My Parakeet just laid an egg, what do I do?

Question

I have had my parakeet for a few days and it just laid an egg. Do i need some type of nest or box for it?What do I do?

Answer 1

If you want to try to hatch it, then get some kind of nesting spot for the mother. In the wild I think budgies nest in trees, and they say the best kind of nest for a pet one if you want to raise chicks is just a hollowed out piece of wood; budgies don't tend to use sticks or grass or anything. Remember to keep the nest clean.

If, on the other hand, you DON'T want to go to the trouble of raising chicks, or if the mother doesn't take care of the egg properly, or if you don't have any male budgies (therefore rendering the egg infertile), well then obviously you can just get rid of it.

Answer 2

I'm assuming she's single. No nest box required.

DO NOT THROW AWAY THE EGG! I CANNOT STRESS THAT ENOUGH!! FKDSBGKD!?!!?!@

Reason being: This bird thinks it's a good breeding season because something in your home suggests that (I'll get into that in a second). Her body tells her that this is a great time to lay eggs, male or no male. In tiny parakeet/budgie bodies, laying eggs is VERY energy consuming and it drains her body of calcium and nutrients that she needs for herself. Since she is a single bird and there's no chance of the egg hatching, LEAVE THEM WITH HER. If you remove the eggs as they're laid, her instincts tell her that a natural predator has stolen her eggs, and to keep her species going, she must continue to spawn and lay more and more eggs to replace the ones that are missing. This exhausts her more and more, and can cause chronic egg laying. If she's also laying more eggs, there's a higher chance of her becoming egg bound. Small birds are especially prone to this, and it's basically where the egg is lodged in the cloaca and you'd need a vet to get it out by massaging or via surgical intervention (and it's never safe to put such a small animal under anesthesia).
While she's laying, it'll make it easier on her to be put in a slightly warmer and more humid area (not suffocating, but the humidity helps her a lot in passing eggs). She'll lay an egg every other day, so watch that egg bump near her vent to make sure all is going smoothly and have a vet's number just in case (find an avian vet near you using this: http://aav.org/vet-lookup ).
There are some great foods you can feed to combat her calcium loss. If you like, you can crush egg shells into the food. Avoid supplements to add to water (it speeds bacteria growth thus making birds sick if the water's left too long). The best things to feed are dark, leafy greens such as Romaine lettuce, rappini, broccoli, bok choy, spinach, kale, etc. Make sure all are well washed or best yet, organically grown. You can offer these foods daily, except for the kale and spinach. These vegetables are great, but feeding too much can cause calcium binding within the body which would do the exact opposite of your well-intentions.

The best way to deal with this is cover her cage in darkness for at least 12 hours a night and those 12 hours need to be totally silent. If she continues to lay, cover the cage for more hours - at worst, you may be giving her 20 to 22 hours of darkness! But those are the drastic measures and realistic winters in some places, and this will definitely tell her that, hey, it's winter - stop breeding.

Monitor her food intake. Give her only the amount of food you know she will eat because knowing there's extra will suggest there's enough to feed babies.

Re-arrange her cage totally. Even move it to a different room, but change everything within it too. Get new toys and new perches and swap them for every single thing in her cage right now. If her environment is unstable and changing, she won't want to have young living in these conditions in their early hatchlinghood. However, I should mention that it;s GREAT for adult birds' mental stimulation, and the cage should be rearranged at least once a week to provide that mental stimulation whether she's trying to breed or not anyway. :)

If you're petting her anywhere but on the head, stop. Petting on the belly, back, tail, and under the wings are especially important places to avoid touching. This stimulates her in the way a mate would and makes her think to lay more eggs again.

Don't give her any places to hide or nest in her cage and avoid letting her near nesting material. If she has paper lining the bottom of her cage without a barrier between it and her, get a grate and put down so she can't reach the paper.

Good luck.

Answer 3

if there is no other bird in the cage,the egg is infertal. if there is another bird, but you are shure it is a female, the egg is infertal. you can leave it in there, until she gets bored with it, then take it out.

if you do have a male, then yes, i sugjest you put in a nesting box. you can make one easily out of untreated wood. it should be
6x by 6x by 6x with a whole about the size of a golf ball a little more than halfway up the front. iwould also make the roof removeable, for easycleaning, and to check on things.
8 days after succesful mateing, an egg will apear in the box. after that, one will appear every other day, until the clutch is complete. a clutch can be any ware between 3 & 10 eggs.
after they are all layed, it will be 17-20 days until they hatch. any more info here:
http://www.budgieplace.com/breeding.html

Answer 4

Is this your first parakeet? If so, I don't recommend you allow the egg to hatch, you could take it away, refigerate it overnight, then put it back in the cage, refigerating it will not allow it to hatch (think this is done commonly in the grocery store), by putting it back, the female won't lay another for awhile. In the meantime, learn more about your birds and decide whether or not your seriously want to breed them. Its serious responsibility, if you're not fully available, the chic might not make it to adulthood. Best wishes. I'm a member of this group, you can learn a lot there: http://pets.groups.yahoo.com/group/budgie-place/

Answer 5

If the parakeet has been mated with a male bird in the past few days to a couple of weeks then it will be fertile. If you don't want a new parakeet baby then just throw it away.

Answer 6

Unless your Parakeet has been sxually involve with another Parakeet it's what they a wild egg and isn't firtalized so it won't hatch do with it what you wish but remove it from the cage before it goes bad. Don't stress out your pet...

Answer 7

Wow. Less than half of you didn't realize that an unfertilized egg can't hatch.

Answer 8

this egg is garbage.. if you want to have keet babies you need a male and female and a nest box. please breed responsibly, if no at all.. IE: find home for birds before hey hatch.. good homes.. good luck

Answer 9

Unless you also had a male parakeet I would just throw it away. It will not hatch.

Answer 10

Smash it. Magical fairy dust will come out and then take form of Zordot, the magical parakeet. He'll grant you three wishes.