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weirdly small egg
Posted: Mon Oct 22, 2018 7:56 pm
by birdose
Hi there!
My orange-cheeked zebra finches had another clutch a bit over a week ago, and they accidentally buried their eggs and forgot about them.
As I carefully moved the eggs to the top of the nest, I saw that one of them was really small, like half the size of the rest of the eggs. I looked this up and found that it might have been that the mother just didn't have enough calcium to make a full-sized egg.
Will this egg actually hatch or is it just a dud? Sorry if this is a bit of a dumb question, but many thanks if anybody answers! 
Re: weirdly small egg
Posted: Mon Oct 22, 2018 11:03 pm
by Icearstorm
birdose
It sounds like what they call an empty egg; just shell and albumen, but no yolk. It won't hatch without a yolk, and even if it does have one I'd expect it to be too small for the chick to form, possibly resulting in it being dead in shell.
Re: weirdly small egg
Posted: Mon Oct 22, 2018 11:54 pm
by birdose
Icearstorm wrote:
birdose
It sounds like what they call an empty egg; just shell and albumen, but no yolk. It won't hatch without a yolk, and even if it does have one I'd expect it to be too small for the chick to form, possibly resulting in it being dead in shell.
Interesting.. That's good to know, thanks very much for the response!
Re: weirdly small egg
Posted: Tue Oct 23, 2018 11:19 am
by isobea
On occasion I have noticed an egg that was much smaller than the others. Usually it was the last egg laid. Even if it is infertile, you can leave it in the nest as a 'hot water bottle' for the other chicks. All my birds are in an outdoor aviary and going into the cooler season, that has often proved helpful. You should be able to candle it after several days to see if it is indeed infertile.
Iso
Re: weirdly small egg
Posted: Tue Oct 23, 2018 11:22 am
by birdose
isobea wrote:
On occasion I have noticed an egg that was much smaller than the others. Usually it was the last egg laid. Even if it is infertile, you can leave it in the nest as a 'hot water bottle' for the other chicks. All my birds are in an outdoor aviary and going into the cooler season, that has often proved helpful. You should be able to candle it after several days to see if it is indeed infertile.
Iso
Okay, thank you for the useful input! I will keep that in mind!
Re: weirdly small egg
Posted: Tue Oct 23, 2018 3:54 pm
by Icearstorm
birdose
Glad I could help!
Re: weirdly small egg
Posted: Tue Oct 23, 2018 10:45 pm
by sparrowsong98
My chickens lay smaller than normal eggs occasionally. I would assume it is normal for finches as well
Re: weirdly small egg
Posted: Tue Oct 23, 2018 11:22 pm
by birdose
sparrowsong98 wrote:
My chickens lay smaller than normal eggs occasionally. I would assume it is normal for finches as well
that's really interesting, and I love that you have so many interesting pets! thank you for the input!