Parrotlet Eggs

Question
I guess I thought I knew what I was doing when I cradled the eggs. The first was laid on the sixteenth. I didn't think they were fertile so I got rid of them. She was really mad at me when I did. The male to this female is a true split-to-blue. I guess next time I will just leave her alone. Thank you for providing me with more information on this.
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Well she was on the eggs for about 10 days. She laid them on the 16th.Yes, it was her first batch, and I am pretty sure it is a female/male as I bought two malesand the guy I bought them from threw in the female for $20 dollars. The female hardly ever came out of her box after laying the eggs. This is their first batch of eggs ever. They are about 2 1/2 years old. We also have the females brother in a different cage.
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I have a pair of parrotlets. The hen has laid 5 eggs.None of the eggs were fertile. Should i block the nest box for a while letting the hen rest, for a while? Thanks J.D.
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Hi, JD.  Thanks for posting!

Are you sure the eggs aren't fertile and, if so, how do you know this?  Are you sure you have a male/female pair-bonded pair?  How many clutches of eggs has this pair laid this year?  How old are these birds?  Did the female incubate these eggs at all?  How long ago were these eggs laid?

I need more information in order to answer your question properly.

Thanks.

Chrys
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Hi again, JD.

She didn't lay them all on the 16th (of November I'm assuming)!  They lay 1 egg every other day over a period of time.  You start the hatch countdown on the date the female begins incubating her eggs.  Do you know when she laid the first egg (or the last egg) and when she started incubating her eggs?  If fertile, eggs would start hatching about 18 days from the date the female begins incubating.  This is why I asked how you know the eggs aren't fertile because they may be.

Did she stop incubating after 10 days?  If so, do you have any idea why?  

What type of parrotlets are these (Pacific, etc.)?

The more details you can provide, the better I'm able to help.  If this is their first clutch ever, they can go to nest again, but I'd like to help here by knowing for sure about the fertility of the previous eggs.  I like to limit my pairs to having no more than 2, maybe 3, clutches per year, depending on clutch size, etc.  Parrots can be overbred, which shortens their lifespan, particularly for female birds since the process is harder on them.

Need more information, JD!

Chrys

Answer
Hi again, JD.

It's called "candling."  I recommend before you allow your parrotlets to breed again that you learn all you can learn about this entire process and the birds.  You can start with my website and go from there.  You can always come back to this site for help from any bird expert.

http://www.angelfire.com/falcon/birdinfo/index.html

Chrys