicks. I think I was moreso concerned as to what age I should start to handle the babies in order to have them be tamed. I am still not sure what happened last time around with breeding so Its not certain that they turned on the babies, but if they do this time, I'd be prepared to look after them. Thank you for your advice though