Abandoned eggs

Question
I am in need of help. I have a pair of Lovebirds as pets and they have laid eggs. I don't have a nesting box or anything really special. Anyway, this is the second clutch the mother has laid, she sat on the first clutch for about half the time and then ignored them. She has laid these and hasn't sat on them at all. It has already been a day or so. I don't know if there is a way to persuade her to sit on them, or if I should remove the eggs and attenpt to hatch them through some form of incubation, which honestly would consist of a bowl and a desk lamp. I have read information on the internet and have found no place which addresses my concern. Is it even worth it at this point? I'm fairly certain these are fertile eggs because the last ones were halfway developed before she quit sitting on them. Please help me, i really would like to see these eggs through.
-Jamie

Answer
Hi, Jamie.  Thanks for posting.

Parrots normally lay 1 egg every other day until a full clutch is produced (about 6 eggs).  A female usually doesn't start the incubation process until the second egg is laid...some start with the first egg.  It takes 18 days after incubation begins for an egg to hatch.  They hatch every other day in the same order they were laid, as long as the eggs are fertile.  

You can remove the eggs, but she may continue to lay and lay until she has a clutch of 6 eggs.  I recommend you leave the eggs alone and let her abandon them on her own.  She knows if her eggs are viable or not after a certain period of time.  When she abandons them completely, then remove them.  There's no way you can persuade her to incubate them.  You might try putting up a nesting box and putting the eggs inside.  She may tend to them and may not...depends on the individual parrot.  

If you choose to incubate them yourself, you need more than a bowl and desk lamp!  This setup just won't work!  Eggs need to be incubated at a precise temperature, precise humidity, and turned every 12 hours in a certain direction.  How would you handle once the eggs hatched?  Lovebird babies are so very tiny to handfeed when they hatch and you'd have to handfeed them every couple hours around the clock until they are about 7 days old.  Then you could stop the nightly handfeedings and go to 4 times per day (but not during the night).  Are you prepared to do this if you would incubate the eggs manually?  

How do you know the eggs were halfway developed before she quit incubating them?  Did you open the eggs up to see partially-developed embryos?  Perhaps she isn't incubating them because they have died in the shell or perhaps they weren't fertile to begin with...did you candle them (or open them)?  

Visit my website for more information and come back if you have additional questions:

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

Chrys