Breeding macaws and eggs

[belinda1978]

My blue and gold macaws have been together for almost 4 years and began displaying breeding behavior so i gave them a box and nothing happend that is until today when we say the male with an egg in his beak. He had chewed a hole through it. Should the male be separated from the female when she begins laying eggs? What would cause him to do this? Any advice would greatly be appreciated thank you

[belinda1978]

well she laid another egg this morning which we didnt catch him in time he ate that one too but we pulled him out and she laid another this afternoon and shes sitting on it so i figured shed get more upset with him eating them than having him not be with her. hopefully the egg is fertile and well be having a baby soon

[birdsnreps]

Oooh, thats a tough one. this is just what i would do: i would pull the eggs as soon as they were laid, and replace them with plaster-filled dummy eggs, and let the hen sit on the dummies. incubate the eggs that you pull. the male might or might not try to destroy them. but, if by the time the eggs hatch, i might try putting ONE baby in the nest and taking out one dummy egg, and see what the parents do. Keep in mind that the male might try to kill the baby as well. i know its hard to risk loosing a baby, but honestly, the best thing for the parents to do is learn how to actually be parent birds. Most first time parent birds are awful parents. most pairs will usually learn how to be good parents, but this only comes with time and experience, it does not happen overnight for most pairs. Its always best for new hatchlings to be parent fed. the parents can give them all their good "juices" that makes the babies grow super fast and ensures the babies are healthy. We as humans have not figured out how to simulate these special crop juices yet, so its better for them to be parent fed i think. besides, who really wants to wake up every hour all night and all day to handfeed from day 1? trust me, its EXHAUSTING, and you cant let up becuase the baby's life depends on you feeding it every hour.

Ive had a couple of my pairs not incubate or not feed when they had their first few clutches, im almost positive it was just out of fear. I think with my birds, they were scared at first of the strange white eggs that were suddenly in their box. after they got used to the idea of eggs in their nest, my pairs started to incubate their eggs. but, the first few times a baby hatched, the parents got scared again!! Once the baby started peeping, the parents would run out of the box, sit on the perch closest to the nestbox entrance, and just barely stick their heads close enough so that they could stare at this tiny, fuzzy, crying baby. They had no idea what it was. Even though they would not go in the box with the baby after it hatched and it meant i had to handfeed from day 1, it was slightly funny to see my parent birds actually scared of their own baby!! after about 2-4 babies hatching in their nestbox, the pair got used to the peeping babies and actually started to feed them, and now they are excellent parents.

another common reason that a pair might destroy their own eggs, or kill their babies is anger. i havent had this happen to me, but i know people who is has happened to, their pairs would get so angry that their owner was checking up on them, that the minute the owner woudl open the door to check on the eggs/babies, the parents would jump in and crush the eggs or bite their babies to death. Since then, the owners would either pull the eggs right away and incubate, or just let the pair parent-rear their babies. You just have to let your birds learn how to care for their babies the hard way, or pull all their eggs and handfeed from day 1.

[2horse]

You will end up with much better babies if you allow the parents to raise them a few weeks. The male is just learning. He will eventually stop eating the eggs. I know it is hard to watch but in the end instinct will take over and he will not destroy eggs. Removing eggs to incubate just results in parents that never learn. I have hand fed sun conures that after a few tries are now fairly good parents that take care of babies. In the beginning they forgot to incubate the eggs regularly. Now they sort of overfeed babies and give me very heavy well taken care babies. If you are in it for money, only then of course you need to save every single egg. I choose to breed as a hobby for the love of birds. I also choose to allow my birds to breed without interference as much as possible.

Edit to add: Is it breeding season where you are? It is now breeding season in the southern hemisphere so maybe this is out of season playing house.

[Monica]

I've actually heard of a couple techniques to try and stop parents from eating eggs... one was taking farmed chicken eggs (not store bought), and placing them in the nest (the person who mentioned this was using bantam eggs?). Supposedly, the chicken eggs are harder to break, so they learn to not destroy them...

The other idea was to take an egg, poke a small hole in it, and fill with mustard (or some other nasty tasting stuff) and replace it in the nest... supposedly, when the parent goes to break the egg and tastes the foul stuff (so long as they don't take a liking to it), they'll stop breaking eggs...

However, then again getting some fake eggs may help...