first time(wasnt expecting the egg)

Question
Hi--- I just went in to change my keets food and as i pulled it out i felt it was light so i looked and there was food all over the bottom of the cage... one of my birds had dug out all the food and laid an egg in there... is there any way to tell if it is fertile or unfertile and what should i do take them to the vet, wait and see, i am going to buy a nesting box in the next day or two tho... i had the two birds since right b4 christmas and got them at atleast 3 months old and one of there cere's is pinkish/bluish and the other whitish/grayish and i cant tell if one male one female or to females im a litlle confused and need help--- THANK YOU  

Answer
Hi, Tyler.

Your birds are too young to breed if they are only about 7-8 months old.  Keets need to be about 12 months old before allowed to breed.

Fertility would depend on whether you have a male and female bird, whether your birds have mated, or whether the female is laying egg(s) without having mated.  A female bird can lay infertile eggs without mating with a male bird.  Female keets have white/beige/tan/brown ceres and males have blue ceres.  You definitely have a female, but pinkish/bluish ceres could go either way.  Sometimes it takes 2 molts for adult cere/feather color to stabilize...first molt occurs at about 6 months of age, second molt at about 12 months of age.  If your birds aren't yet a year old, determining the sex could be difficult.  We know you have at least 1 female in the cage!  Whether the egg is fertile or not would depend on the sex of the other bird and whether they have mated successfully or not.

If you want your birds to breed, put up a nesting box.  If these were my birds, I wouldn't allow them to breed until they were several months older at least.  You can try moving the egg into the nesting box once you set one up, but they may abandon it because it will take them time to prepare the nesting box they way they want it, then they will lay their eggs in the box.  When birds lay eggs outside a nesting box, it creates many problems.  Your female may be able to incubate the egg(s) (she'll likely lay more eggs, too) in a food dish, but raising them in the food dish will not work.  

In addition, you have much to learn before you allow your birds to breed and produce offspring.  Many things can go wrong during this entire process and you have to know when to step in, what to do, etc., particularly when babies arrive.  You will need to know how to help the parent birds when they need help, you'll need to check on babies and know what to do if/when they need help, you should know how to handfeed babies with a handfeeding syringe in case the parents need help with this...just so many things to know.

You don't need to take your birds to a vet unless they are sick.  In 7-10 days, you can candle the egg to see if it is fertile...there may be several more eggs by that time and you can check them all.  

Visit my website for more information on breeding, etc.:

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

Come back with any additional questions.

Chrys