Can I help my conure with her eggs?

[crookedbird]

I didn't expect to come back to this site but I have an unexpected development on my hands. I have two conures who are mated. Neither showed any interest in their eggs, but I recently brought a nest box to see if that would change anything. There's been 3 eggs so far, and my female lays them days or even a week apart. The first one wasn't even laid in the nest box and was mostly destroyed, having been laid in and subsequently thrown out of their food bowl. The second one was laid in the nest box, but the mother showed no interest and when I checked a day or two later, the conures had kicked it around to the point of cracking and being unhatchable. Then egg number 3 came. I took it out after they had cracked it a bit but no fluid was coming out so I think it can still make it after being sealed with clear nail polish. Then I replaced it with a fake egg. Here's the thing: mama bird has been laying on this egg, both the real egg and its replacement. I don't think I can trust her to hatch an egg on her own because she is too rough rolling it around the box (which she throws the nesting material out of so it's just hard wood). Is there anything I can do to help her? I can't think of a way to make her stop breaking her eggs. I was thinking of maybe incubating the real egg while she incubates the fake one and replacing the fake egg with the real one when it's ready to hatch, if anyone thinks that might work.

 

[Owlet]

I would highly recommend against doing anything. If the parents are showing a clear disinterest in the eggs, they aren't going to be interested inthe babies either. You're gonna end up with however many babies that you are hand raising.

 

[crookedbird]

I would highly recommend against doing anything. If the parents are showing a clear disinterest in the eggs, they aren't going to be interested inthe babies either. You're gonna end up with however many babies that you are hand raising.

What I'm saying is that now the mother is showing an interest in her egg but she keeps breaking them.

 

[Terry57]

Have you checked to see if the egg is viable? If not, she may already know that and that is why she is being rough with the egg.
I agree with Owlet, some birds aren't ready to be parents. If a baby should hatch, I highly doubt that the Mom would good care of a baby if she treated the eggs like that.
Have you handfed babies before? It is a tough job that you may want to prepare for if the egg is viable and hatches.

 

[crookedbird]

Have you checked to see if the egg is viable? If not, she may already know that and that is why she is being rough with the egg.
I agree with Owlet, some birds aren't ready to be parents. If a baby should hatch, I highly doubt that the Mom would good care of a baby if she treated the eggs like that.
Have you handfed babies before? It is a tough job that you may want to prepare for if the egg is viable and hatches.

I have handfed a baby before. I doubt she thinks the egg is not viable since she is still sitting on the fake egg replacement. I can't check viability yet, it hasn't been incubated long enough to show that.

 

[Terry57]

Have you tried candling it?

My birds are not set up as pairs, so there is no chance that an egg they lay is viable. But they will still sit on their boiled egg or dummy replacement just as if it was viable.

 

[crookedbird]

Have you tried candling it?

My birds are not set up as pairs, so there is no chance that an egg they lay is viable. But they will still sit on their boiled egg or dummy replacement just as if it was viable.

I've candled it but you can still see nothing under candling for the first few days of gestation. Either way, this would be a question that comes up again next time she has an egg.

 

[Terry57]

I've candled it but you can still see nothing under candling for the first few days of gestation. Either way, this would be a question that comes up again next time she has an egg.

How long ago was the egg laid? It sounded like it had been quite a few days.

Personally, I would be afraid to put a baby that had been incubated with a mother who tried to break the eggs.
Is your goal here to breed your pair?

 

[crookedbird]

How long ago was the egg laid? It sounded like it had been quite a few days.

Personally, I would be afraid to put a baby that had been incubated with a mother who tried to break the eggs.
Is your goal here to breed your pair?

The egg was laid almost a week ago but only started being incubated in the past one or two days.
No, my goal is just to figure out if I should leave their eggs with them or replace them with fakes every time. If my female wants to hatch her eggs, I want to try to help her succeed if it's a realistic possibility.

 

[Terry57]

The egg was laid almost a week ago but only started being incubated in the past one or two days.
No, my goal is just to figure out if I should leave their eggs with them or replace them with fakes every time. If my female wants to hatch her eggs, I want to try to help her succeed if it's a realistic possibility.

Sadly if the egg wasn't incubated from the beginning, I don't think there is a live chick in there. If there is, please keep an eye on the baby if you put it in with your hen because there is a high chance that she may ignore, hurt or kill it.

 

[Laurasea]

If she is a chronic layer there is a big health risk to her. Low calcium , egg binding.

Making eggs is 3x normal metabolic drain on them. Make sure diet is exceptional. Provide lots if calcium sources, veggies, cuttlefish, boiled egg shell .o

A nest box will increase egg laying.

If you have known DNA male and female unrelated and want to breed. Do lots of research. Only provide nest box in breeding season ( like spring) already be established with an avian veterinarian. Have your supplies ready. And know the risks

 

[HeatherG]

Sadly if the egg wasn't incubated from the beginning, I don't think there is a live chick in there. If there is, please keep an eye on the baby if you put it in with your hen because there is a high chance that she may ignore, hurt or kill it.

Actually, birds often don’t start incubating their eggs tightly until the last egg of the clutch is laid. And early eggs can be kept cool for some time without incubation. That’s why we can order fertilized poultry eggs by mail and incubate them in brooders.

BUT it would be a better situation if mom and dad care for the eggs all the way through. Replacing and incubating the eggs is a touchy proposition.

If things are so difficult for this pair, maybe it’s best for them not to have a nest box, as Laurasea wrote. Chronic egg laying can cause osteoporosis and many other serious health issues for the mother bird.

 

[Terry57]

Actually, birds often don’t start incubating their eggs tightly until the last egg of the clutch is laid. And early eggs can be kept cool for some time without incubation. That’s why we can order fertilized poultry eggs by mail and incubate them in brooders.

BUT it would be a better situation if mom and dad care for the eggs all the way through. Replacing and incubating the eggs is a touchy proposition.

If things are so difficult for this pair, maybe it’s best for them not to have a nest box, as Laurasea wrote. Chronic egg laying can cause osteoporosis and many other serious health issues for the mother bird.

Poultry eggs are a bit different than parrots, though, and I have never seen a successful hatch unless the mother or father was staying in the nest box most of the time with the eggs.
It may be possible, but I don't think it's probable.

 

[HeatherG]

Poultry eggs are a bit different than parrots, though, and I have never seen a successful hatch unless the mother or father was staying in the nest box most of the time with the eggs.
It may be possible, but I don't think it's probable.

Right, it seems like this pair are not quite getting it, or ready, or something…and the chick in the egg “talks” to its parents so they would know something was up if they had a silent ceramic egg and then a noisy hatching one. Or so I would think—we can’t know what the bird thinks until it tells us! (Wouldn’t that be cool.)