Love Bird Egg.. Possibly fertilized.. What to do?

[nnyl]

my female peach faced love bird just laid an egg two days ago in her box.. last time she laid an egg, she ignored the egg after awhile and left it aside.. but this time, she seem to spend alot of time in her box.. i am not very what she is doing inside but she wasn't like that when she laid eggs last time..

what should i do? the surroundings, the box, the egg, my parrot..

what if i disturbed the egg or the box unintentionally?

shld i still clean up the box as usual or leave it alone?

if its really an fertilized egg, what should i do about the surroundings and the hatching environment?

[Trickham]

Does she have a mate?

[nnyl]

yes she has.. another male peached face parrot.. not in the picture..

[Trickham]

Try to disturb her as little as possible. Is she tame? The tamer and more comfortable with people she is, the less likely she will be disturbed greatly by any routine things that you do. However, the flip side of that is that she will probably be more aggressive towards you, as she would see you as a member of the flock and not a feared predator. Don't make any major changes to the environment. Stop cleaning up the inside of the box at least. That is her job now. I probably wouldn't bother cleaning the outside of it during the nesting period. Don't worry too much about accidental disturbances. Are you planning to hand feed the baby?

[nnyl]

But a day is already enough to make the whole cage a SUPER mess.

And since she got a pass record of biting her egg i wanted to avoid having a broken egg inside the box which will be a good breeding ground for the unwanted bacteria.

I though of changing her bed lining too. currently it's only newspaper inside. i though of changing it to dried grass that i can buy at the bird shop.

Should i continue to let them out in the hse as usual? or should i not open the cage of the door at all?

is there anything i shld do?

and yes, i'm planning to hand feed the baby.

[Trickham]

A lot of it depends on the bird. Individuals have different tolerances. For instance, our lovebirds are in the living room and they do just fine raising babies with all the activity. We don't disturb them unless needed tho. On the other hand, we have a pair of quakers (generally considered to be a calm species I think) that are in a separate room and they throw a fit and rush off the nest box any time we enter the room. If she is used to you cleaning the cage, etc, it should be fine. But, if it makes her nervous and she leaves the nest, then you should avoid doing that activity. I would not change the bedding. Newspaper is a common nesting material used. She should remove anything that gets too soiled, and you will have an opportunity to clean it once the baby is removed for hand feeding. You could, however, if you wanted, leave some grass in the cage so she could add it herself. If you have been allowing them access outside the cage, by all means continue to do so. You can use her time out of the box as an opportunity to inspect the egg.

[shosh]

the problem seems to be that you've got the nesting box on the BOTTOM of the cage, which would make the cage impossible to clean without disturbing the nest, let alone the mommy.
birds nest in trees and I would certainly think life would be more pleasant for all of you if you suspended the box higher up. That way, you can clean the bottom out and their will be as little disturbance to the mom and babies as possible.
I cannot imagine that you can go weeks without cleaning the cage bottom...
There are also some great shredding toys that mom can use to line her next box, btw.

[nnyl]

The mom seems to have a difficulty more up to the nesting box coz she get a lot more clumsier with her egg. so i move it down instead. if i reposition the box? what'll happen?

Thanks shosh and trickham! =)

[Trickham]

I would normally expect to see a nest box mounted higher up. It sounds like she is a young hen and it may take a clutch or two for her to learn what to do. Don't worry, if she makes a mistake, she will try again. :-) Personally, if she will allow you to clean the cage where the box is, picking it up gently, then I would probably not put her through the stress of mounting the box higher while she is sitting on an egg.

[Trickham]

Try to do your cleaning when she is out of the box eating.