colourbreeder

Hi Natasha. Budgies usually lay 2 eggs before they start to incubate them, then after that they lay an egg every second day. If they were all going to hatch they would hatch like this ......First 2 hatch the same day and then you get a chick every second day after that. Some times eggs don't hatch for some reason or were infertile to start with and you end up with some chicks hatching many days apart. The eggs you have left may include some fertile and still viable, I wouldn't interfere at all with trying to hatch eggs, its best handled by an expert and if you meddle to soon the chick will die. So best just let nature take its course and maybe a few days after you have worked out that the last should have hatched you can pitch the eggs out.

Just from your description, it sounds like your correct. My advice would be to make a short video and post it on one of the Face Book Budgie help sites, Like Budgie help and advice. Its impossible to tell without seeing If you know what I mean.

Hi Michael. Looks interesting. how's it looking now that its older?

Hi. You should only have the breeding birds SEPERATE from the others. Even if they are all happy and calm for a while, when you breed budgies in a aviary with more than 1 hen they will always eventually start fighting......If the aggressive hen gets into the nest box with the chicks she will KILL them. I'm not guessing okay, I know from 20 years experience. It can help to have lots of boxes to choose from but when you see that behaviour and you have chicks in the nest , the aggressive hen has decided that she wants the box and her intention is to kill the babies and take the box for herself. In this situation you should take out all other hens apart from the mum or baby hens and when the chicks are old enough take out the box so she cant lay anymore. If you want to breed later on then only breed her in a separate cage with the dad. Its also a good idea to limit breeding to the cooler months (in Aust) which gives the birds break and the babies and parents are healthier as a result.

In my experience if you change cocks it usually results in the hen leaving her eggs. She can even attack the intruder so keep an eye on her.

First of all don't assume that just because the hens are very young that they wont breed, they can breed under 6 months old and having them in with the other birds may well stimulate them to breed. Second thing, in an aviary breeding situation you need to understand that the risks of hens going into other boxes and fighting other hens and destroying chicks is high, they are best separated and bred as pairs. If aviary breeding you need to be very vigilant and check on them a few times a day if possible to make sure they are sticking to their own boxes. Any trouble makers should be removed immediately. I would have double the boxes that you have hens to avoid fighting as much as possible. If you still want to aviary breed I'd remove the young hens. Then remove the boxes and clean them out. Wait for a couple of weeks and then put the boxes back in to try again. Assuming your birds are in breeding condition they will probably get excited and go investigate straight away. Keep in mind the hot weather though, as it gets very hot in those boxes so once the heat kicks in its best to rest your birds.

You could potentially try giving the barren hen a few cool mints or something similar to an egg and see what she does...If your very lucky and she sits you could then introduce the eggs. But it would be rare for that to work.

Hi There. If she isn't sitting on eggs and you put them in her box the most likely outcome is that she will clean them out of her box and destroy them. Sometimes hens wont breed because they are to young, to old or they have fertility issues that mean they will never lay.

Most hens will move out of the box or you can gently push them out then block the hole with something and check the box properly. Take out any dead chicks. You can usually handle chicks okay without mums getting to fussed. I start checking my hens every day when they lay eggs so as to get them used to me and I handle babies as needed to keep their toes and beaks free of dried on food or poo's. Be aware that hens can be very protective and may bite you, but most usually don't. Go slow and gentle and be careful that she goes out of the hole not out beside your hand. In the wild nature just takes its course and dead babies are not removed but its going to decompose and create its own health hazard so best removed.

Also Raad I would say that if you try your best and fail, then you are not alone. Unfortunately things like this do happen and the more you raise birds or any other thing for that matter then the more you will see that things can go right and they can go wrong too. Sometimes no matter what you do things don't turn out the way you want them to. Good luck. I hope it works out for you.

If you have managed to keep them alive I think its their best bet. If I have a hen that has laid to many eggs and I have another hen on eggs the same age she will take them no problem...Its no good giving the eggs to a hen with no eggs as she will destroy them and you don't want them hatching way before or way after the ones that are already in the nest. If they have chilled over night I think it would be to late to rescue them.

Hi. Your bird appears to be a Spangle which is not ideal for breeding Rainbows. You need Clearwings, Opaline, Golden Face or Yellow all in combination. If you add Opaline to the colours of your bird you will get some attractive birds which are similar to Rainbows. Breeding Rainbows takes years to put together the colours that make a Rainbow. Have fun.

Hi Raad. Fostering to hens with eggs the same age is the best option. Did you manage to foster them?

Can you post a good photo of the 2 nmales so I can see their faces?