Hello everyone I'm back. After I did all I could for them to breed they went out of condition. So I have just been waiting for them to come back in. Well about three weeks ago I noticed she was spending a lot more time in the box chewing on the wood. So I put shavings in the box and I guess it helped because wednesday we had our first budgie egg ever. It looks smller than I had seen in pictures but its nice and white. I was wondering at what time to candle the egg? Also When I toushed my Zebra finches eggs they threw them away. How do I avoid ruining the eggs. I am gonna hand feed two of the babies if they hatch so I was wondering if you take them at 2 weeks like parrots? Anyway I am expecting an egg today. I hope it does. I am sure I will have more questions soon. Thanks Dave

Congratulations

 

Here an article from our BBC FAQ section Handrearing Budgies

 

Also Care of Budgies in the Nest by Kaz

 

Most breeders will not handrear budgies they will let the parents raise them and during this time will hand them a lot (especially if this is for taming purposes). If I am right Bea took Blinks at 4 weeks when he was just starting to learn to eat on his own. Play with him, give him attention and then I believe she put him back with his parents to do the regular feedings. There is good nutrition in the parents food vs ours .

 

Kaz has a lot of experience about handrearing and I am sure she will let you know what is best for them.

 

In medium and bigger parrots it is actually debatable on handfed vs parentfed and handle by humans because a lot of what a bird learns on how to be a bird is from the parent not us humans. But that is a different topic all in itself.

 

Again great job.

Edited June 1, 200718 yr by Elly

Hi Dave, congratulations. It is a very exciting time, isn't it? I use a flexi torch to candle my eggs, which is a torch with a flexible tube that can be bent 180 degrees and has a diode on the end, so you don't have to move the eggs. It is best done in a dark room so that you can see easier. They can be moved to candle them, just make sure that you wash your hands first.

 

 

Feathers.

Hi Dave, congratulations. It is a very exciting time, isn't it? I use a flexi torch to candle my eggs, which is a torch with a flexible tube that can be bent 180 degrees and has a diode on the end, so you don't have to move the eggs. It is best done in a dark room so that you can see easier. They can be moved to candle them, just make sure that you wash your hands first.

 

 

Feathers.

 

 

How long after laying do I candle them?

and you candle at day 5 or 6