Good morning
My female conure laid an egg, in her outside cage that day.
night came and brought them into their night cage in the house and also brought the egg and put it in their night box.
Since I did that, they have ignored the egg completely.
Don’t know what my next move should be, they say once the egg is cold for more than 2 hrs. the embryo dies? Is this correct.
Hi,
If you want to breed your birds, they need to remain in one cage, with a nest box installed on the outside of the cage, as high as possible. I’m not sure what you mean by a night box? Are you letting them sleep in a box? The problem with this is it does mimic a nest box and encourages egg laying. Birds do not sleep in a nest except during breeding season when they are nesting. So they should not have a box to sleep in – a high perch is all they need.
Back to breeding – are the birds unrelated? Are both birds at least over 3 years old? While they can breed and lay eggs at a younger age, they tend to not be interested in settling down yet. Are these pet birds that you handle? If so, you may not want to set them up to breed. Breeding birds are not pets and shouldn’t be handled. Usually they stop wanting to be handled once they bond with a mate, but sometimes one bird might remain tame. This causes a conflict where the birds end up fighting a lot, and they will not be successful at breeding. Breeding birds need privacy and minimal exposure to people – only for feeding them and checking on them.
As for the egg, even if the egg is fertile, when it is laid, there is only the potential for development. No development even begins for at least 48 hours, if the egg is incubated day and night by the parents. If they haven’t sat on the egg at all, there has not been any development. With some birds, they do not begin to incubate the eggs until they have laid more than one, and some wait until they have laid the entire clutch. But it doesn’t sound like you have these birds set up for breeding. I would discard these eggs – she may lay several more with a day in between. Take away the night box and continue the routine where they go outside and inside to a sleep cage. Wait about 6 months, and if you do want to try breeding, and if you are willing to give them up permanently as pets, you can get them an appropriate sized breeding cage for indoors as well as a nesting box. If you prefer to have them as pets, then leave things as they are with the exception of not letting them sleep in a box. She may lay eggs again, but you can discard them. However, if she won’t stop laying eggs, you may need to separate the pair, or possibly take her to a vet for a hormone implant.
Breeding is not an easy venture. They need to be on a nutritionally balanced diet like pellets, along with leafy greens, veggies and some fruit. When they are set up for breeding, they should be fed an egg food. You basically have two birds in a very large cage that you can’t interact with while they are set up to breed, and they may or may not successfully raise any chicks. So it’s a lot to think about. I never recommend breeding pet birds because more often the sacrifice of giving up your pets is not rewarded, since there is no guarantee they will be successful at breeding.
Thank you for asking Lafeber,
Brenda
