i have a bit of a problem one of my hens has been in her breeding cage for 2 weeks and she has not layed a egg she is at the moment sitting in the cage and is a little puffed up but when you pout your finger near her she starts going off do you think she is egg bound or just a little cold as the wind is up at the moment

 

and problem number 2 is that one of my hens has layed a clutch of 8 eggs and is finished but when i went out today she was not sitting on them

 

so what do i do

 

also would the egg be partialy showing if she was egg bound

 

Sarah

Does she have any other signs of illness Sarah? What are her droppings like? Is her ceres and eyes clear?

 

Im not too experienced at egg bound hens im afraid - but what i can suggest is that you take the budgie to the nearest vet (avian preferably) and get her checked out.

How old is she?

 

Let us all know how you get on - hope she will be okay,

i have a bit of a problem one of my hens has been in her breeding cage for 2 weeks and she has not layed a egg she is at the moment sitting in the cage and is a little puffed up but when you pout your finger near her she starts going off do you think she is egg bound or just a little cold as the wind is up at the moment

 

and problem number 2 is that one of my hens has layed a clutch of 8 eggs and is finished but when i went out today she was not sitting on them

 

so what do i do

 

also would the egg be partialy showing if she was egg bound

 

Sarah

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i have an hen doing the same, she goes in the box and goes to sleep (Laughing out loud), but if i open the box to check shes fine she flies out and tells me off, i have checked her little bottom and cant see anything there and she is eating etc just fine, i think she goes in there for a bit of peace, and hopefully getting a few ideas about breeding (Laughing out loud), as for the hen not sitting on the eggs, i had 03 hens all lay eggs at the same time, 02 of them were always leaving the nest, i werent expecting any eggs to hatch as i thought they were out too much, but both have had chicks since someone on here said they dont always sit on the eggs its more importnat they sit on the chicks, so i think you will be fine

do you think she is egg bound

 

sure sighns of egg binding a hen that is in the nest box or on the floor of the cage in great distress,shortness of breath swollen vent and dilated pupils and unfortunatly death normally occurs in 24 hours if assistants not given

 

and problem number 2 is that one of my hens has layed a clutch of 8 eggs and is finished but when i went out today she was not sitting on them

 

so what do i do

 

it all depends on how long she hasnt sat on them and if they have gotten chilled if she is not sitting on them there is very little you can do to make her

okay the one i thought was egg bound was actually just cold because i went out this morning and all of them are sitting all puffed up even the male so she is alright

and she is only about 2 years old

 

and secondly the one who is not sitting on her eggs is still not sitting on them so could i maybe transfer to another sitting hen as the one still sitting is never out of the box

you could but if her eggs are fertile and these are that will be a lot of chicks normally i dont foster the eggs if its been more than 8 to 12 hours as they dont tend to hatch

okay looks like all engines are a go the hen not sitting is back sitting i think it is just i caught her on one of those times when she is out of the box haveing a drink something to eat and stretching her wings. still no egg from the other but i am going to leave her and rainbow in the nesting cage until the others babies have grown up to give her some time.

According to my records i have been keeping the first egg is due to hatch tommorow or the next day i'm soooo excited

 

Sarah

oh how exciting, is this your first time breeding?

second first attempt was a couple of years ago and the babies end up dieing i don't know why mum said it ws because i kept checking on them - i was young and nieve

 

the baby has not hatched yet i don't even know if they are fertile i don't want to disturb them just in case

 

Do hens stay out off the box a bit before the egg is due to hatch as one of the hens jumps in the box than out

 

Sarah

whats the temp there? moms tend not to sit on them too long if its hot out, at least thats my experience.

Skittles used to stay on them almost constantly because every time she left the box Rainbow would chase her back in. The hen will leave the box to eat and get a little drink, but usually doesn't stay out long. Sometimes hens leave the box if startled, so maybe something is disturbing her if she leaves a lot.

but wouldn't the other hen leave her box to as they are side by side the temp is about 25 Degrees Celcius outside Maybe a bit more .

the father is also in and out the box sometimes he even sits with "Cinny" in the box. the other hen i have not seen get out of the box.

 

if all fails i will just have to try again like with my quails everytime i put a male in with the females they kill him.

 

Sarah

Mmm, that doesn't sound right with your quails. The only problem I ever had with quails was convincing them to sit on their eggs. Is the space large enough? Are you introducing properly? Have you got enough males?

 

Sorry, can't help with the budgies, I have just got my first 3 pink blobs now, and this is the 3rd clutch! So, I'll let someone else deal with that.

they are in the avairy with the budgies i have 2 females my females go brooding at least once a month i have had i clutch hatch but all three died one was paralised (sp) and the other two died because dad kept picking on them. tried to help them but couldn't. Any suggestions would be greatly welcome

 

Sarah

I had quail before I had the net, so I can't point you in the direction of any good sites, but I'm sure if you did a google search you will find some information. I would of thought having them in with budgies would be fine, as they use different parts of the aviary.

you mentioned in a post that there is a way to introduce them can you explain how as i don't want to put another male throught the pain.

Sarah

I would put the male in in his own cage, and let them get to know each other whilst the male is safe in the cage. At least 48 hours, and see how the females take to him. Females are very territorial, so you can't just put the male in (imagine if a bloke moved into your house who you'd never met before! You'd probably go for him with a big knife (Laughing out loud)). If you think the females are okay, let him out for a while, then put him back in the cage. Lengthen the time he's out slowly over a few days, watching to see how the females tolerate him.

thats the way i tried last time and all seemed well after 3 weeks of letting him out then putting him back in and when i let him stay in there all night the next morning i came out and he was dead. i was think i have a large cage that is a rectangle about 1 metre high and about 50 cm width anyway i raised some chooks in there and now i am going to put them in the chook run anyway if i bought a male and put him in there first then pu the female in do you think it will work.

 

Sarah

That might work better, but it seems really unusual that your females keep killing the males. Search around the net, see if you can find some information, it has been a few years since I kept quail

i was soo excited for a minute i had asked mum to take me down to the pet store as i knew they had some male quails she said no about 5 minutes before they were due to shut she told me if i got my stuff to gether she would take me down i got every thing together than she ran me down when we got there it had closedshe had waited half an hour just to make up her mind im sure she did it on purpose cause she new i wanted to get a male this afternoon

 

Sarah

but wouldn't the other hen leave her box to as they are side by side the temp is about 25 Degrees Celcius  outside Maybe a bit more .

the father is also in and out the box sometimes he even sits with "Cinny" in the box. the other hen i have not seen get out of the box.

 

Sarah

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Hi Sarah I had a female that seem to be unsettled, she was off her eggs more than any of the others so I wasn't hopeful for them, but hey they have hatched

and only now she seems to be very settled..

 

they are in the avairy with the budgies i have 2 females my females go brooding at least once a month i have had i clutch hatch but all three died one was paralised (sp) and the other two died because dad kept picking on them. tried to help them but couldn't. Any suggestions would be greatly welcome

 

Sarah

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I used to have quails but only ever put one female with one male and they were fine and so were the babies. I removed the young male when they started to fight..