unhatched egg

[peteandtilly]

my lovies laid 5 eggs, 2 hatched last tuesday, 1 thurs, 1 sat and the last one should have hatched yesterday as of today still not hatched.... do i just keep waiting??

[linda040899]

Candle the egg and see if it's actually fertile. I don't recall if you said all were or there were any blanks in the clutch. If the egg is fertile, check for pip marks on the side of the shell, about 1/3 of the way down the egg on the wide end of the egg.

Is the inside of the egg a dark reddish color? If so, hold the egg up to your ear and listen to it. If the chick is still viable (alive), you should hear the tapping of its beak against the side of the shell. If you happen to hear the baby chirping in the egg, you most likely have a baby in trouble and you will need to help it hatch. http://www.lovebirdsplus.com/assisted.html

[peteandtilly]

the other 4 baby birds are all kind laying around and on the unhatched egg so i dont want to disturb it. i check on the babies a couple times a day but i dont want to touch them yet . i was checking another post were someone was told to just leave the egg in the nest box until the oldest baby is 3 weeks... this is my first time with babies so i dont want to mess with the egg ....is it ok to leave it??? if it did need help hatching and hand feeding there is no one here all day because i work, so i would not have anyone to handfeed!!!

[linda040899]

The only thing I was trying to determine was if that last egg was, indeed, fertile. It's fine to leave it just where it is, as the babies use it to lean on, as you can see when you check.

Should the egg be fertile and the baby needed help hatching, it's not necessary to hand feed if momma lovebird is taking good care of her little ones. I simply do the assist and return the little one to her. She will usually just integrate it into the clutch and just feed one more mouth. If momma were not feeding, that would be a different story. Most of my assists will go back to mom, as long as she's doing her job. :)

[peteandtilly]

thank you for your answer , iam just going to leave it, i dont want to move or upset the babies or the mom..... i look but dont touch lol