Candling and incubating.

[merrin091]

As some of you have seen, my previous posts are me desperately hoping my birds will lay successfully, and now that they have laid 2 eggs in the box without breaking them, I'm now wondering how long since an egg was laid, before I can candle them for fertility. Fifi is doing well in incubating them, and Poochie is also doing well in guarding the post. I rarely see Fifi outside, and when she is, she goes out to eat or drink, or bathe. And she still uses the cuttle bone and ate a quarter of it already! Her poop is wet and like water running down a faucet only she does that for half a second, it's not like her usual gloppy one-drop poop, does a brooding hen changes poop consistency once she starts laying ? And I've started giving them mash this morning, and it DOES NOT contain any seeds at all, and they're not biting into it as fast as they would to their seed and oat mix . I want them to eat right, now; meaning. . .More mash, less seed. What kind of food could I dd that will entice them to eat their mash . . .They eat it, when they're really hungry, but as long as they could hold, they don't eat their mash. I've put there, Kidney Beans, Collard Greens, and a light powdering of Cayenne Pepper. Oh, and I need more recipes for mash and fruit mixes.


Thanks and Keep on Flying!

 

[Renae]

I think it's 5-7 days after the egg is laid that you can candle, I read 14, but when my budgie had eggs, I candled at 5 and could see red veins.

Their poop will be like that while laying, so don't worry too much, usually it's big and sloppy.

Continue giving her cuttlebone, it will help a lot. As for the mash, you can't exactly force her to eat it, but I'd suggest try giving her not mash, but just frozen veggies, or just fresh veggies - if you really want her to have mash, have you tried scraping some of the cuttlebone on top of it? not sure how much it'll help. Keep offering it too; otherwise she'll never want to eat it and she'll have to get curious as some stage!

 

[Arachloroptera]

? And I've started giving them mash this morning, and it DOES NOT contain any seeds at all, and they're not biting into it as fast as they would to their seed and oat mix . I want them to eat right, now; meaning. . .More mash, less seed.!

Yes, we all want our birds to eat healthy food but unless your birds have been eating "mash" prior to nesting why would they eat it right now? lovebirds are less likely to eat wet foods and a lot of breeders feed eggfood or Petimine when they start laying. Make sure you have cuttlebone or other calcium source available. If your eggs are fertile and, yes you can see a red circle with a dot in the middle or even some veins at 4 to 5 days, when they hatch, after 20 some days, then your pair might start taking to the wet foods as they require for feeding babies.
Good luck

 

[Monica]

Kidney beans really should be fed... they are the most toxic bean and if not fully cooked are toxic.

Have you tried getting them to eat pellets as well?
http://forums.avianavenue.com/lovebird-lane/23016-identifying-fertile-eggs.html