# Can you tell fertility from egg color?



## Set (Mar 14, 2011)

I've been completely confused with eggs. I thought I had candled the previous clutch properly but two of the eggs turned dark after they were cracked, like a DIS egg does. his time I've not bothered candling them at all and am just letting them do their thing. Lilith seems to have stopped laying - she laid her last egg two-three days ago and had been laying every two days. So she has another clutch of four.

Now I've read that infertile eggs will have a pinker color, but with the last clutch, the whiter looking one was the only one that didn't turn dark (I did give it a few extra days, and candled it before tossing it out. There was definitely nothing in there.) so now I'm really confused.

And any excuse to post cute little eggies is a good one 
Any experienced breeders have any thoughts on these little eggs? I could only get the one picture - Lilith and Cadaver have gotten overly protective since I took their last eggs away. She was flapping about outside the box and Caddy was getting ready to rip my face off.


----------



## srtiels (May 1, 2009)

Hi...I just did an illustrated article on candling: http://www.internationalcockatielresource.com/candling-eggs.html


----------



## roxy culver (May 27, 2010)

Just by looking at them...two look fertile (they're opaque) and the other two are either too new to tell or are infertile.


----------



## raazi (May 3, 2013)

Don't try to take them from cage.its not good .the tiels will sit on ut and will do their best.dont bother about the eggs.and even if you see broken egg if you toss it out replace with ball of white colour.check the box once in a week.dont worry about the egg,only worry if you touch them .your responsibility is to provide them with good food and water.all other things will be carried out by them


----------



## srtiels (May 1, 2009)

*<<<only worry if you touch them>>>*
------------------------
raazi...thanks for the input 

If the pair is conditioned or used to the breeder/owner checking the nest, it is fine to handle the eggs. It is a Myth that they will abandon the nest, especially if they smell that that eggs were handled.


----------



## raazi (May 3, 2013)

If the female loves the owner she will not break the egg or kill the baby.i had a one pair of budgie who was friendly.i used to check their nest.she had no trouble in doing so.now i have got another pair and the female isn't that friendship.i looked at the nest , the next day i could smell somethin worst.it was the baby that she killed.i thought it might be some other budgie but the same thing happened again when i took a peek on the eggs that i saw a baby .she killed it too.
From then i never tried to check the nest


----------



## roxy culver (May 27, 2010)

> If the female loves the owner she will not break the egg or kill the baby.i had a one pair of budgie who was friendly.i used to check their nest.she had no trouble in doing so.now i have got another pair and the female isn't that friendship.i looked at the nest , the next day i could smell somethin worst.it was the baby that she killed.i thought it might be some other budgie but the same thing happened again when i took a peek on the eggs that i saw a baby .she killed it too.
> From then i never tried to check the nest


The issue here is that you are talking about budgies not cockatiels. Cockatiels are completely different. You can condition a tiel to you looking at the babies. Tap the box and then open it so you don't frighten them. My birds are used to me looking and don't mind as long as I don't interfere too much. My friendliest birds (the ones that are most bonded to me) usually end up being my nastiest. Fuzzy would rip my face off if he could while breeding. When not breeding, he was a mama's boy. 

Regarding your budgies, do you have more than one breeding pair in a cage? If so, I'd change that. Its best to let each pair have their own cage while breeding. And if this mama is killing babies I wouldn't use her again.


----------



## KerriMac0216 (Apr 7, 2013)

My tiels have never been bothered if I handle eggs or babies....if they are in the nest they get a little funny so I try to make sure I check when they leave nest for my own safety.


----------



## Set (Mar 14, 2011)

I generally check the eggs once a day and handled them twice for candling with the last clutch, though I haven't handled them at all this clutch. The birds don't mind it; they get angry, but go right back to sitting on the eggs after. The only reason Lilith cracked the eggs last time was that she had night frights in the nestbox.

When I first introduced the box I knocked on the top and opened it once a day to make sure the birds would be used to it  I usually only check if no one is in there or if Caddy is in there because Lilith is pretty spooky still. Also she's realllllly scary.


----------



## roxy culver (May 27, 2010)

You mean she looks like this? The "I'm gonna eat you" face? lol its cute!

Sounds like you've got everything under control, I hope it works this time!


----------



## tielfan (Aug 31, 2008)

> The "I'm gonna eat you" face? lol its cute!


It's cute, but they're not joking. They really will try to eat you if you stick your hand in there. It's your business if you want to sacrifice your flesh, but you're putting the eggs/babies at risk too if you put your hand in the piranha-beak zone. All that parental jumping around is hazardous to the stuff underneath their feet.


----------



## Set (Mar 14, 2011)

Before eggs were in there I tried checking when Lilith was in there, and she'll jump up and try to attack haha. So I just avoid her at all costs. With Caddy, he gets poofy, but I shove him out of the way (gently) with a perch and he'll leave the nest really easily. He's just a generally laid back bird, whereas Lilith has always been a bit sketchy and jumpy. I think part of it is that Caddy was coparented, whereas Lilith was handled at a young age, but the lady had too many babies to keep handling all of them. And part of it is just their differing personalities.

Checking on them less and keeping my distance seems to have helped with the night frights a little bit though; she's has maybe one or two in the nestbox since she started laying  So I'm getting pretty hopeful that something might hatch.


----------



## Set (Mar 14, 2011)

Just thought I'd update this.
I just candled the eggs because the first should hatch in 3-5 days and it turns out all four are fertile! All of them have very clear veins and have gotten a lot whiter. I think this picture was just taken too soon after they were laid to tell.


----------



## roxy culver (May 27, 2010)

That's awesome, can't wait to see the babies!!!


----------



## Zionzion (Jul 29, 2021)

raazi said:


> If the female loves the owner she will not break the egg or kill the baby.i had a one pair of budgie who was friendly.i used to check their nest.she had no trouble in doing so.now i have got another pair and the female isn't that friendship.i looked at the nest , the next day i could smell somethin worst.it was the baby that she killed.i thought it might be some other budgie but the same thing happened again when i took a peek on the eggs that i saw a baby .she killed it too.
> From then i never tried to check the nest


This happened to me to 4 baby bugies all fully feathered , cleaned out box but next day killed them all , I never disturbed not even a peep, leave well alone.


----------



## Jo Hess (Nov 22, 2021)

Never clean out their nesting box, budgies or tiels. They will do this themselves naturally. Nesting birds tend not to poop in nest and will clean it all out themselves. Don't remove any eggs as they will go into overdrive to lay and replace to perhaps their demise. Let nature take its course. Don't know about budgies, but tiel eggs need to be left for at least 21 days then they will know naturally to leave. If you remove they will lay to replace which can kill mother bird. If left when infertile, candling or otherwise they will leave naturally rather than stressing their bodies by laying more eggs.


----------



## mel&sydney07 (12 mo ago)

it isnt fertile if it is pinkish or spotted


----------

