Breeding Birds : Section 5

EGG INCUBATION: SOME PRINCIPLES

NOT ALL EGGS ARE FERTILE./b>

Many eggs will never hatch because they have not been fertilised. Commercial poultry eggs are an everyday example. Many single female budgerigars, canaries and cockatiels, and some cockatoos lay infertile eggs during the breeding season.

In aviculture it is common for birds where the sexes are alike to lay infertile eggs because both birds of a pair are females. They may go through mating behaviour and still both be females. On other occasions, either the male or the female or both may be clumsy during copulation and fertilisation may fail to occur. Remember to provide your breeding birds with a broad firm (not swinging or rocking) perch! Sometimes the male is fertile but lacks courage, or is incompatible with the female. Sometimes the female has an oviduct or ovarian disorder and is infertile. Sometimes one or other will be immature or have some systemic disease which interferes with fertilization of the eggs.

It is possible to see through eggs by candling the egg.

Most eggs in aviculture are best candled with a penlight torch held to the egg held in a clenched fist in a darkened room

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