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"Wild" breeding Quakers first egg

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"Wild" breeding Quakers first egg

Postby BelindaW » Thu May 08, 2014 4:45 pm

Long story short, two weeks ago I was given a breeding pair of Quakers because the breeder was having health problems and wasn't able to get them to breed. Well, much to her dismay and my pleasure there was an egg in their box when I arrived but because I didn't have any way of transporting it safely nor did I think they would care for the egg if I could get it home due to the stress of moving, I ended up discarding it. We got the birds home safely and a few days later they laid another egg in their box. I have been peeking in every day now to see if there is any other eggs being laid, but there was just the one. I have never bred birds before and I have no idea if the egg in question is fertile but I am thinking that its not because they haven't spent a whole lot of time in their box today. So I guess that my question is should I just leave the egg in there or assume that their lack of interest means that it wont hatch?

A little back info on the Quakers. They are about 2 years old and were specifically intended to be breeders which means that they were never given names nor were they held. They just sat in a room all day with other caged breeder birds and were expected to breed. It just about broke my heart when I heard this.They were terrified of people and would cower in their box or in a corner of their cage. They're cage is in my living room now and they seem to enjoy coming out and sitting in the sunny window. I've put toys in their cage and lots of perches. I got them to eat pellets and have started offering them fresh foods every day, which they have't tried yet. They've become very chatty and will use the same greeting call that I taught my conures throughout the day and they are even whistle chatting back and forth with me. Still gets a little skittish when I go near their cage though, so I just sit on the couch and chat with them.
BelindaW
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Gender: This parrot forum member is female
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Re: "Wild" breeding Quakers first egg

Postby Wolf » Thu May 08, 2014 7:21 pm

Well it appears to me by your post that you do have some experience with parrots as companion birds, which will help, but breeding is a whole new thing. I would not count on any viable eggs this season so I would try to find some plastic eggs to put in their box for now so as to not deplete the female of calcium and other nutrients that she needs for her own self at this time. If it is your intent to breed these birds, you have a lot of work ahead of you before you are ready.
I don't know where you live but this is one of those breeds that may have legal restrictions on whether or not you can breed them and or under what circumstances you may breed them, so you will want to check on that first off.
If these birds have been kept caged and not allowed out into an area large enough for them to fly, it is quite likely that they are actually not in good enough physical condition to be trying to raise a family, or even to safely be laying eggs. You mentioned trying to improve their diet, so while you are at that, you might want to consider a calcium supplement for the female.
There are people here better qualified to advise you in this area than I, but this should help for now.
Wolf
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