Ask Lafeber

Eggs

Hi..I have a male an a female budgie and they are about 3 years old. She laid an egg in her food dish last night. Is it possible for it yo be viable and if so is it too late to put it in a nesting box.
Thanks

Hi,

This comes up from time to time, and actually just came up recently. Unfortunately, the owner chose to “shop” for advice and ended up leaving the eggs in the cup. Sadly, and predictably, the chicks died. It is much harder to watch chicks die, than to have eggs not hatch. So in short, I would recommend removing the dish & replacing it with small cups, moving the eggs to a nest box, and giving the pair time to figure out they need to use the box. While it may not work out this time, future clutches will have the best chance if she uses a nest box. Below is the reply I gave last time:

It rarely goes well if eggs hatch in a dish like that. The best thing to do is move the eggs to the nest box and replace the food bowl with smaller cups she can’t sit in. If any chicks hatch in the dish, they are likely to die, so even if she doesn’t move to the box this time, at least it is good for her to know that is where the eggs belong. The first clutch usually fails anyway, so you may as well get her on the right track now.

They need a very healthy diet which should be pellets, greens, veggies and some fruit. Seeds are not an adequate diet because they get no nutrition from the seeds. You should start feeding egg food daily if she moves to the box where the eggs are and sits on them. This can be a dry commercial egg food or you can cook an egg with the shell washed, crushed and cooked with the egg. Offer some daily before they lay eggs and until any chicks are weaned. If they raise and wean chicks, remove the nest box as soon as the chicks leave it. Remove the chicks to a different cage as soon as they are eating on their own. Do not give the nest box back to the parents until they have been rested for at least 6 months.

Thank you for asking Lafeber,

Brenda