# Should I hear the baby inside the egg?



## Raven2322 (Mar 1, 2008)

I've heard people talk about hearing a bird that's close to hatching making noise in the egg. If there is no noise is that bad?

the 18th day was Monday and so I'm just waiting...nervous. 

I noticed the parents are starting to turn the eggs at a more upright angle and so I'm assuming everything is coming along. 

also, If the fertile part of the egg keeps getting bigger that means the baby is growing correct? 

I'm just so nervous something is wrong, or will go wrong. 

I have mommy jitters. :blush:

Also, my male bird has gotten some regurgitated food on a few of the eggs. I was told I should not move them around at this point. I'm just worried about that. In the past I have wiped them clean with warm water. Should I do that now or should I just leave them alone? 

How do you all handle ever breeding? I think I may be going out of my mind a little. :blink::wacko::blush:


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## sweetrsue (Jul 8, 2008)

Don't start worrying yet. 21 days is actually the normal gestation period but they often do hatch at 18 days. That would be the earliest tho. The parents will start moving the eggs as little as possible in the last 3 days before hatching. When they seem to be doing this you should try and not mess with the eggs. The babies get into a specific position to hatch if they are rolled over at that point they will need to reposition.


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## Aly (Jul 30, 2007)

What sweetrsue said. I'd leave the egg alone too at this point.


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## Raven2322 (Mar 1, 2008)

Thanks, I'm just all jitters about it.


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## tielfan (Aug 31, 2008)

Out of the ten eggs that Buster and Shodu hatched, I only heard one of them cheep before hatching. I never saw any of the eggs pip either. The chicks were little ninjas who kicked their way out of the egg in no time flat. They could go from intact egg to fully hatched, dry chick in two hours, and they were all very healthy. So not hearing cheeping isn't a bad sign!


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## Raven2322 (Mar 1, 2008)

Thanks for letting me know how it was for you Carolyn. I've just been so nervous, especially with the whole regurgitation thing. I should have no more than 5 babies. I would have had possibly 6 but an early fertile egg got broken. At this point i'm kinda glad the number is low. I will be getting a new bigger flight cage in the next 2 weeks which can hold everyone. Since I'm only having a few babies I may keep all of them.  

But these babies are from my oldest 16 year old boy and I'm so happy to have his babies, so then when he's gone I'll still have a part of him with me. :blush: They being foster by another set of birds though. But it's cute because they know their babies are being fostered and they always want to check on them. 

*another questions*- Should the eggs be allowed to get wetted by the female at this point???
Up until now she has not soaked herself. I just spray her down, I spray the eggs a little and spray the lid of the box to keep the air moist. I know moisture is important for hatching, what have you experienced?


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## Aly (Jul 30, 2007)

I don't think you should do any spraying at this point. Make sure she has access and she'll know what's best by instinct.


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## Raven2322 (Mar 1, 2008)

Ok, I will do that, thanks.


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## Aly (Jul 30, 2007)

I'm excited for you!


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## Raven2322 (Mar 1, 2008)

I'm excited for me too!


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## sweetrsue (Jul 8, 2008)

The female will know how much moisture her eggs need. They are amazing creatures.


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## tielfan (Aug 31, 2008)

> another questions- Should the eggs be allowed to get wetted by the female at this point???
> Up until now she has not soaked herself. I just spray her down, I spray the eggs a little and spray the lid of the box to keep the air moist. I know moisture is important for hatching, what have you experienced?


I live in Arizona where it's bone dry. Shodu drove me nuts with the moisture thing. She started dipping herself in the water dish a lot, then stayed away from the nest until she was completely dry and then went inside. I didn't know how the eggs were going to hatch. But they did! 

With the first clutch I sprayed the outside of the nestbox a few times but it evaporated so fast that I don't think it accomplished anything. (I didn't have the nerve to spray inside the nest.) With the second clutch I didn't do anything at all and the temperature was at least 10 degrees warmer too, but they hatched as easily as the first clutch did.

My chicks were born in late March and late May, when there's no need to heat the house. You're further north than me so you're probably running a heater, which dries out the air. If you're concerned you can run a humidifier, or even hang up a wet towel in the room or keep a bowl of water there for evaporation purposes.


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## sweetrsue (Jul 8, 2008)

I have an old book that shows a way to combat that problem. They drilled very small holes in the bottom of the nest box and attached the ring from the lid of a canning jar just below the hole. Then they put a natural sponge soaked in water in the canning jar and screwed it to the ring. It is easy to remove the jar to put fresh water in.


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## TeacherMom (Feb 3, 2009)

Sue that is a cool idea..what is the name of that book?


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