breeding parakeet

Question
Hi,
my Kinuli (3 years) has four eggs now (first time) and is patiently sitting on them (we made a box for her).  I am not sure if they are good (she does have male company though but I have never seen them mate).  Do you think she will realize after a while if she will or will not be a mommy one day ?  Or do I have to take them away after a while.  So far she has been sitting on the eggs for about 2.5 weeks.
Thanks for your help,
Martina


Answer
Hi, Martina.  Thanks for posting your question.  I'd bet your keet is sitting on fertile eggs (as long as you're sure you have a male and female pair - male's cere should be blue [blue above nostrils], female's cere should be any other color, particularly brown/tan/beige).  Keets' mating is very quick and it is definitely possible you missed the act!  The female keet knows whether her eggs are fertile and/or alive or not.  However, some birds will continue to sit on their eggs for the full incubation period, even though their eggs are not fertile.  I would recommend not taking them away from the pair, unless you don't want to have baby keets.  If you do want babies, continue to let her incubate them for the full period, which is 18-20 days.  If they aren't fertile (or for some reason don't develop properly and thus don't hatch), she'll quit sitting on them.  You can then discard them.  A full clutch is normally about 6 eggs (give or take), but since this is her first time, 4 is good (she probably laid 1 egg every other day for a total of 8-10 days, so at about 17 days, she's done laying this clutch).  Therefore, you should expect to see babies any day now!  If there aren't any babies say in about 1.5 weeks, they probably won't hatch, unless you miscounted days somewhere along the line.

A fertile egg will be darker than a just-laid egg.  A just-laid egg will be white, like the chicken eggs we eat.  If they don't hatch in a few days, you could check them if she lets you by shining a light (small flashlight for example) through the egg.  Don't touch the eggs...simply place a small flashlight (or other small light) beside an egg, and you'll be able to see a dark form inside the egg (with an air pocket at the big end) if there is a baby inside.  If not fertile, the light will shine through the egg.  Don't touch eggs with your fingers...the oil from our fingers will clog up the air holes in an egg.  This process of shining a light through an egg is called "candling."  Once an egg is laid, after about 7-10 days, you can candle it (shine a light through it) to see developing veins, blood vessels, and often a tiny baby inside.  

If you do have babies, you'll need to decide what you'll do with them (keep them, sell them for pets, give them away as pets, etc.).  In order for them to be tame, you'll have to pull them for handfeeding at about 7-10 days old or, at least, handle/play with the babies every day (after they are about 7-10 days old) so they will bond with humans (although some people simply like to keep keets without handling them as pets).  

Parakeets are nicer parrots then people give them credit for!  They are hilarious when they play, and I've had several that talked and they are easy to tame.  We had one keet that talked and went everywhere with my daughter.  He sat on her rearview mirror in her car whenever they went out and stayed on her shoulder when she shopped and visited!  Too cool!

Let me know if you need more help and good luck!  I keep keets and have raised many, many keet babies.

Chrys