budgies killing there eggs

Question
HI I HAVE A PAIR OF BREEDING BUDGIES BY THEM SELVES IN A BREEDING CAGE. TWO WEEKS AGO I NOTICED THAT SHE HAD LAYED THREE EGGS. TODAY WHEN I HAD A LOOK THE EGGS WHERE ALL CRACKED AND NO GOOD. I AM NOT SURE IF ITS BECAUSE I OPEN THE NEST BOX EVERY DAY OR NOT TO CLEAN IT OR JUST CHECK ON THE EGGS. ALSO I AM WONDERING WHAT THE EGGS LOOK LIKE WHEN THEY ARE FERTILISED. THIS IS MY FIRST TIME BREEDING THEM. WHEN THEY ARE GETTING FERTILISED IS IT THE MALE OR FEMALE THAT DOES IT AND SHOULD I JUST LEAVE THEM ALONE THEN.  I AM JUST WONDERING WHAT IS GOING ON
PLEASE HELP ME HAVE YOU GOT ANY ANSWERS OR SUGGESTIONS
THANK YOU VERY MUCH
AMANDA

Answer
Amanda,

The male bird must fertilize the egg before the hen lays it. Once the egg is laid, it is either fertile or not. To determine if the eggs are fertile, you will need to "candle" the egg. To candle the egg you basically hold it up to a light source, if the egg is fertile you should see signs of veins, or a dark spot inside of the egg blocking the light, which would be the chick. Just about every healthy female budgie will lay eggs, fertile or not. Not all budgies are good parents, some will kill their chicks, destroy their eggs, etc. Nothing can be done to prevent it, it is simply nature. I would recommend you Google "raising budgies", "Hand feeding budgies", "Breeding budgies", etc. and look at the ton's of information on these topics. You will need to know how to handfeed your baby chicks every 2 hours around the clock, incase the mother happens to lay eggs that hatch and she later refuses to feed them. You will need to have the neccesary supplies on hand to take care of baby chicks in case the mother becomes ill or dies, etc. It is heart breaking to hear stories of people that have to sit and watch their baby birds starve to death or even freeze to death because of the lack of knowledge and time required to care for them.

Best of luck!