punctured egg, help!

[sweetCarmen]

I recently got these 2 lovebirds, sort of passed down from a friend. So the two lovebirds are about 4 years old, and the past owner said, when the female (carmen) used to lay eggs, the male (cisco) would break the eggs, just by puncturing them. So this is what is happening. She's laid 2 eggs so far. He punctured the first one, but not the one she is sitting on currently. I was having trouble finding a nest at our local pet place, so I got this small woven one, and carmen decided to make her nest on the floor. This is difficult because I can't clean the cage. I took her first egg and put it in the woven nest on the ground so I could at least pick it up and clean the cage. She rejected both the egg and the nest and I presume Cisco poked the first egg while I was gone for the day.
Should I separate Cisco and Carmen, do they need to be together for Carmen to lay eggs?
I don't want all her eggs to get puntured, help please.

[bellarains]

Hi,

Assuming you do want babies, you can set up an incubator, and remove the eggs. You can replace the eggs with dummy eggs, and perhaps try to give the eggs back before they hatch, but that also might be risky. I do not have experience in this myself, but will list a post that Linda made on how to set up an incubator. I'm sure one of the breeder's here can be or more help, but this will give you some idea.

I hope all goes well. Here's the link to the thread:


http://www.lovebirdsplus.com/community/showthread.php?p=6340&highlight=incubator#post6340

[linda040899]

First thing you need to really do is get a proper wooden nestbox. The small woven ones are for canaries and finches. They are too small for baby lovebirds. You can put the nestbox on the floor or you can hang it from the outside of the cage (preferrable) but you hen needs a box. The ones I use are roughly 7" X 7" x 7". It doesn't have to be a square box but it shouldn't bee much bigger than those dimensions.

I use Aspen shaving for bedding, as Peachfaced lovies are not big nest builders. The hen will lay anywhere from 4-8 eggs and will usually begin incubating once the 3rd egg is laid. From the day the egg is laid until the day the baby hatches (if the eggs are fertile) is approximately 23 days. The eggs hatch in the order in which they were laid, every other day.

Dad needs to be in the cage with mom for several reasons. Each egg is fertilized individually and the pair will mate during the entire egg laying processs. While mom incubates and hatches the eggs, dad feeds mom so that mom can feed the babies. If dad is, indeed, cracking the eggs, he still needs to be with her so that they can mate. Should babies hatch, mom can care for them by herself, as long as the clutch is not too large.

Hope this helps.

[sweetCarmen]

Got the nest box, its 6 1/2 x 8 x 6 1/2 inches. I don't know if I should put up the nest box and move her egg into the box. Or should I just have the box accessible to her with the aspen shavings. I'm afraid if I move the egg in she will abandon it and the nest. How important is it for me to keep the cage clean while she has her eggs, because I haven't been cleaning the bottome thoroughly as she has been nesting on the ground.

[linda040899]

For right now, I would probably put the egg in the nest and just have it accessible to her. The nestbox, itself, is a big enough change and I don't know if I would risk moving everything on top of that. Nothing is developing right now, so if the egg gets cool, there's no damage. Hopefully, she will follow the egg into the box and finish her clutch there.

You may have to clean around the box as best you can until the clutch is finished.

[sweetCarmen]

I set up the box and put the egg in technically yesterday afternoon (its midnight here). She hasn't shown any interest in the box yet and was just sitting at the top of the cage with her mate sleeping, how long can an egg go without heat before dying?

[Kathryn]

Mama bird doesn't actually start sitting tight on the eggs until there are two or three. She will usually lay an egg every other day. If Carmen is really in egg laying mode, she will begin to lay again soon. The one egg can go 36 hours (give or take) if Cisco doesn't get an urge to crack it.

[linda040899]

If the egg were fertile, it remain a good egg for up to a week. Some breeders like all eggs to hatch at once so they remove them and keep them in a safe place until the entire clutch has been laid. Once the eggs are returned, the hen sits on the eggs and all fertile ones begin to develop at one time.

[sweetCarmen]

thank you sooo much, I was really afraid that I had just killed another poor lovie by moving it around. >o
I'm so happy for this site, I don't know what I would have done without all this help.