my parakeet eggs

Question
my parakeet female keeps breaking her eggs, not all of them but like every other one she cracks
(i have a nesting box). so i took the two she didn't crack and put them under a light and i have been candleing them and they are developing fine. i was wondering if, when the eggs hatched, i could put them back with the mother, i would hand feed them only school will start  few days after they hatch. if i can't put them back with her what should i do, i really what them to servive. could i put them with my cockatiel and let him raise them? please help i'm at alost. if i could i would hand feed them but i can't.
 thanks for all that you do  

Answer
Hi, Gretchen.  Thanks for posting.

Your female may not be breaking these eggs on purpose.  Mama birds don't usually do this.  They may be getting cracked when she or the daddy go in and out of the nesting box, etc.  I don't know what you are seeing when you candle them, but I don't think these eggs will develop under just a light.  Eggs need to be kept at a specific temperature and humidity at all times and the eggs need to be turned half way around every 12 hours around the clock.  The mama keet takes care of all of this during the incubation process (she always knows the temp and humidity of her eggs and she turns them).  

You will not be able to put the babies back with the mother when they hatch and your cockatiel will not be able to raise them.  Once you remove the eggs from the mother bird, she will not recognize the babies as her own.  Removing babies for a few minutes from the mother once they hatch is one thing, but if eggs/babies are removed for more than say a day (sometimes earlier), most won't accept them back.  The tiel won't accept them either because she didn't lay any eggs.  Birds are different than say cats/dogs and other animals in this regard.  Maybe if the tiel had a few babies at the same time as the keet babies were hatched she might take them in, but I seriously doubt it.  Too much difference between the species.  

If you won't be able to handfeed these babies from day 1 if they would hatch, then you've got a big problem!  They have to be fed if they hatch.  For the first 7 days, you'd have to handfeed them every few hours around the clock (even during the night).  See my website for information on breeding, hatching, handfeeding, etc.:

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

Come back if you have questions.

Chrys