Ask Lafeber

Removing unlatch lover bird egg

My love bird laid 4 eggs 6 week’s ago. Only 3 hatched should I remove the one that didn’t. I noticed their’s only 2 now. Could the female have eat one?

Hi,

I’m a bit confused on the timing if these have just hatched. It would take a week to lay 4 eggs, and then the incubation period is 18-24 days, although they can be late, but not by more than a few days. So the last egg would have hatched about two weeks ago. If they just hatched, then you are off on your count somewhere. It’s best to leave unhatched eggs, because you do not want to upset the parents, and it provides some protection for the chicks. The parents will usually toss an unhatched egg or push it aside at some point. Parents have been known to kill chicks and even eat them. This is usually done by birds that are too young to be breeding(under 2 years old), birds that have been over bred(not rested between clutches), birds that are not being fed an adequate diet or birds that feel threatened, which can happen if you are around them too much. Breeding birds need a nutritionally balanced diet like pellets or our foraging diets, as well as leafy greens, veggies, some fruit and an egg food – this can be a commercial egg food or you can cook an egg with the shell washed, crushed and cooked with the egg. If you are only feeding seeds, the parents are not getting enough nutrition and the chicks won’t thrive and may die from malnutrition. Breeding birds also need a lot of privacy, so if people or other pets are around them too much, they may abandon the eggs, chicks or eat the eggs and sometimes the chicks. Chicks do die in the nest sometimes, and often they get buried under the nesting material, but the parents might eat a dead chick to dispose of it. Hopefully the other chicks will be OK.

Thank you for asking Lafeber,

Brenda