How long does it take for her to have her first egg?

Question

I have two parakeets one male one female. My parakeet is 5 years old. I seperated the male because he is often abusive and I assumed he would harm her during this process. But he is in the same room. Just in a different cage. When I checked my parakeet about 2 minutes ago... I noticed she was in her large food tray. Yesterday I had seen her kick half the food out to make room. I previously thought she was sick but now I think she is laying her eggs. How long should her first egg take to come out? And how long should it be till i worry about egg binding?

Answer 1

It depends, a month or so should be about right. Make sure she has a nest box with plenty of bedding (up to the bottom of the entry hole) inside. You can buy both of these at your local pet store or bird store/farm area, just be sure you get a budgie/parakeet-size next box, and that the bedding you purchase is similar to shavings. Don't be afraid to ask the bird handler at the pet store for some help.

While the male may be slightly abusive, your female needs him during this time. He is the one that will feed your female while she's in on the eggs. Those eggs need almost constant care, so she won't get out much, and she'll depend on her mate for care. He's probably just extremely excitable, making him unintentionally aggressive towards her...I use to have a male who was the same way, with ANY female. He was just a big lover boy, but he couldn't control himself and often beat on his girlfriend when she'd had enough.

If your female IS pregnant, you should notice her droppings getting VERY large and wet. They'll be globs of f***s instead of the neat droppings they usually are, and will often be liquidy or moist. This is natural, my female did this every time when it came close to her lay time and she had four clutches.

I advise you return the male now, if you wait until she has already laid the eggs, he could get even more excited and might accidentally harm her, or the chicks. Allowing him time to figure out what's going on might be better. If he is already harming your female, keeping him away might be best, just move your food/water closer to the nest box, or visa-versa so that the female can feed herself without having to go too far from the nest. Keep in mind however, that no matter what, she needs to be supplied with an adequate amount of calcium, otherwise she might turn to eating her eggs. Be sure you have a cuttle bone available for her, and/or a mineral block and grit. These supplements are useful, and especially helpful for any nesting hen.

If she is pregnant, and begins laying, you can expect the eggs to be two days apart, i.e. if she lays one Monday, the next one shouldn't show until Wednesday. This may be slightly off, but should be about right. If you want to check for fertility, wait a week or so after the egg has been laid, then remove it, turn off the lights and lift a flashlight to it. Turning it, you should be able to see the silhouette of a chick, a red color in the midst of the yellow inside, and/or veins. All of these are indications that your eggs are fertile. If the egg is simply a blank yellow inside, then it is more than likely not fertile. Do not remove any infertile eggs however until about a week after their due hatch dates, just to insure you didn't misjudge one. When going to remove eggs, do them one at a time, and several days apart, so your hen does not become depressed over an excess of missing eggs.

Your eggs should hatch approximately three to four weeks after their lay date.

Answer 2

you have to wait and see