Jump to content

Emmy's Blog

A blog by Emmy

Sign in to follow this  
Followers 0
  • entries
    15
  • comments
    79
  • views
    4,052

What An End To 2014

Emmy

Entry posted by Emmy ·

1,483 views

blog-0394963001420035236.jpgAs the title says 'What an end to 2014! Not only have I crashed my car (black ice on road) but my cockatiels have decided to follow my example and as the photo above shows, crash some eggs!! :o

This is the 2nd egg they have broken they still have two eggs left in the nest that, so far, are OK. (edited to say she has laid another egg- so that's 3 eggs in nest now)

This blog is about what I've decide to try to do with the broken egg but I will be very surprised if it works.

I really don't know if the yolk of the egg has been damaged but I have patched the egg up using micropore to cover the missing part of the shell. If it had been only a crack I know nail varnish would have worked.

Before I attached the micropore to the egg I made sure I covered the part of the micropore that would be next to the contents of the egg so that nothing inside the egg would get stuck to the micropore.

It's now inside the incubator next problem will be how to turn the egg without causing further damage.

My other problem is - should I take another egg from their nest and incubate it too just in case this broken one does survive?. I feel its always easier to rear two chicks rather than one.

I've still to examine the photos I've taken today to find out if any damage has been done to the yolk.

(update: The yolk of the egg had been punctured so egg has been removed from the incubator and destroyed.)

Update January 3rd 2015:

This morning when I checked the cockatiel's nest when they were out feeding I was knocked for six - I found more eggs broken in the nest box, only one whole egg left. I've removed the last whole egg and put it into the incubator beside the previous one I had removed the other day.

I have since checked the egg removed today and it definitely is not fertile but the one I removed the previous day is showing veins inside the egg. I have put two false eggs into the nest- but I am very concerned with this happening, they have had 3 broods before and no eggs damaged.

At the moment I cannot make up my mind whether to remove the false eggs and the nest box or leave it as it is just in case the one egg left in the incubator does hatch out and then take the false eggs out and put the chick in- worry then would be-- would they kill the chick?!!

(Update: decided to remove the false eggs and the nest box. If the egg in the incubator hatches I'm not chancing putting it in with the parent birds knowing their past history. The Parent birds seem to be more settled now)

This is something I didn't know- I intend to weigh the egg that is in the incubator to check if everything is OK. I would have expected the egg to gain weight getting close to hatching.

This is what I discovered :

Throughout the incubation process, the egg has to lose weight in order to hatch. This sounds the wrong way round with the embryo growing inside the egg, but the weight of the about-to-hatch egg needs to be 13% less than a fresh egg to allow room for the chick to break the shell open with its egg tooth.


6 Comments

Recommended Comments

MrMe3257

If that egg hatches would you not pop it into the nest when the other two eggs hatch and allow the parents to raise them? Or if only one egg from the nest hatches the parents may or may not feed the one chick so you can either pull it for handfeeding or let parents raise both.

Stephen.

Share this comment

Link to comment
Emmy

Hi Stephen,

Thanks for the comment.

I doubt that egg will hatch. Tonight  I've had a closer look at the photos I have taken and I think the yolk of the egg has burst, but I'm leaving it for a few days to make sure - I'll take some photos as the days go on. 

 

The parents that  have those eggs are the ones that stopped feeding their chicks and I had to hand rear their  chicks so I doubt they would accept any chick back into their nest.

Emmy

Share this comment

Link to comment
norfolk flyer

What about putting false egg or eggs under the pair. Then you could incubate the eggs. When hatched then swop false egg for young. Just an idea, All the best, Trevor

Share this comment

Link to comment
Emmy

Trevor I was thinking along those lines today about removing the eggs and putting in false ones. I have removed one already and its in the incubator.

 

I think what's happening is when they are going back into the nest box they are landing on the eggs.  I noticed tonight they  have demolished the  perch that was inside the nest box .

 

Re the egg that I patched up, when having a good look at it today the yolk  was too badly damaged so I have removed it from the incubator. But I thought it was worth a try.

 

Only thing I'm a bit worried about is if they will accept the young if they haven't hatched them out in the nest.

Share this comment

Link to comment
Andyn

Emmy,

 

If only we could view both egg photos at an investigative size at the same time it would be good. I got a little cross eye'd flipping between them but there is certainly a difference between each.

The second one seems to be a lighter colour in the content. i.e. looks like the yoke at least. There is definitely a squiggle  which could be blood veins etc.

Are you also candling it with a torch to visually see the growth/changes?

 

Good luck.

  • Like 1

Share this comment

Link to comment
Emmy

Thanks Andy

The only way I know to put both photos side by side is by using Microsoft word.

I'll email an attachment to you -don't know how to do it on here(lol)

Emmy

Share this comment

Link to comment

Please sign in to comment

You will be able to leave a comment after signing in



Sign In Now