my parakeets laid an egg

Question
hi my name is itzel and i will be more thankful if you could answer my question the sooner well the problem is that my parakeets just laid an egg like a day a go and i don't know what to do because the mom doesn't pay attention to the egg a lot and i know she is suppose to sit on it but i don't see that a lot until today in the night that she was sleeping on top on the egg but theres this wood thing were they laid eggs and when the mom saw the egg she started to get in it but U i feel that she doesn't feel comfortable in it so i moved the egg to a another thing were she can have more space and i think it worked because she started sleeping in it but the thing is that i have touched the egg several times with my bare hands so i don't know if she notice that i have moved the egg several times and if she would like the egg and she wont kill it and when she had the egg she keeps mating with the male parakeet so i don't know if she would still have more eggs and i also want to know that when the bird is born do i need to feed him or is the birds job to do it do i need to do some king of special job that does not include cleaning the cage and this is my major concern I'm scare is that when the bird is kind of grown will he mate with her father or mom and how would i know if they the parents like their new born what if they don't feed them and things like that well Maggie thanks for reading my letter and if you can answer all my questions and I'm sorry i have a lot of questions but its just my first time that i have some parakeets and an egg and i hope you can understand me and thank you again BYE!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Answer
Usually birds will lay a few eggs, and each eggs is laid a day or so apart, until they get a full clutch (can be anywhere from 3 to 6 eggs).

However, if she was not sitting on the egg(s), they will not hatch. They need to be kept warm. If the egg is not fertile, let your bird keep her egg until she looses interest (usually no longer than 3 to 4 weeks -the natural hatching time of fertile eggs).

By removing the egg, it will signal to her to re-lay (since normally in the wild there is a very limited period for birds to lay eggs and raise young). Unfortunately, in captivity, especially in indoor environments, it seems like ideal breeding season all year round (long days- since we leave the lights on-, plenty of food, safe environment, etc.). You will also need to discourage your birds from breeding if they have had a clutch recently (only allow your birds to raise a clutch AT MOST two times a year). You also need to consider if you are ready to breed birds and take on such a large responsibility.

There are some tricks you can use to discourage your birds from breeding. Here is an article that will help you with this:

http://www.forthebirdsdvm.com/breedingbehavior.htm

I hope this helps.

-Maggie