canaries,nesting.

[rivarianmagna]

I have two canaries.At the moment they are sitting on 7eggs.This is the second time they have nested and they have been sitting for just over 2 weeks.The first eggs did not hatch, I left them on the eggs for over 3 weeks..nearly 4 weeks actually.When we decided to let her nest again,I took the eggs away when she laid them,kept them warm, and replaced each egg with a dummy egg untill she had stopped laying, and then replaced the dummy eggs with her own.They are both on the nest, taking it in turns to eat and bathe.They are young birds and I think that may be why the first batch of eggs did not hatch.How long should I leave them sitting and have I done it correctly?

[rivarianmagna]

There are still no sign of eggs hatching. 8 people have veiwed this thread...come on...someone must have some knowledge of Canaries. I don't know if I should leave her longer or take the eggs away...anybody?? pretty please!!!

[PyscoFalcon]

Are they fertile?

Hold them up to a light to see. If clear there not furtile.
They don't hatch until around 16 to 21 days.

[rivarianmagna]

thank you for your reply. I took the eggs away today, they were not fertilised. I found out from a Canary breeders site that Canaries are rather difficult to breed, the conditions have to be just right and I don't think they had enough direct sun light.We have had canaries breed before, but it has always been outside in an aviary. Oh well, not to worry. I will not let them breed again, I felt awfull stealing their eggs!!I have given them some honey/seed sticks..they like that..silly!!!The female has been giving the male a bit of stick tonight...I think she is brassed off with him so I have covered them up...hopefully she will of forgotten all about it in the morning.:angel6:

[Nhima]

If the female does happen to lay again, you may want to sterilize the eggs and then return them to her until she gets bored with them. Simply taking the eggs away can encourage excessive laying which in turn can lead to egg binding.

Nhima

[PyscoFalcon]

The eggs don't need to be steralized as there not furtile anyway.

[Nhima]

There are two main reasons for sterilization:

1. To prevent fertile eggs from hatching, and if in the case that one or more of the eggs were fertilized, sterilization would be the best thing to do.

and

2. To prevent the egg from rotting. The eggs should be given back to the hen for the reasons I previously stated. She should get bored with them after two or three weeks. If she happened to break one open it would be much easier to clean a sterilized egg than a soft one.

So yes, sterilization would be the best option even if the egg is not fertile.

Nhima

[rivarianmagna]

The female canary shows no signs of being distressed. She was a bit "grumpy" at first and chased the male around the cage. I gave them some *treats* to peck on and that calmed her down.Today was a lovely warm sunny day so I put their cage outside for a couple of hours, they really seem to like that.After I had taken the eggs away the first time this happened, I noticed she was pecking the mirror a lot, as if she was feeding, so this time I took the mirror away for a few days, that seemed to work. I will not give them a nest tray again, poor little things, all that hard work for nothing!!LOL:angel4:

[Wapisima]

okay.............i have just read all of the quotes to the origional question about nesting and i am really confused now :(
i have 2 pairs of canarys that have laid eggs, and i went online to look for help on how to breed canarys. so far so good but i read on a site that the hen would sit on her eggs when she laid the last egg and 2 weeks later the eggs would hatch but it has now been 2 weeks 4 days and neither set of eggs have hatched :(
i considered holding the eggs up o the the light but:
1 i dont know what im looking for.
2 i dont want to harm the eggs or scare the hen away from the nest.
and 3 Im too scared to hold the eggs
If i understood correctly someone said that it takes 16 to 21 ays for the eggs to hatch but im not sure :(
please can someone help me im really confused now :(
thanks.

[Wapisima]

please can someone reply to my question i am really confused.
please help