My parakeets laid an egg!

agent_haun

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Is that common? I doubt it'll hatch, but just in case, does anyone know what I should do with it? We have it in a bowl in their cage with a few rags around it. Are they supposed to sit on it?
 

arlyn

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You should leave the egg in the cage, otherwise, she'll keep laying more to replace the 'lost ones' which can lead to calcium deficiency or egg binding.
If you have more than one keet in the cage, take the egg and give it a good shake, or place it in the freezer for 20 minutes, then leave it, exactly as you found it.
Let her lay the rest of her clutch (with you ensuring they won't hatch) and let her sit them until she loses interest.

-edit- They will not usually sit on their eggs until the whole clutch has been laid, usually an egg every other day.
Budgie clutch size is normally 4 eggs
 
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agent_haun

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Thanks!
The birdies were fighting a few days earlier, could this be why?
 

MoochNNoodles

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How cute! Can you take pics? At the retirement home where dh's grandmother lives they had birds who laid eggs and they hatched. We got to see the babies. It was deffinatley neat! Even if they hadn't hatched, still neat!
 

arlyn

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It's very neat, birds won't lay unless they feel safe, well fed and healthy.

My Quaker presents me with eggs twice a year.
Takes her about a week to get tired of sitting on them.
 
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agent_haun

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Here's a pic of the proud parents.
(Well, maybe parents)


I'll try to get a picture of the egg sometime, but probably not today. It's getting too dark in my living room. It's just a perfect little white egg.
 

xocats

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An egg? You are going to be a Grandmommy? Congrats

It will be fascinating to watch a little baby birdie come into this world.
 

arlyn

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Ack, if you let them hatch, I do hope you are planning on keeping them all.
Don't want to be a huge downer, but having worked in bird rescue, I've seen first hand how badly overbred small birds are.
At any given time I was fostering upwards of 60 small birds (parakeets, cockatiels and finches), 90% of them were always parakeets.

The over population is almost as bad as that of cats, dogs and rabbits.
 
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agent_haun

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Are there really thet many? Wow, I didn't know...for better or for worse I asked my mom and she wants it to hatch.
Anyways, here is the little egg, for those who want to see it:
 

arlyn

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Well good for you guys for the commitment


Didn't mean to go off on you, you and parakeet owners like you are not the problem.

And yeah, unfortunately, there are that many.
Almost everyone knows about the pet overpopulation problem where cats and dogs are concerned, sadly, less than 1/4 of the population realizes that the small birds are suffering the same fate.

I have never raised 'keets myself, but I've got some experience with songbirds, so if you ever need anything, just ask.

And for saftey sake, you might look around to see if you can find a local breeder who can show you how to handfeed should anything (God forbid!) go wrong.

Good luck with your budding little family.
 
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agent_haun

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Thanks everyone (and Arlyn for the information)
I'll be doing a little research on how to take care of them. If the baby bird does come, I'll want to be able to make sure it's happy and healthy, and they'll be mine and my family's responsibility.

Edit: Oh, they just layed #2
 

stormy

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About 15 yrs ago we had a pair of finches that laid eggs and they hatched!!
 
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