Eggs Hatched and Eggs Laid...

Momma budgie (as she has come to be known) has now hatched all of her eggs.  She started out with five, one was infertile, one was fertile but failed to develop, and the remaining three have hatched into precious little chicks!  It honestly seemed like they would never hatch, but hatch they did and they're now growing like weeds.  I'm noticing that Momma budgie is spending more time out of the nest box now.  When I see her out on the perches with the guys and flapping through the cage I'm keeping an eye on the nest box to see what's happening there, and sure enough - one or the other of the daddies is keeping an eye on the babies.  It seems to be the green daddy that sticks his head in the most.  This comes as a surprise to me really;  I hardly saw him feeding Momma at all while she was brooding but he seems to really be coming through now that the kids have arrived. The babies are starting to get pretty loud now.  As I sit here typing, I can hear the babies upstairs just chirping away!  Granted the rest of the flock has gone quiet, but I doubt that I'd have heard their cries a day or two ago.  I also started handling them today.  I picked them up for about a minute each but none of them actually made it all the way out of the nest box.  I didn't want Momma or either of the daddies to see me holding one of their kids...  I didn't want to cause them any stress or anxiety but I did want to start conditioning the babies to being held and picked up.  They're so tiny it's hard to believe they wont just fall apart while I'm holding them!

But enough about that!  I mentioned earlier that my other couple had laid an egg but I questioned it's viability.  Well, I still question the viability of the initial egg, but the couple has laid a second egg!  I feel fairly confident that it will turn out to be fertile because I've seen mom and dad er... taking the necessary steps to fertilize the egg. *wink*  It's really pretty funny watching the two of them.  Mom is pretty protective of her nest and rarely allows dad in.  Daddy has to go stand at the door of the box and lure her out with his sweet warbles, and she still comes out grousing at him!  Eventually though, they're sitting side by side on the perch, and when something gets too close to the nest, they're both right there together defending it.  It's a beautiful sight to see.

I made some changes with two other pairs that weren't making any progress.  Essentially I switched out the males and am trying different ones.  In one particular case, I think I've made another love match.  :)  (Why is there a part of me that feels like a budgie pimp?)  In the other case, I'll just have to wait and see what happens.  In that paring, I set up my cinnamon female with my new English normal grey cock.  I'd like that to work out, but she's been resistant to all of the males I've tried her with so far, so it may not.  As usual, I'll just wait and see!

Until next time... :)

Bouncing baby... Chicks!

Today I finally procured a mini-maglight to use when candling eggs.  Using a smaller light makes it easier to get the light right up next to the shell so you can see in.  It's amazing the difference the right light can make!

As soon as I got home with my light, I went right up to the budgie room and pulled the drapes.  It wasn't nearly as scary picking up the egg this time, in fact, I didn't even pick it up.  I just held the light to the egg while it was still in the nest, turning it a little bit if necessary to get a clear view.  This way I was able to see that four of my five eggs appear to be fertile!  And even more exciting, I could see the little chicklettes moving around inside two of the eggs!  Next to my own pregnancy, seeing that was one of the most cool things I've ever experienced.  I just can't believe that it's going to get better!

Candling Eggs

Today I candled my first budgie egg. For anyone not familiar, candling an egg is the process used to determine whether an egg is fertile or not.  I've read about it numerous times but have never done it nor seen it done.  Though most of what I've read was pertaining to chicken's eggs, I figured that for the most part, an egg is an egg and the main difference is that the eggs I'd be looking at would be smaller.  I certainly hope I'm right!

I've been anxious to determine whether or not any of the eggs were viable because I'd taken the hen, on her eggs, in a huge flight cage full of budgies, an hour and a half drive to bring them home the day I'd purchased them.  Despite attempting to avoid every bump in the road, I felt like I hit them instead.  I've worried about her and her eggs for a little over a week and was certain I'd perish if I didn't find out whether they'd survived the trip or not.

Like I said, I'd read up on this procedure but had never seen it done, so I was going in blind you might  say.  I grabbed the one flashlight I could find at the time and went and opened the cage door.  I pulled the nest box over so I could easily see inside, opened the top, looked in, and immediately got scared.  Those eggs are so teensy!  I've held chicken eggs before - thousands of times, maybe even millions - but those budgie eggs looked so fragile they might break if I exhaled on them too hard.  I stopped and thought about what I was doing and realized that if I was going to look at the eggs, I would have to pick them up. So with the caution and gentle touch one might use when handling nitroglycerine, I picked up one of those eggs and cradled it gently in the palm of my hand.  Without taking my eyes off the egg (I was afraid I might move and make it explode ... or worse!), I slowly reached out for the flashlight I'd brought with me and turned it on.  When I moved the flashlight close to the egg as I'd seen described in the material I'd read, I was amazed at what I saw!  Absolutely nothing.  Just a red glow.  Oh MAN!  Seriously?  That's it?  Maybe I was doing something wrong.  I moved the flashlight around to get a better angle; I held it between my fingers so only a slit of light shined through; I crossed my legs and balanced on my left foot; I  moved the flashlight while holding it between my teeth and crossed my legs while balancing on my left foot all at the same time.... and finally I saw it!  An AIR SAC!   YESSSS!!!   I tilted my head just a bit to the right and was able to see some little blood vessels as well.  Between the air sac and the blood vessels, I felt confident that the egg I was holding was fertile.  Success!

Knowing that there's a time limit as to how long an egg can be out of the nest, I hurried to return it to the warmth of its mom.  I looked at the other four eggs in the nest and decided that I'd wait for another day to determine their viability.  The stress from one was quite enough for today.