how long is to long

superfly1977 · Post by **superfly1977** » Tue Mar 04, 2008 12:38 am

how long is to long for a bird not sit on there eggs before they cool down and they are no good no more

Post by **Sally** » Tue Mar 04, 2008 1:45 am

Once they have started incubating, they have to keep it up. The parents can take short breaks, but if they are off too long, the eggs cool. The length of time also depends on how warm or cool the room is. There is an excellent article about eggs at the FIC under breeding. According to that, the eggs can only be left 15-30 minutes before they cool too much.

kiwi & mango · Post by **kiwi & mango** » Fri Mar 07, 2008 8:32 pm

well I have a story about my goulds that laid 4 eggs, they tossed the first two right after they hatched. After that the female left the other two eggs in the nest for more then three days so I thought they would not hatch. I was explaining to the kids about the chick in the eggs and how small they are and all the wounders of the world of birds. My son who is almost 8 asked if we could crack the 2 remaining eggs. We could see one was not fertile and the other had a live chick in it at one time. I said well first lets candle them...and we did and they loved seeing the difference. I first broke the egg with the unhatched chick we looked and talked about it and then all of a sudden its mouth opened.... this was an egg that had been left in the nest for over three days (almost 4) without a male or female sitting on it to keep warm. The room it was in was only 70degrees / 20c....so by no means a warm room. I couldn't believe it. I was shocked and the guilt set in to think I should have left the female in the cage with it a few more days perhaps there would have been a different out come.

So keep this in mind, I think somtimes we never know for sure.

beccafigs · Post by **beccafigs** » Fri Mar 07, 2008 10:37 pm

kiwi & mango- Oh my gosh I would have been horrified! You poor thing. That's good that you shared that lesson though.

kiwi & mango · Post by **kiwi & mango** » Sat Mar 08, 2008 11:14 am

I was so upset because i thought perhaps I had not let the female go back but i truly believed after three..almost 4 days she had left it and was not going to sit back on it.

Maybe some of the others that have had more experience with birds is not surprised but we sure were.

lonchura_boi · Post by **lonchura_boi** » Mon Mar 10, 2008 11:32 am

there are lots of variables that influence how long the eggs can be left un covered. if the nest is well lined with soft warm materials and the room is warm, then eggs that have been incubated for a few days could be left uncovered for an hour or so without il effect other than they may hatch a little late. eggs due to hatch in a day or so under the same envrimental conditions could survive longer, perhaps 2 hours, provided they are otherwise beeing incubated fairly constantly. a poorly linned nest in a cool place, eggs wouldnt survive much longer than perhaps 20-30 mins un covered

kiwi & mango · Post by **kiwi & mango** » Mon Mar 10, 2008 4:08 pm

the egg that I opened had not been sat on in about 3 days and the chick was still alive inside

So I would have to say we never know anything when it comes to mother nature.