Candling a non fertile lovebird egg 2-4-10

This is one of the eggs from the 5 that Houdini layed that is non-fertile. I also posted video of me candling the one egg that appears to be fertile so you can see the difference between them. I am not sure of how many days old this egg is but Houdini layed her first one on 1/16/10. Lovebird eggs take about 22-25 days to incubate and you are supposed to be able to candle them as early as 8 to 12 days.
This is her first clutch of eggs this year and after candling them all but one appear to be fertile. This is one of the four that appears distinctly non-fertile. I am candling it by using a mini maglite flashlight in a dark area of the room that the cage is in. I do this at night as the lovebirds are sleepy and don't seem to mind it much. I make sure to wash my hands thoroughly with antibacterial soap and/or OxyFresh Cleansing Gele. I also will only candle each egg for a very short period of time to make sure there are no drastic changes in temperature etc.

Category:

Pets & Animals

Tags:

• Lovebird
• lovebirds
• baby lovebirds
• breeding lovebirds
• lovebird eggs
• lovebird egg
• candling eggs
• candling an egg

[ThePinkYoshi]

will there possibly be something wrong with the eggs or breeding process if we look at the bird nest 3 times a week?? if we do not or forget to change the food and water will that be something wrong? when do we need to clean the cage? any toys needed? i baught my birds from a person who didnt give them toys. wat about the nesting box? do we need to change that too? any bedding recomended? can you tell me how you breed them/ i have no breeding exp

[PootersPlace]

@ThePinkYoshi Hi and thank you for your questions. Most lovebird pairs will tolerate having a quick look into their nestbox a few times a week. Mine got so used to me peeking I could do it almost daily. It will not harm the eggs as long as you do not move the box or open it for too long and change temperature. Always give fresh food/water daily and access to calcium/cuttlebone. Cage cleaning I do every 4-5 days but my cage is large. Clean small cages more often. Yes, toys are a must for lovies!

[PootersPlace]

@ThePinkYoshi Regarding the nest box setup and breeding info, I was new to raising lovebirds and contacted YouTube member Stargazrt4 who owns True Love Aviaries and they emailed me a step-by-step guide on how to do it. They also have a lot of instructional videos on their YouTube page on setting up nestboxes and hand feeding baby lovebirds. I would highly recomend checking out their page and emailing them for the breeding guide. I could not have raised the babies without their help!

[ThePinkYoshi]

my lovebirds first clutch had 3 eggs, the 2nd had 4 eggs, the third had about 4 also, but the last one was really wierd. it had 7-8 eggs. when i checked again the following week, i only see 5 eggs, did she break them? can lovebirds determine which eggs are firtle and which are not? do you have to wash your hands before you handle them?

[PootersPlace]

@ThePinkYoshi It is not uncommon for lovebirds to lay up to 8 eggs in a clutch although the typical number is 4 to 6. My hunch is your lovebirds removed the eggs after they had broken. If you don't see any shells then the eggs could have been moved depending on the location of the nest. I am not sure that lovebirds can tell if an egg is fertile as my female would incubate non-fertile eggs as well as fertile ones. I simply candle to find out and yes, always wash hands before handling eggs.

[PootersPlace]

If none of the eggs hatched after 4 weeks, they are non-fertile. The incubation time is between 18-22 days so if it's been 4 weeks It's safe to assume none were fertile. I would remove the old eggs so your bird incubates only the new ones. The old eggs can contaminate the new ones and make babies sick or cause them to not hatch. If you candle eggs and they are mostly yellow with dark areas that's a good sign of fertility. Non-fertile ones look like the one in this video. Hope this helps.

[123hassanain]

heyy i have 2 lovebirds they laid  2 eggs when i walk by there cage all i hear is peeking noisies what should i do they havent hatched yet the first one was born on dec 10 2010 and one was afrer feww days what should i dooo replay back asap =)

[ThePinkYoshi]

@PootersPlace haha yea something funny was that everyday when i have time, i look at their page alot!!! they are really good or shall i say GREAT lovebird breeders. i will contact them thanks!

[Latinaqueen801]

So if its mostly all dark that means its fertile right?.. i was trying to candle my birds eggs, she laid 5 about 3-4 weeks ago and now she laid 2 more, so i'm thinking maybe they were all non fertile.. i seen 2 possible non fertile eggs. i need some advice.