belated budgies

Question
Ok well the first egg was laid on the 12th of February, then next on the 14th, the next on the 16th, so on so forth. So it has been about 21 days for the first egg. Once the first egg was laid she starting to sit on it, and barely left it however she did come out somewhat, more than now-a-days anyway. So this egg is quite overdue, and the next one is a little over due as well. I know that at least ONE of them are fertilized. So, if it never hatches, what should I do with it? If I don't remove it she'll sit on it for the rest of her life! So what should I do to remove it later on? This is if it never hatches.

Riley
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The text above is a follow-up to ...

-----Question-----
Hi there,

My budgie laid five eggs a while ago, and the first one was suppose to hatch a while ago. In fact, the second one was suppose to hatch yesterday. I know the days can vary for how long till they hatch. And I've been told it takes 17, 18 or 20 days. But they've past the 20 day mark. I know that it is possible that they are not fertilized, but I'm pretty sure they are. So my question is, at the maximum, how long will it take for a budgie to hatch?
Thanks for your time,
Sacha
-----Answer-----
Hi, Sacha.  Thanks for posting!

You start counting the days to hatching when the female begins incubating her eggs all the time.  In other words, the countdown starts when the female starts sitting on her eggs constantly.  Hatching time is 18 days from the start of incubation.  Now, this is PER EGG...they don't all hatch on the same day...they should hatch every other day (in the same order laid).  It might take 1 or 2 days longer if she kept getting up from her eggs during incubation or the eggs weren't kept exactly the temperature they needed to be.  Sometimes the first one or two eggs don't hatch if they were infertile or died in the shell during incubation, so just because the first egg didn't hatch, or the second egg doesn't hatch, doesn't mean none of them will hatch.  However, perhaps none of them were fertile to begin with.  How are you pretty sure they were fertile...did you candle them?  Even if you candled them, they could have died in the shell for some reason later.  Are you sure you know the date incubation started?

Maximum length of time - 18 days, give or take a day or two, depending on what occurred during the incubation process (if the egg was fertile to begin with and didn't die in the shell for some reason).

Chrys

Answer
Hi again, Sacha.

You just remove the infertile or unhatched egg(s) from the nesting box and throw them away.  She won't sit on them forever...she'll eventually abandon them on her own (i.e., she'll stop sitting on them, crack them open, or remove them from the nesting box herself).

Chrys