Hatching eggs

[Eggy]

Hi,

I’ve just got an incubator and would love to see if I could hatch some bird eggs- not chickens as I’ve previously done that- and was amazing. Preferably cockatiel or small parrot eggs.

Does anyone else hatch eggs, It would be great to get some tips?

Also where I could get some eggs im in Cheshire?

Thanks

[Pajarita]

Hi, Eggy, welcome to the forum. Please do not try to hatch parrot eggs in an incubator. This was something done in the 70s and 80s and abandoned because it was found not to work. It's not that the eggs did not hatch or that the babies died in infancy, it's that all the birds that were hatched that way came out with psychological and physical issues because, as hard as anybody can try, a human cannot replace a mother bird. The birds did not imprint to their own species and could not identify with their proper gender (because there were no parent birds for it) PLUS they all grew up with eating disorders (nobody can feed a baby bird as often or as effective as a mother and father bird would). These birds were called 'incubator birds' and had a whole list of recognized behavioral problems. Chickens and ducks are different because they are highly precocial (they are born with feathers, with the ability to walk and swim, and are instinctual feeders who do not need their parents to feed them in their beak or show them what to eat) - parrots, on the other hand, are kind of special in the bird world because they are highly altricial (completely vulnerable and unable to care for themselves for months - they can't even support their own heads up) but, on the other hand, come from high protein egg yolks (which only precocial birds have - well, except for parrots which are the exception to the rule) because of their high intelligence and this also works against the incubator hatching because they are born knowing nothing and need to learn everything from their parents (humans not being able to replace this teachings).