# well.. surprise surprise...



## huskymom (Jan 17, 2008)

well... yesterday I found somethng really exciting... and I´m sure you already know by now.. hehe.. but let me tell you the weird part of the story...

Tuesday night I over filled the food/water of the tiels because I had to run in the morning and didn´t wanted to leave them like that in case I run out late.. which I did that day... I had a ton to do and kinda felt I was goint to be late .. LOL... so that was that...

wednesday morning I rushed to fill the water again.. the food was fine so I kinda thanked me for doing that the previous night... and I ran off...

wednesday when I went to feed them in the afternoon I got a huge surprise within the surprise... there were TWO lil eggies there!!!

yes, TWO.. how did I missed them?.. I kinda have an explanation for one... one could´ve been just layed after I left in the morning... but the other one??!!.. how did I missed it?... ok perhaps when I went int he night to check and feed I just didn´t see it as I didn´t turn on the lights.. but in the morning?? was I in such a hurry I didn´t payed attention?.. and even so that could explain one egg?.. but the other one had to be layed on monday so there were two by wednesday... so weird...

anyway.. there is only one by now... today in the morning one of the eggs was half eaten... I think it was Cotton... as Maui had layed last year.. and he´s a newbie...

let´s see how it turns this time around...


----------



## ReniLyn (Mar 30, 2009)

Well congrats!


----------



## Aly (Jul 30, 2007)

Sometimes the eggs are not laid that far apart...not sure how you missed them though. As far as eating it, it's a sign that they're needing those nutrients from what I know. Are you going to take out the one so the pair can be by themselves? (if you're breeding)?


----------



## xxxSpikexxx (Jul 30, 2007)

Do you have a box up now? I would make sure only the pair of lovebirds  are in the cage together. Hope you get some babies  Oh wait you only have two tiels right? your number of tiels still says 3.


----------



## huskymom (Jan 17, 2008)

LOl... yeah.. they are on their own.. LOL... haven´t seen them actually mate... they have this nest thing Maui uses... I tried the nestbox thing and she wouldn´t she´d just stayed in the floor with her egies so I used a big dish thingy and she used it since day one last year... I do plan getting the box up again and see if this time she uses it...

oh, and the tiel number.. haven´t changed that.. oops...


----------



## Aly (Jul 30, 2007)

Sorry for the confusion. I would wait put the box up as you just may not have seen them mating.


----------



## huskymom (Jan 17, 2008)

when Maui mated RB Jack I saw them mate about 2-3 times and that was it... two eggs had babies...

the thing is I´m going out on vacation from tomorrow and until the 20th... so I have to leave it all set up... somy mom just checks on them


----------



## sweetrsue (Jul 8, 2008)

If she's laying now you should hang the box! If you don't and she lays on the floor she likely won't leave them unless you move them to the box. The box needs to be up so that the male can go in and make sure it's OK for her. Once he determines that it is, he will call her in. Good Luck!


----------



## Renae (Feb 9, 2008)

YAY! I hope they hatch and you get some fluff balls (even a couple of more eggs too) - got my fingers crossed for you.


----------



## allen (Aug 25, 2007)

i have seen tiels lay 2 eggs in a single day but it is unusual


----------



## huskymom (Jan 17, 2008)

well.. I just got back from my "vacations"... Maui is sitting on three eggs... there were four but one is broken... I´ve yet have to candle them and see where we´re at...

if ONE hatches.. I´ll as happy as can be....


----------



## sweetrsue (Jul 8, 2008)

Congrats on your nice surprise!


----------



## Kirby (Jul 28, 2007)

Good luck!!!!!  I hope we can raise our baby(ies) together amigo! 

Kirby


----------



## Renae (Feb 9, 2008)

YAY congrats, lots and lots and lots of good luck to you too!


----------



## huskymom (Jan 17, 2008)

since i got back from "vacations" and waited for the eggs to hatch any day soon but no.. no babies yet.. and way too past now.. there were 5... now they are on 8... the original 5 plus 3 new ones... i haven´t candled nor removed any as 
I didn´t marked them and don´t want to remove a new clear one instead of an older unfertile ones...

Maui has been pushing aside 2 eggs now three.. perhaps she knows they are not viable.. as it doesn´t matter how many times I cuddle them together... a few minutes later they are pushed again...although not sure the same ones.... so i desisted on that

sunday they laid their 7th and tuesday their 8th... so we´ll see tomorrow... hoep not any more.. so confusing to determine which ones are good and which ones aren´t...

another good note...

the budgies had a nestbox up since i left.. but no moves... until sunday when they laid their 1st and tuesday their 2nd...

they were so funny... male was so ready... female in full breeding mode.. when she leaned... and he tried putting one foot on top of her.. she was like "what are you doing...what is wrong with you?"... haha... and a few times when he almost managed to get on top.. they fell off the perch.. LOl.... now they aqre doing good... really good... sure have improved their methods.. LOL...

so today wednesday 6th of may 2009...

tiels 8 eggs... (3 probable)
budgies 2 eggs


----------



## shy bird (Feb 13, 2009)

lol,hillarious budgie story.


----------



## tielfan (Aug 31, 2008)

> Maui has been pushing aside 2 eggs now three.. perhaps she knows they are not viable.. as it doesn´t matter how many times I cuddle them together... a few minutes later they are pushed again


It's probably safe to remove the eggs that the parents are rejecting. They're probably the old expired eggs, and in any case these eggs aren't being sat on so they don't have a future. Buster and Shodu had an egg that died when it was about a week old and they started pushing it off to the side right about the time it was due to hatch. I put it back a few times but they always pushed it right back out. They knew it was no good!


----------



## Renae (Feb 9, 2008)

Lol, funny little budgies.

Hope you get some fluff balls from the eggies!


----------



## huskymom (Jan 17, 2008)

well... so far so good... still looks like 8 is the magic number.. LOL... I "sunned" them (yeah a made up word as for candling but with the sun )... and two or 3 had irregular more like diagonal darker parts.. so I think they got cold and died... a couple more seem with a bit of a darker opaque side... hopefully babies... and the rest still seems clear... I´m not sure which ones are the new ones and which ones the oldest.. so perhaps the potential darker baby ones are dead too... I´ll give 20 more days since this past tuesday... and see what happens... 

I do know for sure at least 4 or 5 are not going to hatch as they are past 30 soemthing days...

budgies had a 3rd this thusrday... and I assume a 4rth saturday.. I´m not sure... because mom won´t move to let me see...she´s on them all the time and won´t move for anything.. so I rather not stress her and leave her alone... I´ll get a glimpse whenever she goes out to potty and I´m there "stalking".. hehe...

budgie dad is co cute... he feed his lady.. alerts her when I´m getting closer...tries to be a toughie.. and he actually imitates the tiel noises/songs but in a cuter softer way...aww... hope he keeps those instead of the ack ack ack...

tiel dad... is well... he couldn´t care less.. doesn´t feeds.. sits on eggs... he just want a part in the fun.....


----------



## srtiels (May 1, 2009)

I didn´t marked them and don´t want to remove a new clear one instead of an older unfertile ones...
------------------------------

OK...you can ususally tell at a glance if they are fertile or not after a week. If the eggs have a very slight pinkish cast they are infertile. If the shells have a bright hard white color they are fertile.


----------



## srtiels (May 1, 2009)

Here are some Candle egg pix's. I used to have a website with all this info, and might just get all this info back up.
--------------------------------------








--------------------------------








------------------------------------








---------------------------------------








------------------------------------








-------------------------------------

What you don't want to see


----------



## huskymom (Jan 17, 2008)

thank you for posting those...

on a previous one I did canlde them properly... but this time I could not wait till night to have a very very dark room.. hehe.. hence I sunned... 

those are very nice pics... I did saw some veins... but now I´m not so sure to which pic they resembled more... will have to candle them again tonight..


----------



## srtiels (May 1, 2009)

You can also go into a dark room or closet. Most of the pix I did were done during the day and in the bathroom with the lights out.

I'm going through my saved pix's to see if I have any pixs that would show at a glance if the egg was bad, etc.

Good luck, and hope you have good eggs and successful hatches 

Susanne


----------



## huskymom (Jan 17, 2008)

the bad thing is that my house doesn´t has dark dark areas/room...so I really have to wait till dark... ...

I´ll try tonight and hopefully get pics too to show you...


----------



## srtiels (May 1, 2009)

When you take pix's set the camera to close-up or macro. You can crop the pix which will make what you crop look bigger and show detail.


----------



## tielfan (Aug 31, 2008)

> tiel dad... is well... he couldn´t care less.. doesn´t feeds.. sits on eggs... he just want a part in the fun..


That's the cockatiel tradition. Although there are some male tiels who will feed the female, most of them follow the cockatoo model - instead of feeding the hen, he incubates the eggs so she can go out and feed herself.


----------



## Cannuck2007 (Feb 29, 2008)

allen said:


> i have seen tiels lay 2 eggs in a single day but it is unusual


When Lexi and Rocky laid, the first two eggs were the same day, morning and night. Snuckums was first laid and second to hatch,lol. Lemon was egg two, baby 1 then came Jr.


----------



## huskymom (Jan 17, 2008)

some pics of the eggs... I might have doubled one/missed one.. 















































same as above













































there are only 8 eggs.. 

let me know what you think


----------



## Duckie (Feb 13, 2008)

From what I can tell, it looks like pics 1, 3 and 4, 7, 8 and maybe 9 are good. i can see spider veins inside. Pics 5 and 6 don't look very good. Pic 2 and the last pic look either infertile or very new eggs. This is just from my experience, which has only been 1 clutch, but going from memory and what i learned, this is my thoughts


----------



## huskymom (Jan 17, 2008)

problem is 4 or 5 of these eggs are way past due... as they were laid when I went on vacation... early april and until the 19th.... the last 3-4 are newer ones....(not in order in the pics)... and the last one was laid tuesday the 5th of may...

hope this can give a better insight....


----------



## Rocky's Rose (Jun 24, 2008)

how long past overdue are they?? I've read that they can still hatch over the due date


----------



## huskymom (Jan 17, 2008)

the first ones were laid between march 30- april 1-2... I left on april 3rd and came back on the 19th... she had 4 eggs one was broken so i took it out..

and she laid again.. and her last was laid tuesday 5th may.....

I´m not sure if the egg in between "clutches" is an older or a newer... but i know she had 4 and now has 8... so at least the first 4 are no good...


----------



## Rocky's Rose (Jun 24, 2008)

oh ok, do you know which ones are the older ones???


----------



## huskymom (Jan 17, 2008)

LOL... that´s the problem.. i didn´t marked them...I thougth she´d get tired and then remove them but what do you know she laid more.. my bad.. now just a wait and see...


----------



## srtiels (May 1, 2009)

The ones with the larger aircell may be the ones way past due, and they are dehydrating.

From what I can see in order of the pix's:
#1...??? possible if it has only been incubated for 4-6 days
#2...Most recent...too early to tell
#3...Good
#4...??? Possible early death, and dehydrating
#5...DIS (dead in shell) Baby dies most likely from the egg getting chilled. Also is probably the oldest egg.
#6...air cell Too big...dehydrating, possibly already lost
#7...Good
#8...Good
#9...air cell Huge, dehydrated.

OK... from what I can see you have Excellent fertility.

Since many have a larger air cell you have a 'lack of' proper moisture and/or humidity for the eggs as they develope. This could be a big problem for the Good eggs that are developing....and if they devole close to hatch this could hinder them from getting out of the egg.

I would suggest that you candle again. Get rid on any that are obviously no good.

If the water dish in the cage is too small for a parent bird to get into to wet their bellies, place a larger one in the cage. They need acess to water to wet their feathers, not only for the eggs, but after the babies hatch for proper moisture for good feather developement. This contribute to stronger feathers, especially the tails which are easy to break as they are older and weaning.

Also bedding can contribute to dehydration problems. very fine shavings and Carefresh can rob moisture from the eggs. With fine bedding the birds have a harder time turning the eggs.

Good luck, and happt hatches 

Susanne


----------



## huskymom (Jan 17, 2008)

thanks!!...

the dish is of very good size...before I has a smaller one (on her first breeding) buit after seeing she trying to get wet i bought a larger one...

our weather is very hot and besides the water dish... which I probably place a shallower one...I have placed this cloth on one side which I literally soak so they are cool and have moisture...is that ok?...


----------



## srtiels (May 1, 2009)

Yes, the cloth is good. or you can have a couple of bowls pans of water in the room to help with incresing humidity as they evaporate.

Here is an illus. on what to watch for on the ones that are getting closer to hatch. I have 100's of photo's on hand just in case there are problems with hatching, etc later on.

As to the air cell size you want it to take up approx the upper portion (about 1/5 to 1/6 of the egg)

Right now where I live (S. Florida) we have been Hot, and no rain so I am having low humidity problems, and have had to assist a few babies out of the egg. I am dreading the rainy season coming soon, because then I have the opposite problem of excess humidity in the egg, and the chcick swells from moisure and squeezes/reduces the size of the air cell so that it is gone and then they smother and die.

When an egg is first layed you can see the approx. size of the air cell. Use that as a guide as the eggs develope.
---------------------------------


----------



## huskymom (Jan 17, 2008)

I made a horrible mistake!!!!!

yesterday.. I recandled the eggs and took 4 away... 3 seemed with too much air sac and one was grey at plain sight...

I had to open them and....well... the first two were almost 2/3 air and dehydrated..just as assumed... the 3rd was all rotten.. it was a greyish greenish goop... ewww... but the 4rth... I cracked it open and saw veins... I was like "oh man, this was a fertile one.. too bad it was dehydrating".. as I opened it I saw a baby...and was " Oh no... already te baby had formed... such bad luck"... buuut... upon closer inspection I could not believe my eyes!!!

the baby moved!!!.. it WAS ALIVE!!!!...OMG, WHAT HAVE I DONE??!!!!... I felt so impotent and devastated... I still am... how I `ve done such thing... OMG I`m so miserable right now... there was no "remedy" I could have done to try and save it... and that made me more sad.... I wich I could take time back and just leave the eggs where they were.. perhaps just removed the grey looking one...

I hope life can forgive me... R.I.P. baby bird... I`m so sorry...


----------



## Cannuck2007 (Feb 29, 2008)

How terrible for you  I am so sorry. Don't blame yourself though, unfortunately these things do happen, it is part and parcel of breeding. There is nothing to forgive so do not be so hard on yourself.


----------



## srtiels (May 1, 2009)

OMG!...I know that feeling. For future reference: If you had opened it from the aircell end and saw it was alive it still could have been saved by glueing the round end over the opened end. I save cleaned parts of shells in a baggie for 'just in case' moments. Elmers white glue is what I use for repairs. Whenever in doubt on an egg...mark it (just for remembering which one, a spot at the air cell side), put it back, and candle a few more times. If you are in a situation that you are unsure open only (make a small hole for veiwing inside) on the aircell end. 
Susanne


----------



## huskymom (Jan 17, 2008)

*bad news*... Maui abandoned the eggs... on monday I didn´t saw her laying on them... while before, she was always laying on them and just got up when I placed new food/water to eat then she went back at it.. but not on monday... yesterday I touched the eggs and were kinda cold and scrambled all over the place.... so I knew she hadn´t been on them.. probably since monday... so yesterday I made a hard decision and pulled them all out.. there were 4 remaining ones.. one was cracked and pure yolk so that got tossed...from the remaining 3 two had dark stuff inside.. which I won´t adventure to open as that is what the one I did looked like and had a baby.. so this ones probably have one too.. the last one also had a semi darkening area... and when candled I could clearly see a "thing" moving in there.. not sure if it´s a baby or the heartbeat.. not sure.. I even got a video.. I will upload for you to see but it will take a while..

luckily I had a heating pad on hand... I placed them on a tupperware and on the heating pad on the lowest setting... bad thing I had to check it every couple hours as it turned off automatically, not sure why...

then today morning... I placed a bedside lamp over a pillow and placed them under.. gave me a hard time.. but I was able to place them so they got heat but not too much and also to prevent burns on my pillow... now the eggs feel warm... I hope I can help them until the day they do hatch... and if my calculations are right should be any day... counting from the last one laid.. maybe this weekend...

if they don´t make it.. at least I tried.. Maui wasn´t paying attention to them anyway... she didn´t even come close when I approached them.. and she always came close to see what I was doing and paced everytime I took them to be inspected... not this time..

I hope I did the right thing... if they do hatch.. I plan giving them back and see if Maui reacts to them and starts feeding...


----------



## srtiels (May 1, 2009)

Good luck with the eggs  I you have a strip thermommter...they are a plastic stip to place on forehead...you can lay it next to the eggs. Ideally you want 99.5 ...but 99-100 degree will do in a pinch. Also since they are close to hatch you need some way to generate humidity. You can put a piece of soaked sponge in a small container a few inches away from the egg. When you raise the lampshade after an hour or so you should feel humidity rise. If you can't generate humidity you can gently blot the eggs with warm water a couple times a day. 

IMPORTANT: When an egg is getting ready to pip the aircell will not be even around the upper circumference of the egg...it will be tilted on a slant. When this is seen you do *not* have to turn the egg anymore. Leave it will the aircell side (egg is laying normally) facing upwards. Check aircells on all. Turn every few hours only those that have a normal even (not irregular, tilted) aircell.

Do you have at least 1 egg you are sure is no good to try and encourage Maui to sit. I do not encourage you to give her a newly hatched chick. What happens when they are sitting is they can feel the baby turn in the egg, and can hear the baby pip. It takes approx 2 day. During this time the parents will eat more...with more fluids, and retain some in the crop so that they have the proper ratio of food to regurditate to a newly hatched chick. If they are unprepared they may feed but it is going to be a harder consistancy which is very difficult for a young hatchling to digest and utilize properly.

If you can get her to sit on an axtra/infertile egg prior to the others hatching.possibly you can give her a pipping egg. You would have to monitor her. Don't worry if the pipping egg gets slightly chilled for a short time (say 20-30 min) this will not harm it. parents will move a hatching egg out from under them for a little bit. This cooling down encourages the chick to move and contract which aids in drawing first the blood, them yolk into the body. The movement also helps the hatching chick generate a little of it's own body heat.

Soory this is so long...just some thoughts...and hopes that you have some little fuuzy hatchlings soon.

Susanne


----------



## huskymom (Jan 17, 2008)

I so was waiting to hear what you had to say... thanks!!.. I will keep all in mind... I might try get an egg from elsewhere.. as all the infertile ones got tossed.. out of this three i have no clue.... here are a few pics..

first two are same egg



























this next two are same egg and the one I got the video of..


----------



## huskymom (Jan 17, 2008)

here´s the video I talked about... not sure if you will be able to see.. I tried to be as astill as possible while taking it... holding egg in one hand and camera on the other.. LOL..

if you can see.. you´ll see something moving... it´s like a breathing movements.. like lungs expanding and contracting... sort of..


----------



## srtiels (May 1, 2009)

Geez...I am not sure.

The one that looks similar to the illus below scares me if there is an obvious blood ring as shown. The pix used for the video veins look good. IF any have died the red will go from red to a dk. brown where the veins were.
------------------------------


----------



## tielfan (Aug 31, 2008)

I don't know if these would work or not, but Amazon.com has little cheapie incubators at http://www.amazon.com/9100-Mini-Incubator-Kids-learn/dp/B0025ZHWD6/ :










If you have any farm supply places nearby, it's possible that they might have something similar in the store.

Edit: never mind, this website gives the product a very bad review: http://www.poultryhelp.com/chickbator.html They also make some recommendations for better stuff. It all seems a bit excessive for a couple of cockatiel eggs though.


----------



## huskymom (Jan 17, 2008)

so far I´ve managed to keep them warm and I added the humidity in form of a damp cotton nearby...

I still can see the veins... two eggs have rather large darker areas... I assume is the chick... the other one is like halfway there or so... I too suspected of a blood ring.. but wasn´t quite sure..as it`s not a complete circle.. just like half side...

I´ll update on whatever I notice...


----------



## huskymom (Jan 17, 2008)

still nothing...  I think these babies also died....

I don´t know why she leaves the eggs just days till they hatch.. the male NEVER ever laid on them... so she had no help.. could it be she got tired?...

they all seemed good... well at least half were fertile... I still have the remaining 3 in the heating pad/lamp... but there seems no progress at all... I´ve marked them with a pencil to see if the darker area growed or shrinked... or something.. but nothing has changed..

so confused... should I keep them a few days longer??.. last egg laid was on may 4rth... so if any were to hatch at least the first two would have had by now... adn I would just be holding up for the last one...

so sad ....


----------



## huskymom (Jan 17, 2008)

bad luck.... again....

the eggs started to turn dark on the outside... clearly a sing they were no good... I tossed them out today.. one was a plaster... veins and all but nothing formed... another one was a semi formed chick  .... and the last one was a fully formed one already had fluff...

all DIS (dead in shell)..


----------



## Tony's Tiels (May 21, 2009)

Very Sad indeed.....
I feel for you.


----------



## Birdlette (Feb 25, 2009)

Very sad... I'm sorry about the little chicks... I know its a hard thing to go thru.


----------



## milleradah (Jun 17, 2008)

sorry about your chicks


----------



## Renae (Feb 9, 2008)

Wow, seemed like they were doing quite fine at first and then it all blew up!

I'm so sorry.. DIS is something I couldn't handle, poor bubs.


----------



## huskymom (Jan 17, 2008)

thank you for your sympathies... I don´t know why she got tired of them... she was doing fine... I don´t think it could have been because me taking the first ones out.. as she was still on them after that...

could be that Cotton just would not help at all.. and perhaps got chilled when she went out to stretch/eat, etc... not sure as the days have been pretty hot...

and besides the one I took the video of was still moving... but at that tiem she no longer cared about them... I guess I didn´t keep him quite good enough as he didn´t made it...


----------



## sweetrsue (Jul 8, 2008)

Next time try to resist the urge to pull the eggs. I have had parents get off of eggs for 12 hours and they were cool to the touch. Just as in your case the babies were still alive in there. There is a little cool down period just before hatching. The next time this pair did that I left them alone and 3 babies hatched.


----------



## huskymom (Jan 17, 2008)

when I took them there had been left on their own for two days... not trying to make an excuse.. but I thought I could help them on the final days... I guess not... I was only able to see ONE moving... the one that was still forming... too bad I couldn´t do better..

but now I won´t touch them whatsoever....at all... lesson learned...


----------

