parakeet eggs and nest

Question
I have been doing a lot of research about breeding our 3 year old male and female parakeets. I have found mixed answers about a couple things. First, I have put a nesting box in the cage with wood shavings (not pine or cedar) (this is what the breeder gave me). My female keeps tossing the shavings out and I keep putting them back. Is she doing this because she doesn't want it and stop putting it back or should the nest have some soft bedding. At this point I already have 1 egg in there and didn't want to handle it to be on the safe side. How careful should I be about touching it (them). What should I do about the shavings? Thank you so much for all the GREAT info.

Answer
Hi, Krystal.  Thanks for posting!

Do not put anything inside the nesting box.  Keets (as well as most parrots) don't want anything inside.  This is why she's throwing the wood shavings out.  

If you have to touch the egg(s) for some reason, do not touch them with your bare hands/skin.  The oil and dirt from your bare skin can clog up pores on the egg.  Use latex gloves or something on your hands.  

Take the shavings out of the nesting box.  You can add a thin layer of the shavings after babies arrive in order to help keep the nesting box clean of the babies feces and keep the babies dry, but substrate isn't needed for egg incubation.

Chrys