Posted: Thu Aug 25, 2005 11:12 am Post subject: eggs not hatching
Hi, can anyone help.
23 days ago my 6mth old Kakariki laid her first egg and so far nothing has happened. Is this normal with first clutches? If none hatch should I remove them and how long before they need removing?
The best way to tell if the eggs are fertile is by using a candling light or torch. These are not expensive to buy and very simple to use. Simply place the egg above the beam of light and the egg becomes illuminated.
You can them see if there is a dark mass inside the egg which is the embryo forming. If the egg is clear this means they are not fertile and should be removed.
The best time to candle the eggs is 7 to 10 days after they have been laid. We wait until the hen has finished laying before checking the eggs.
Would disturbing the eggs not up set the hen enough not to go back to them ??
My hen only comes out long enough to have a quick drink then goes straight back in, i'd only have enough time to take one egg out !!
No...we don't worry about waiting...just tap gently on the side to let her know u are there...she soon learns what that means.
open the nest box slowly so she doesn't go from dark to light quick and can see what is happening. then get out of there and leave them to it.
If she doesn't move, push her out of the way , do what we have to, and close up.
Never had a Kike abandon the eggs.
Basically std procedure for all the breeders I know
YET Doc (NZ Dept of Conservation) re the highly endangered orange species used a red for fostering the eggs from the wild, they waited around for 3 or 4 hrs for the hen to leave....Stupid !!!
If the hen leaves on her own accord she will do so to get a feed, have a bath, get feed by the male and put her makeup on..then head back.
Push her off and she will head back very soon.
I question if DoC 'experts' don't know simple stuff like this, no wonder their birds are dieing, what other basic stuff are they screwing up?
or are they using the Orange for trial and error when they are so rare, that sort of thing cant afford to happen!!!
Quote from DoC document re advise at the bottom of their help sheet to NZ permit holders
Quote:
"Many caricaturist have their own breeding methods- and very successful ones of breeding Kakariki. The above is advice primarily for the novice breeder, For information concerning the finer pionts....it is better to consult an experienced breeder"
They should take a page out of their own advice...well they do, off the record, then do the opposite!!!
Looking thru visitor/member logs..ips etc no show here...and they do know about our site. About time they swallowed their pride and put saving the Orange Kakariki 1st.
Oh Do u know one can apply to keep Orange and Antipodes Kakariki?
After much messing around they send out a huge agreement form.
In the middle pages it states that any eggs, chicks have to be destroyed
Wonder what Bureaucratic pen pusher in Wellington thought that up?
Sry m8 hijacked your thread a bit..will complain to the Site Admin for u _________________ My Spelling is Not Incorrect...It's 'Creative'
Jonny,
In answer to your question, checking the eggs should not result in the hen leaving the nest. When she leaves for a drink lower the nest to ground level and check the eggs one by one. The whole process should only take a couple of minutes and as soon as you replace the box and leave the aviary mum will resume her sitting.
We always try and replace the eggs as we find them. It is good practise to try not to disturb the nest too much as these birds are remarkably bright and know when things have been changed.
Also so u dont worry too much, we have on several occassions 'locked the female in the nest, moved the male to a completly diff aviary flight, then move the whole nest over...Nps.
Kakariki are very tolerant. _________________ My Spelling is Not Incorrect...It's 'Creative'
Thanks for the help. It's been 26 days now and still no eggs hatching. I have checked the eggs with a torch as suggested and am a bit confused. All the eggs have a dark shade filling about 3/4 of the egg, the rest letting light through. I couldn't see any veins in any eggs though. Is this normal? If not what should I do?
At day 26 I dont think u should be seeing any veins in the eggs. If all the eggs are the same it would suggest to me that they are not fertile. This is not unusual if the pair are young as sometimes the hen will lay even though the cock bird is too young and has no idea how to mate correctly.
We have 2 pairs that have just gone through the same thing. I leave the eggs under the hen and eventually she will realise they just aren't going to hatch and by that time the cock bird has normally got his act together.
When you look at an egg with a candling torch you will see that the egg is approx. 75% full of fluid. The remaining 25% is the air sac. At around day 7 to 10 you will notice veins forming within the fluid. As the embryo grows the egg becomes darker and you will instead see a dark mass forming inside the egg. If the light shines through the egg from underneath at day 26 it would be safe to assume that the egg is clear and infertile.
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