Brooding zebras
Posted: Thu Sep 22, 2016 12:05 am
So I gave up and I'm at the point of letting my pair hatch some eggs. Bludger (was Dobby, but Bludger is more appropriate for the trouble maker) was dropping eggs at random all over the cage, so I put a nest in with the intention of just removing the eggs. Now I'm considering let them hatch a few, since I technically have the space.
The last egg was laid three days ago, so there are now four. There was a fifth in the middle, but she dropped that from a perch instead of in the nest. I candles them today, just to see what's happening (learning experience and all), and all four have veins in them. Whether they'll actually develop to hatching, who knows.
So the odd thing I'm wondering about is the consistency of brooding needed. Bludger, the female, was never in the nest (that I saw) until after the last egg was laid. Now she's in there pretty consistently, though not always. Snitch, the male, was in the nest every day when I came home from work from the time the first egg was laid. Did he technically start brooding them early and thus they're developing at different rates? Since they weren't being sat on all the time (neither was in there during the evenings when I was home) would that affect viability?
As a random aside, Winky, the female that was being bullied by Bludger and moved to a separate cage by herself, also happened to lay eggs for the very first time when this clutch was being laid. I had no idea. I had given her the first nest I tried with the pair, a typical covered finch nest with just a hole opening, because they wouldn't go near it. Winky was never in it, and then suddenly she was in there all the time, and I peaked in after she came out to eat, and there were four eggs. They are definitely infertile. Has anyone had a female in a nearby cage lay eggs in sync with a pair? They're side by side and socialize through the bars.
I haven't ruled out disposing of the fertile eggs and giving Bludger a couple of Winky's to sit on for a while (to discourage immediate relaying). Clearly, as you can see, I'm quite undecided about the whole situation.
The last egg was laid three days ago, so there are now four. There was a fifth in the middle, but she dropped that from a perch instead of in the nest. I candles them today, just to see what's happening (learning experience and all), and all four have veins in them. Whether they'll actually develop to hatching, who knows.
So the odd thing I'm wondering about is the consistency of brooding needed. Bludger, the female, was never in the nest (that I saw) until after the last egg was laid. Now she's in there pretty consistently, though not always. Snitch, the male, was in the nest every day when I came home from work from the time the first egg was laid. Did he technically start brooding them early and thus they're developing at different rates? Since they weren't being sat on all the time (neither was in there during the evenings when I was home) would that affect viability?
As a random aside, Winky, the female that was being bullied by Bludger and moved to a separate cage by herself, also happened to lay eggs for the very first time when this clutch was being laid. I had no idea. I had given her the first nest I tried with the pair, a typical covered finch nest with just a hole opening, because they wouldn't go near it. Winky was never in it, and then suddenly she was in there all the time, and I peaked in after she came out to eat, and there were four eggs. They are definitely infertile. Has anyone had a female in a nearby cage lay eggs in sync with a pair? They're side by side and socialize through the bars.
I haven't ruled out disposing of the fertile eggs and giving Bludger a couple of Winky's to sit on for a while (to discourage immediate relaying). Clearly, as you can see, I'm quite undecided about the whole situation.