Momma budgie laid an egg today!

[IcyWolf]

So excited! Momma budgie laid an egg today, so I guess we're counting down the days now For those of you that breed budgies, how many eggs do you normally get, I've been reading a lot and most things seem to say about 3-6 but that seems like a huge difference. Does it really vary that much?

 

[Rio Mom]

Congratulations! You're about to be a grandparront!

 

[IcyWolf]

Took a quick vid of the egg
[ame=http://youtu.be/voBpTuZ6tAk]1 Day Old Budgie Egg - YouTube[/ame]

 

[Mamanda]

Took a quick vid of the egg

Oh My!! That is the tiniest little tiny egg! Congrats!

 

[MikeyTN]

Normal clutch is between 3-6 so that is correct! In some cases I've seen 6-8 but usually not all makes it....She's only so big to incubate so many eggs....Males don't incubate as they're the feeder of the females and the babies.

 

[IcyWolf]

Ok thanks, even if she lays a bit too many eggs, we keep the room pretty warm, probably about 72-80 in here depending on the time of day, and when the dryer is running the humidity rises too. There is one thing I haven't been able to decide on and I could use some opinions. I want to hand feed, I know, it's not common to hand feed budgies, but I want them to be super friendly and, well, I like feeding . I plan on taking the babies out of the box and putting them in an aquarium when they are 2 weeks old and hand feeding full time, I just can't decide if I should take all of the babies or would it be better to let her raise one or two? I guess it depends on how big the clutch ends up being but does anyone have any advice on this one?

 

[Rio Mom]

I can't offer any advice on how many you should handfeed, but just thought I would mention that River's breeder handfeeds her budgies.

 

[IcyWolf]

Egg number 2 was laid this morning! This is so exciting

 

[MikeyTN]

I would handfeed all the babies. Remove the nest box when you remove the last baby. I used to remove all their babies to handfeed. The babies must be played with, they tend to go wild very quickly if no interaction is being made!

 

[Hochimama]

Congrates ~~ the third one is coming ~~ ^^

 

[IcyWolf]

I would handfeed all the babies. Remove the nest box when you remove the last baby. I used to remove all their babies to handfeed. The babies must be played with, they tend to go wild very quickly if no interaction is being made!

How long do you think I should wait until I give them their nest box back? The person I got them from never took the nestbox away, I don't know how often they were laying eggs but I know he said that most of them didn't hatch or didn't survive long because there were mice getting into the cage and eating the eggs and killing the babies :/ Fortunately, we have about 5 large black snakes that live in our house, in our cold cellar, so we don't have a problem with mice here

 

[MikeyTN]

If that's the case I would remove the nest box after they're done with this batch for 6-12 months and let them have a good rest and time to replenish their body.

 

[IcyWolf]

Sounds like a plan Thanks so much for all of your help!

 

[MikeyTN]

Your very welcome! Just be sure to supplement her with some cuttle bones, mineral blocks, oyster shells, etc for calcium and minerals.

 

[IcyWolf]

They have a cuttlebone and a mineral block, although I have yet to see them mess with either. I have also been putting some millet in her box so she has something to pick at while she is in there. They will not touch pellets so I have been crushing zupreme and sprinkling it throughout their seed so they don't have much of a choice lol.
Oh, I had one other question, what's the deal with candling? Is it safe to take the eggs out to do this or will it really upset momma bird? I have a little maglight and I would like to candle them, just to see, but if it's not a good idea then I won't. Everything I read said that you have to make sure your hands are really clean, would it be better to wear gloves while doing it, we have nitrile(non latex, unpowdered) exam gloves.

 

[MikeyTN]

Im afraid to use gloves when I candle eggs. I have a better grip with my hands. It is safe to candle them, no the momma wont like it but she'll get over it. She will most likely scream at you when you open the nest box to check...I can imitate the sound but dunno how to type it out...lol

 

[IcyWolf]

Ok cool, I just got some unscented antibacterial soap today, so I may just scrub up really good and do that. I may be overly paranoid, but I am a bit worried today, I was expecting her to lay another egg, she laid the first one on the tenth and the second one on the 12th but has not laid one yet today and she has been out of the nestbox much more than she has in the past 4 days. Since she laid the first egg she has been in the box probably close to 20 hours a day but today she has been out and hanging out with the male for quite some time, although she is going in the box pretty often, she just isn't camping out in there like she has been. It's funny, I'm so used to reptile eggs, I keep reminding myself that it's okay for bird eggs to turn, reptile eggs have to be kept in the same position they were laid or it can kill the embryo.

 

[MikeyTN]

With bird's eggs, the parents have to turn them. I have anywhere from 8-9 babies to handfeed in two weeks. Taking over my partner's co-worker's mom's Tiels had babies and she's asking me to take them. Its gonna be a fun month......lol

 

[IcyWolf]

wow! You are going to be one busy guy! Best of luck to you and the new babies. I honestly can't wait, I know it's a lot of work but I really miss doing it, and seeing as how I am home all day, it shouldn't really be too big of an inconvenience. I already have possible homes for 3 of them and we only have 2 eggs at the moment lol. I suppose that's not a bad problem to have though, I would rather have good homes lined up and not need them than have a bunch of babies that need families and no one to take them.

 

[IcyWolf]

My internet has been down the past 2 days, so this is the first I have been on here since the other night. Just wanted to post a quick update. She is sitting on 3 eggs now. The last one was laid 11.14, I expected her to lay one yesterday but she never did. Until now she has being laying every other day like clockwork. Since she didn't lay one yesterday, should I assume that she is only going to have 3 eggs?