Posted: Sat Jun 17, 2006 2:16 am Post subject: egg laying
hubby bought me 2 kakariki in April and we thought they were both of the same sex but this week 7 eggs have been laid. 2 have been eaten/broken. The famale is not sitting on the eggs and seems to be laying them in the seed bowl or around the cage. Should I move them to a nesting box?
As I'm fairly new to this, is there anything I need to do with regards diet etc.
believe it or not hubby also bought me 2 canaries and I have one surviving chick - this is just my luck, before I know it I'll have an aviary as well as 5 retrievers!
regards
Honey
It is possible for a hen to lay eggs without a male being present.If you post pics on here, some clever clogs will be able to sex the birds for you. Have you checked the eggs to see if they are fertile? Or seen them mating ?
Honey,
If you compare the two birds that you have and can see no difference in beak size and shape I would suggest you have two hens. At least one is a hen because cock birds dont lay eggs so it should be fairly simple to sex the birds.
If they are two hens simply remove the eggs as they appear. There is no point in leaving eggs in the cage that are not fertile and putting in a nest box will only encourage both birds to roost in the box.
If you have a pair and want to breed them, you obviously should put in a nest box. There is a lot of information on diet etc on this site. Make sure you keep up adequate levels of calcium for your birds as hens can become "egg bound" without added calcium. This can be fatal.
Posted: Sun Apr 13, 2008 5:25 am Post subject: We have found an egg today in the cage.
When we got our Kak's the pet shop owner said thet they were both male but today we found an egg in the bottom of their cage. How many will SHE lay ?????. We don't want to breed them so what is the best way to get around this situation?????. We have no nest box does this effect whether the egg is fertalised or not?????.
Roadrunner
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Ma spellin is not wrong it is wacky n wiled
Posted: Mon Apr 14, 2008 9:42 am Post subject: Fertile or infertile ?????
Hi again
How do you tell whether the egg that your kakariki has layed it fertile or infertile???? plz help.
She has layed 1 egg yesterday but when we found it was cracked it the bottom of their cage. Will she lay any more is so how many ???
How long will it be before she lays her next egg? and how long will it be before it becomes egg bound ????
How many will she have in her stomach ???
Roadrunner
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My spelling is not wrong it is wacky n wiled
that same problem happened to us today, got up and found one egg broken in the bottom of the cage. we only have one bird I thought this to be strange!
what is happening and how do I control this in some way and what do I do next.
Any help to someone way up here in CANADA !
Hello again all. I have had many of my birds lay without males present. It is absolutely natural for them to do this. I do, however difer with Kaka-riki's opinion to remove them. My avian vet advised me to set up a box as if there was a male, and allow her to use it. Place any eggs laid outside the nest, into it and make sure she knows where it is. It is prudent to remove any broken ones. Allow the hen to brood the eggs as if they were fertile. You probably won't see much of her for about 3 weeks, then suddenly she will realize that the eggs are no good, and she will abandon them and leave the nest. It is at this time that the eggs and the nest should be removed, and not put back until she starts the process again. What you are trying to do is fool her hormones into telling her that she has done her job. If you take the egg immediately, she thinks the egg was taken by a predator, and she will lay another immediately to replace it. I had one hen who laid 15 eggs in a row ( over a 5 week period ) because I kept taking them. That's when I consulted my vet on the subject.
I have has fairly good success with this practice so far.
Check with your vet and see what he recommends
Cheers! and Good luck
Wolf
Stoney Creek, Ontario
The avian female reproductive tract has evolved over time into a complex structure, unique to birds. The process of forming and laying an egg is one of nature's many wonders.
Just like many other female animals, the avian female begins life with two ovaries and oviducts. However, in most species of birds, the left ovary and oviduct grow more rapidly than the right, and the right side regresses, leaving only the left ovary and oviduct. Some people believe that this is an adaptation to reduce weight, necessary to aid flight.
At hatching, the left ovary contains all of the egg cells it will ever have. These cells will continue to develop once the hen reaches an age when she is able to reproduce.
Female birds may be determinate or indeterminate egg layers. Determinate layers are those birds that only lay a set number of eggs - such as crows or budgies. Indeterminate layers - such as parrots - will quickly replace any eggs that are lost, thus not laying a set number of eggs. Breeders utilize this by removing eggs and artificially incubating them, thus encouraging more eggs to be laid.
The female reproductive tract is divided into several parts. It takes approximately 25 hours for an egg to travel from the beginning to the end. The first part of the female reproductive tract is the infundibulum. This consists of a) a funnel which captures the ovulated egg and b) a tubular region known as the chalaziferous region. Sperm fertilizes the egg in the funnel portion of the left oviduct. However, a female will lay eggs even if there has been no mating to fertilize them. The egg then passes on to the chalaziferous region. Here a layer of albumen, known as the chalaziferous layer, and the chalazia which suspend the yolk, are secreted by glands in the tubular region. The egg remains in the 1st part of the reproductive tract for 15 minutes.
The second part of the oviduct is the magnum. This is the longest and most coiled portion of the oviduct. It is very thickwalled and contains many tubular glands which secrete albumen, sodium, magnesium and calcium. The egg remains in the magnum for three hours.
The isthmus is a short portion of the oviduct. During the 75 minutes the egg remains here, the inner and outer shell membranes which line the shell are formed and calcification is initiated.
The uterus or shell gland is the place the egg remains the longest, from 20 - 26 hours. The shell of the egg is secreted here and "plumping" occurs. Plumping is the rapid addition of watery solutions to the egg, which doubles the weight of the albumen.
The final part of the female reproductive tract is the vagina. The egg passes through this portion very rapidly as it is laid.
Sperm may be stored in specialized glands known as sperm host glands which are located in the vaginal sphincter for a few days. The sperm travel up to the infundibulum to fertilize the egg.
Most psittacines (parrots) lay their eggs every two days, while passerines (finches and canaries) and chickens usually lay an egg every 24 hours during their laying cycle.
The ovary is under complex hormonal control. In birds that are seasonal egg layers, the left ovary undergoes three phases of development. During the first phase, the prenuptial acceleration, the ovary enlarges. The second phase, the culmination phase, is when ovulation and egg laying occur. The third phase is the refractory period during which the ovary regresses in size until the next time.
During the early stages or late stages of egg laying, the infundibulum may fail to catch the ovulated egg and it may enter the abdominal cavity. This is known as "Internal Laying". The egg may be absorbed or it may lead to an inflammatory process known as egg yolk peritonitis.
There was a pretty picture to go with this but this site will not allow the addition of graphics
Hope this helps some
Wolf
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