• Welcome to Avian Avenue! To view our forum with less advertisments please register with us.
    Memberships are free and it will just take a moment. Click here

Eggs; boiling them/killing chicks

Which egg(s), are Fertile?


  • Total voters
    11

Zara

♥❀Livin´ in Lovebird Land❀☼
Super Moderator
Avenue Veteran
Celebirdy of the Month
Mayor of the Avenue
Avenue Spotlight Award
Avenue Concierge
Joined
1/8/18
Messages
31,484
Location
Reino de España
Just thought I'd put a post together to talk about boiling/destroying eggs our birds lay.

Lots of people are taken back when it is suggested, some believe there are chicks inside the eggs and think it's cruel to boil eggs and "kill chicks".

When eggs are laid there is no chick inside. There is a yolk (the round yellow orange part), the albumen (the clear gel like stuff), and the air cell, inside the shell.
You can place the egg on top of an LED light (this is known as candling") to see the yellow yolk floating inside.

All eggs laid, every single one, looks infertile at first. This is because the embryo only starts to develop once the hen is incubating it (brooding). This gives us a small window to remove those eggs and deal with them humanely, respectfully, before they start to develop.

A fertile developing egg will shine dark orange/red when candled, and veins are usually visible.

Lots of people bring home birds, maybe pairs of birds and can even go years with no eggs, but if one of those birds are a female, eggs will eventually come. And if the sex of the other bird is male or unknown, and the owner has no experience or knowledge of breeding, or simply doesn't want to allow the clutch, then destroying the eggs is important.
If you have a set of dummy eggs, you can just squash the egg over the bin, if you don't have dummy eggs, and your parrot is not a budgie, then you will need to boil the egg, allow it to cool down, then put it back where you found it so your bird doesn't lay more eggs to replace the lost ones.

I though an activity could help this topic, so here goes,
Here are 5 eggs. All from different Roseicollis lovebirds (so they're all the same size).
We have eggs from Aldora, Lapis, Adélie, Charlie and Vichy. The last two hens live alone.
Which eggs are Fertile?

Egg 1,
IMG_20210409_160609.jpg IMG_20210409_161059.jpg IMG_20210409_161709.jpg

Egg 2
IMG_20210409_160626.jpg IMG_20210409_160956.jpg IMG_20210409_161809.jpg

Egg 3
IMG_20210409_160656.jpg IMG_20210409_161156.jpg IMG_20210409_161933.jpg

Egg 4
IMG_20210409_160712.jpg IMG_20210409_161303.jpg IMG_20210409_162029.jpg

Egg 5
IMG_20210409_160817.jpg IMG_20210409_161417.jpg IMG_20210409_162117.jpg

All eggs,
IMG_20210409_162201.jpg
 

DesertBird

Rollerblading along the road
Celebirdy of the Month
Avenue Spotlight Award
Joined
1/9/21
Messages
1,145
Location
NY, USA
I know in chickens you can tell if an egg is fertile if there is a bullseye on the yolk. Does it work the same way with parrots?
 
Top