feeding the new mother

Question
QUESTION: my female parakeet laid 4 eggs in what seemed like a very short time. on Nov. 24th, one egg hatched, and on thanksgiving, another. so far both babies appear to be thriving, but my question is if i should feed the mother anything special to keep her strength up?

ANSWER: From what you've told me, the eggs were laid and hatched within a normal time frame.  

Make sure she has a cuttlebone to help replace the calcium she lost from her eggs.  Fresh fruits and veggies are great for all budgies, but especially for those with babies.  You can also try hard-boiled eggs.  Just mash it up into little pieces, shell and all.  They usually eat everything, the yolk, the white, and the shell because there are different nutrients in each part of the egg.  Just let everything come to room temperature first.

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: how long after the eggs are laid would you consider there to be 'life' inside the eggs?  the above mentioned baby birds were a surprize to us, but i really don't have the facilities to continuously raise more! if as soon as she were to lay another egg, i were to take it out of the nest, would there be anything living inside the egg?
and how long is the gestation of a parakeet? i know these sound like silly questions, but this is all new to me!!
thank you  very much for your time.
cathy perkins

Answer
There's life in the egg almost immediately.  The eggs do develop a bit before they are laid evem.  It only takes 18-21 days for them to hatch, so they develop quickly.

They don't constantly lay.  They lay usually no more than two clutches a year.  They devote a lot of time to their babies.  They care for them constantly until about eight weeks, and after that they still are pretty close.  If they have babies to care for, they won't lay or a while.  If you're worried about how many you'll have, between three and six is normal per clutch.  I wouldn't take any out because not all of them may hatch.  Some of them may be duds.