Odd Hatching Times

[hi peeps81 0]

heres what happened i have two breeding pairs at the moment that have laid their eggs and have been sitting on them like good little mums

 

sorry dont have time to put pics in

 

i have a sky blue cock mating with a grey green hen, and a green cock mating with a grey green hen

 

the blue cocks mate has laid 7 eggs and the green ones only 5( they were lain on the same days as each other)

 

i was going to foster eggs from the blues nest to the greens nest as all the top ones are fertile and only one of the bottom eggs are fertile ( foster in 3 eggs) so they both have four

 

in the blue ones nest the first two have hatched already after only 18days(for the first one) and 17 days(for the second) while there has been no action in the greens nest

 

now i have a couple of questions:

 

has the blue ones mate done something differently? and if so what?

if i foster eggs into the greens nest and she hasnt "made" them hatch early will she kill them?

has anybody else ever heard of something like this?

 

p.s i touched my first baby budgie today

[melbournebudgies 0]

Sounds like the ones in the other nest may not be fertile, have you candled the eggs?

[hi peeps81 0]

no i dont have a light thats strong enough to shine through them

 

four of the five down the bottom are a browny coulor and one of them is white

 

im starting to think that i just have 2 premature ones as 2 days after the last on hatched there havent been any more hatchings

[JimmyBanks 0]

so how long have the eggs been in the nest for now?

[melbournebudgies 0]

18 days isn't premature though...

[JimmyBanks 0]

thats what I was thinking... but I wasn't sure if I was reading it wrong... and by the title '10 days early' I am guessing it has been over 10 days since those chicks hatched so thats 28 days incubation... can't see them hatching now...

[Neville 0]

Sounds like you haven't done much research on breeding budgies. Seventeen or eighteen days is normal incubation time. The eggs will hatch in the order they were laid at about two day intervals.

 

The second hen may not have started to incubate her eggs for a few days after she laid them so her chicks will start hatching later

 

It is usually safe to foster eggs or young chicks to another nest at a similar stage

Edited May 5, 2009 by Neville