My Keet died last night but left me an egg....

Question
Last night our family suffered a tragic accidental loss of our favored friend and parakeet Larry.  Larry is female, but when we found out the name was already stuck... anyway, she wass killed last night when my son shut the bedroom door last night and Larry was trying to follow and was crushed in the door.  We were horrified by this - but this morning we found a single egg in her Larry-made nesting box. (ie she made one for herself out of a cardboard box on top of a cabinet in the kitchen).  We knew about the box and were watching it for eggs with much anticipation, now it seems she has left a legacy behind, one we are very very interested in carrying on and doing whatever it takes to give it a chance at survival.

I know the chances are slim, but I need some help.  I have ordered an incubator that should arrive in the enxt few days, but I need to do something I think before that to make sure the egg is still viable when the time comes.  There is a daddy bird in the house, that may have fertilized the egg, we wont know for a bit yet since its a brand new egg.  I am assuming Larry was going to lay more over the next few days to make a more complete clutch but her life was cut short before she had the chance.  

I am looking for any help you can give me to aid in the saving of Larry's only potential hatchling.

Thank you so much!

Answer
Hi, Rebecca.  Thanks for posting.

I'm so sorry to hear about your loss.  This egg may not even be fertile...just so you're aware.

If the female had started the incubation process, i.e., sitting on this egg all the time, your efforts could be fruitless because an interruption of this process (cool down of the egg after incubation has begun) won't result in a viable egg.  However, most parrots don't start incubating until the second egg is laid (eggs are laid one every other day until a full clutch of about 6-8 eggs are laid).

Hopefully, the incubator will come with instructions because you have to maintain proper temperature and humidity at all times, as well as turning the egg halfway every 12 hours when in the incubator.  You'll need to buy a hygrometer (pet store) to monitor temp and humidity.

Daddy won't care for the egg or baby, so this should not even be tempted.

You'll need to handfeed the baby if one hatches.  This is not an easy task, as the baby when first hatched is very tiny and will need to be fed every couple hours around the clock for the first 5-7 days.  This is a difficult task, even for someone like me who has 17+ years experience handfeeding baby birds!  See my website for information on this:

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

Come back with any questions.

Chrys