# Time off the nest?



## jasonsgal (Sep 19, 2008)

Hi guys. I hear some of you saying you check the eggs when the parents step off the nest for a few minutes. How much time on average do your pairs spend NOT sitting on their eggs AFTER incubation has begun? I have a pair on eggs right now who sometimes leave the box for 20 minutes or so in the middle of the day. I wonder if when it gets hot in my house in the early afternoon they think the eggs are ok for a longer amount of time- or maybe they can't stand being in the box when it gets too warm. I just snuck a probe thermometer through the gap between the hinges on the top and it is 80.9 degrees in there and neither parent has been in for at least 15 minutes. Besides this mid-day outing they are taking turns on the eggs and sometimes sitting together. 

What are your thought on this?


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## allen (Aug 25, 2007)

i would not worry about 20 minutes but if they don,t sit on them for a day or 2 i would worry then


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## sweetrsue (Jul 8, 2008)

A half hour is not uncommon! They eggs are fine. I wish mine would do that.


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## jasonsgal (Sep 19, 2008)

Thanks Allen I was more than a little worried about it. For some reason my others have never done that. If they sit they sit tight. I'm trying hard not to impose. I have already pulled a risky stunt with these guys. I had a hen who laid 4 and didn't try to sit at all. By day 8 nothing. Knowing full well that the first and maybe second egg were probably "expired" I built a home-made incubator. I really didn't have high hopes for that type of thing but to my surprize 2 veined out. A few days later one of them died (I knew this because the veins not only stopped growing but clotted and formed a ring). When this second pair started laying I crossed my fingers and hoped to keep the second egg alive until the second pair began sitting.

Short story long, out of desperation I stuck this egg (on day 6 of incubation) with the new clutch as soon as the hen began sitting. Since I know there is a huge difference in age my plan is to pull the adoptee as soon as the first egg of the second clutch hatches and hand feed it from there. Upon candling today it is still alive!!!! But who knows how this will work.


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## jasonsgal (Sep 19, 2008)

Hi sue how are you?


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## sweetrsue (Jul 8, 2008)

The only problem with that is it might throw the timing off for your parents on the second clutch. If they see one hatch they may start to spend more time away from the eggs. As Babies grow they need less warmth as they grow. Less than an incubating egg anyway. It's better to foster an egg to parents that have very similar hatch dates. You might be lucky and they will not reset their clocks. I hope it works for you!


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## allen (Aug 25, 2007)

how old will the chick be when you pull it


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## sweetrsue (Jul 8, 2008)

Hey! How You Doin'


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## jasonsgal (Sep 19, 2008)

Only 6 days but I thought that might be better for it than trying to leave it in the incubator and raise it myself from day 1. I hate to say it but if I had it to do again I would have just waited longer and then thrown out the 4 abondoned eggs. Now this egg is causing all sorts of concerns.


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## sweetrsue (Jul 8, 2008)

How close in age to the other eggs is it?


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## jasonsgal (Sep 19, 2008)

I'm doing well it's been a while since we spoke. I always get on here and dig through posts to see what is going on with everyone but I rarely post myself.


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## allen (Aug 25, 2007)

well i did hand feed a 7 day old chick and she is great that one is miracle look at my sig and she is there


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## jasonsgal (Sep 19, 2008)

When I added the abandoned egg it was at the end of day #6 of incubation and Paris and Snowboy were at the end of their first day of incubation with 2 of their own eggs. As of today she has 3 of her own plus my "orphan".


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## allen (Aug 25, 2007)

well 4 days don,t seem long but the chicks grow so fast you need to check out the sticky titled 
*How to be prepared for hand raising babies*


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## sweetrsue (Jul 8, 2008)

I think you'll get away with that. Eggs need a little less heat towards the end of the incubation period and the parents even let it cool down a bit just before it hatches.


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## tielfan (Aug 31, 2008)

> How much time on average do your pairs spend NOT sitting on their eggs AFTER incubation has begun?


As others have mentioned, 20 minutes off the nest is no problem for the eggs. Sometimes it causes social problems between the parents though! Following cockatiel custom, Buster did most of the sitting in the daytime. But when he came out he apparently thought that Shodu should immediately go into the nest, and he'd start chasing her very aggressively. She didn't know what he was driving at and ran everywhere BUT the nest. I'd separate them enough to stop the chase, and before long one or the other would go in the nest.


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## jasonsgal (Sep 19, 2008)

I sure hope so. The reason I wanted to save the first clutch sooooo badly is because those are my two very best birds. The hen was a first timer though so I should have expected it.


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## sweetrsue (Jul 8, 2008)

They usually get the hang of it by the second or third clutch.


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