Infertile Eggs

Steptoe · Site Admin Joined: Oct 06, 2004 Posts: 4550

We have 2 pair of yellow Crown Kakariki, Different avaiaries, I pair is with a pair of Crimsons the other in a flight next to a breeding pair of Reds.
The reds are breeding fine.

last yr was the hens and 1 male's 1st breeding season so age etc is not an issue. The other male it is his 3rd season this yr. They are still paired as they wgere last yr
Eyes are bright, nothing shows in worm checks thru the microscope.
Same highly varied diet.
This yr we have had from them 2 batches of eggs each... all inferile.
We havnt had any thunder storms this yr
They have now abanonded the last batch of infertile eggs
I am completly at a loss as to why
Any suggestions?

Peter · Foundation Member Joined: Oct 15, 2004 Posts: 599

Some thoughts,
Heavy plumage around the anus of both male and female.
Toenails of the male are to long.
Other reasons than mentioned above that prevent copulation.
Bacterial infection of the embryo caused by dirty hands.
Lack of viability of the egg cell.
Vitamin B deficiency.
A temporary cool down of the eggs for some reason.

You mentioned storm as a possible cause. Do you mean the sound waves or the lightning itself (electricity)?

Peter

Steptoe · Site Admin Joined: Oct 06, 2004 Posts: 4550

Thanks, will look into those
Us and other breeders have noticed over the yrs, if one gets a big thunder storm almost directly over head and the eggs are young, they 'die'. Not just Kakariki.
It is usually assumed it is the thunder, as to if it is the thunder or the high electical actvity or both, I could not say.

Kaka-riki · Site Admin Joined: May 30, 2005 Posts: 363

Thunder storms and fireworks have a deep rumbling sound which seems to spook birds in general. If a hen is sitting on eggs in the nestbox during a thunderstorm or fireworks in the general area, she will try to take flight. The subsequent movement in the box can be enough to kill the embryo inside the egg. The same can happen if you handle the eggs without care.
We have opted not to handle the eggs and have started using a candling lamp on the end of a wand. This means the eggs are not touched and it certainly has increased the number of eggs that are fertile. It is too early to say whether the number that actually hatch will improve but we will see.
Dont know how much relevance this has on your situation Steps, but thought it was interesting information. We have a hen here who bred several times a year up until 2 years ago. She stopped laying completely and showed no interest in any cock bird we put with her. I concluded that she must be too old and was happy in retirement. Then a mate here asked me if I would allow him to display a couple of our yellow Kakariki in his bird shop as a few customers had read our articles and wanted to see the birds first hand. I have a cock bird here that is 15 years old and is just a grumpy old fella. So we put the retired cock and hen in my mates shop and they fought and grumbled in the shop for a couple of weeks. In the end he rang and said I should take them home because they hated each other and he was worried some-one would get hurt.
When I got them home I had one spare aviary with one box hanging in the back. I decided to put them in there until I could find an aviary each and watched them in case of trouble. The hen went straight to the box and that is where she stayed. She never came out and I thought she would be safe as the cock bird perched himself at the other end of the flight and only went to the rear of the cage to eat. A few days later I freed another aviary and was set to move one of them. As I approached their aviary I could hear the hen doing her little "feed me" call. I was amazed to see the cock bird feeding her. But, when I checked the box I could not believe my eyes. Three eggs. That was 2 weeks ago. She is now sitting on 6 fertile eggs and proud dad feeds her at the entrance to the box every day. Maybe birds are like us humans and just need a holiday to rekindle the flame. I move my birds around to break the monotony of looking at the same thing every day. Just moving them into the flight next door can have positive results.

Steptoe · Site Admin Joined: Oct 06, 2004 Posts: 4550

Going to swap the 2 pairs of yellows, and 1 pair of reds around today...
Not going to break the pairs, they are well mated.
So often is a simple soln that is eastly over looked that produces resaults.
I have bumped up the vitimine and minerial suppliments a little also.
It Guy fawkes week here at the moment, in NZ we can buy fireworks privately, so most nights they are going off around the neighbour hood.
Fortunately, right at this moment, by shear chance, we dont have any sitting on eggs. It is a long time if ever we have that we have had a break like this Shocked

Peter · Foundation Member Joined: Oct 15, 2004 Posts: 599

Just saw a documentary about extreme quality's of animals. Birds should be verry sensitive for subsonic soundwaves.
A nuclear experiment on the island Mururoa produced a shockwave that 11 hours later alarmed pigeons in the city of Paris (France).
Our birds can be frightened from things that happen on the other site of the globe.

Peter

Steptoe · Site Admin Joined: Oct 06, 2004 Posts: 4550