Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hello all,
New to this whole thing. My female zebra finch laid her first egg 18 days ago, 5 in 5 days.
I did not candle the eggs, but all 5 have gone from a white colour to a grey.
I have read that the eggs can hatch anywhere from 13 days to 3 weeks.
My question....are these eggs likely to hatch? Should I get rid of the eggs after the 3 weeks is up?
Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks.

From what I have read, they need to be incubated pretty constantly. I read that the birds will not start to sit on any eggs until after the last egg is laid. But they need to sit on them after that. I would give it at least the whole three weeks (and would probably go to four weeks, also). After they hatch comes the fun part of watching the parents feed them all the time. Let us know when they hatch.

My girls laid 9 eggs in 9 days, but never sat on them, so they were probably infertile. Hopefully this year, they might hatch out some babies (and actually feed them).
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sue

Morning Sue,

Thanks for the response, I certainly do appreciate it. The parents have both been sitting on the eggs. They are either both in there or they take turns. The eggs are only visible to me when I feed/water the parents each morning or in the evening when I freshen their water because they are both out to see what I am bringing. So they are only off of the eggs for a few seconds at a time.
I will let them be for another week then and hopefully see something in that time.
Another question....if the eggs should not hatch, is there a time period between removing the eggs and material (and cleaning things up!) and when I can put the nest back in for them to try again?
thanks again,
Vicki

off, as I know that egg laying can be very stressful for the bird. You have to watch out for calcium depletion. A lot of breeders won't let their birds lay more than twice a year.

Hopefully you will see little babies soon. You do know that zebras are REALLY prolific, don't you? You also have to worry about aggression with them, which might entail having only one male per cage. So be prepared.
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sue

Thanks Sue,

I have read about Zebras 'living to breed' and also about not allowing them to produce more often than 2 or 3 clutches a year.
I was at a local pet shop yesterday and spoke with the lady there. She said that it was unlikely that the eggs were going to hatch and that I could end up with the female laying again and having too many to sit on. So I removed the 5 eggs and all 5 were never going to hatch.
So, I have cleaned up everything and will wait to see what happens. If the same happens again, I will then give them a break until the spring.
I will make certain that they have all of the necessary nutrition to see them through this.
Oh, and btw, a pair of my budgies have just laid their first egg, so I am pretty excited about that!
Take care and thanks again.
Vicki