# These (2) eggs have me baffled



## Renae (Feb 9, 2008)

They have been candled a few times (one was laid 5 days ago, the other was laid 3 days ago if I remember correctly) and both eggs appear (to me anyway) to be white, yet when I candle them, it says otherwise, they are infertile?


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## Haimovfids (Sep 19, 2012)

That is very interesting. They have mated? Right?


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## Vickitiel (Oct 10, 2012)

Oooh, who are the parents?


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## roxy culver (May 27, 2010)

Have they been sitting tightly? If not they may still be good. But if this is a first time pair they may be infertile.

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## Renae (Feb 9, 2008)

Yes, they have mated, several times. It is Quinn (and before anyone mentions it, her weight is much better, she is 124 grams now) and Elliot. They both started incubating from the first egg, and she laid another one earlier today so she has 3 now. There was another 2 eggs which were the first two, but both smashed. 

This is Quinn’s second time, but Elliot’s first. I don’t mind if none are fertile, that is fine, but I was just a tad confused why the eggs look white, but yet seem infertile when apparently by now (from reading candling articles) I would have known if they were fertile.


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## Darkel777 (Jun 7, 2013)

It could be similar to a scenario that happened to me once with artificial incubation. Two of the eggs developed a 5 day embryo at 10 days of incubation. Never been able to explain it.


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## Renae (Feb 9, 2008)

Wow, that is weird, but interesting!! 

I think I will wait a bit and not candle them again until it has been at least 10 days (which is in another couple of days) since the first egg was laid and see if there is any change…. just in case the same thing is happening/going to happen as your eggs.


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## Darkel777 (Jun 7, 2013)

Renae said:


> Wow, that is weird, but interesting!!
> 
> I think I will wait a bit and not candle them again until it has been at least 10 days (which is in another couple of days) since the first egg was laid and see if there is any change…. just in case the same thing is happening/going to happen as your eggs.


On second thought... I might be able to explain it. I was turning the eggs in quarters instead of full half-turns every hour for eight hours during the day and every four hours or so at night. At the time nobody showed me the proper technique for turning. This is the only known variable, if there were more I did not notice them.

The only problem with that explanation is... that I might expect to see a more wide ranging hatch dates in natural cockatiel hatching since it's likely not all of them turn eggs correctly. In the end, there might had been some problem with the incubator itself, which is far more likely.


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## tielfan (Aug 31, 2008)

Sometimes when a parent is in the nest, it's sitting next to the eggs admiring them instead of actually sitting on them. So it's possible that there's been less incubation than you think.


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## Renae (Feb 9, 2008)

I know I said I wouldn’t candle them again, but I candled them really quickly tonight while Quinn and Elliot had dinner, and 2 of the eggs have a heart beat, and red veins. The third one still looks clear, but that was only laid yesterday so I don’t expect to see anything just yet.


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## mlew54 (Feb 27, 2013)

congratulations are in order. good going .


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## roxy culver (May 27, 2010)

O YAY!!! Also, part of Quinn's weight could've been that she was making eggs. They tend to gain a bit when laying.


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## RexiesMuM (Sep 7, 2011)

Yay now the waiting begins ! I couldn't wait till my first set of eggs hatched it was a great experience !


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## Renae (Feb 9, 2008)

Could be Roxy, and now I feel bad making her lose weight! 

I checked the eggs this morning, and one of the fertile ones has a dint in it.  There was no fluid leaking out (which I read is a good thing) but I am not sure that the embryo will make it, I put a bit of tissue over it (enough to cover the dent) and sealed it with sticky tape which is all I have on hand at the moment, we don’t have any glue so I suppose I can only hope for the best. How likely will it be that it will still hatch? This egg was laid exactly 7 days ago now, so still got awhile before it is even due to hatch. I did candle it but can’t see much, it is all red inside, I seen a few red veins too.


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## dshiro2012 (Feb 4, 2013)

Renae said:


> Could be Roxy, and now I feel bad making her lose weight!
> 
> I checked the eggs this morning, and one of the fertile ones has a dint in it.  There was no fluid leaking out (which I read is a good thing) but I am not sure that the embryo will make it, I put a bit of tissue over it (enough to cover the dent) and sealed it with sticky tape which is all I have on hand at the moment, we don’t have any glue so I suppose I can only hope for the best. How likely will it be that it will still hatch? This egg was laid exactly 7 days ago now, so still got awhile before it is even due to hatch. I did candle it but can’t see much, it is all red inside, I seen a few red veins too.


I know how that feels.  Last clutch, #4 had a dent on the bottom, right on the point. And I was so worried, but there was no fluid leaking and it was moving. But because of low humidity it died. But hopefully this one is luckier! Good job and good luck with your eggs!  Can't wait to see what happens and some beautiful fuzzy chicks!


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## roxy culver (May 27, 2010)

Renae, do you have any clear nail polish? I have successfully patched eggs using paper towel and nail polish. With the patch, the egg should make it to hatching. Whether it hatches though, I can't say, I've patched two eggs and both ended up DIS.


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## Renae (Feb 9, 2008)

Ugh, I can’t quote either of you, my computer is being a spaz, sorry!

I don’t have any clear nail-polish on hand at the moment, the only thing I could do was cover it with a tissue and use sticky tape to hold it, and hope for the best. I had done tons of searching, and I seen a few different things mentioned to use, but of course I didn’t have anything besides the 2 things I ended up using to cover it. 

Last night I candled the egg with the dent to check on it, and all I am seeing now is yellow yolk, no red veins, no glowing red, no embryo. 

Here is a photo of it:










I wonder if it was because the dent was on the air cell end? There was the most tiny hole, but there was no fluid leaking out which is what I don’t get, maybe it was just too late though. Poor little thing!

On a better note, I candled the other eggs too last night. 

Egg #2: Still going strong, seen the red veins and heart beat again last night.

Egg #3: This one is fertile also I found out last night, seen the heart beat and red veins!!

Egg #4: Clear, of course, it was only laid yesterday… I will check in a few days to see if it is fertile or not.

So we have 2 fertile eggs again, hopefully all goes well with these 2.


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## Darkel777 (Jun 7, 2013)

I have used liquid bandage, just going by the smell of it I would say it's either the same or similar to clear nail polish


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## Renae (Feb 9, 2008)

I can’t say I have heard of that, is it exactly as what it is called, a bandage of some kind?


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## Darkel777 (Jun 7, 2013)

It comes in a container like nail polish, except that you use it to cover cuts and scrapes or stop bleeding. It turns into an almost plastic-like substance when it dries that bonds good to skin, and as I found out eggs too.


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## tielfan (Aug 31, 2008)

Maybe the parents stopped sitting on the dented egg because it looked odd. Buster will actually throw a dented egg out of the nest. I don't know how he manages to do it, I think he must be lifting it up on his head and heaving it out through the doorhole.

I've never had any luck with salvaging a cracked egg. Fortunately there haven't been too many times where I had to try, but repairing the egg has never worked for me (even if Buster decided to sit on it instead of throwing it out).


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## Renae (Feb 9, 2008)

Darkel777 said:


> It comes in a container like nail polish, except that you use it to cover cuts and scrapes or stop bleeding. It turns into an almost plastic-like substance when it dries that bonds good to skin, and as I found out eggs too.


I will look into this.  



tielfan said:


> Maybe the parents stopped sitting on the dented egg because it looked odd. Buster will actually throw a dented egg out of the nest. I don't know how he manages to do it, I think he must be lifting it up on his head and heaving it out through the doorhole.
> 
> I've never had any luck with salvaging a cracked egg. Fortunately there haven't been too many times where I had to try, but repairing the egg has never worked for me (even if Buster decided to sit on it instead of throwing it out).


Very possible! I read a few posts where a dented egg successfully hatched, but obviously there is still cases where they don’t, they (eggs) are pretty hardy though I must admit. 


Another question… not sure what is going on, but the embryo in egg #2 is gone. :hmm: There is red veins and it is kind of glowing red still, but it just seems, I dunno, empty? I noticed the air cell is tilted too?

These are the best photos I could get. (not sure if it is any help, but, the egg was laid exactly 7 days ago)


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## tielfan (Aug 31, 2008)

I'm not a big expert on candling or egg development, so I'm not sure what's going on with egg #2. My best guess is that the embryo is deeper inside the egg right now where it might be harder to see. The embryo obviously can't step out for a cup of coffee lol, and it looks like the egg is still viable. The air sac tilt probably isn't anything to worry about. The Orange Wing Amazon incubation series at http://www.avianweb.com/eggtoparrot.html shows a slight tilt at day 9, but the serious pre-hatch tilting doesn't start until later. This picture series is an excellent example of how hard it is to tell what's happening inside an egg, the color variability and lack of detail is pretty crazy.

Susanne's candling article is a good source of pictures too http://www.internationalcockatielresource.com/candling-eggs.html


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## Renae (Feb 9, 2008)

Thanks Carolyn, I really hope (and pray) that is the case, there was an embryo there the last time I candled it, and then when I candled it again the other night, it was gone.







I am going to candle the eggs again this weekend coming to see if egg #4 if fertile or not, so hopefully I might see it, or some sign of it still being alive, again by then. Thank you for the links, too, I had a look at Susanne’s link and couldn’t see anything mentioned about this (or I am blind which wouldn’t surprise me) unless I missed it. I will take a look at the other link.


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## roxy culver (May 27, 2010)

I find it harder to see the embryo until the baby inside gets bigger. It looks good to me as well.


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## Renae (Feb 9, 2008)

Thank you Roxy, I feel much less stressed now, and it is a relief to read that all looks good. :blush:

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## Haimovfids (Sep 19, 2012)

I hope they hatch


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