It would seem that the little guys in the eggs being incubated weren't strong enough to make it out of their shells. Sad. I heard pipping from an egg at one point, and was optimistic, although it didn't seem very loud. I thought perhaps the bird needed more time to peck its way out. By next morning the pipping had stopped and pessimism took over. I wondered if I should help it out of the shell, but everything I'd read said to never "help" a bird hatch. If I had helped, and it had died, I would have blamed myself.
These two eggs had a rocky start, perhaps leaving the babies weak and unable to get out of their shells on their own. I'm inexperienced at incubating eggs ... this was the first try. However, the incubator will be kept and used again with any other abandoned eggs that appear to be fertile. Maybe next time... God willing.
It was fascinating to see the baby birds move in their shells. If only ...
Meanwhile, our handfed youngsters, the "fabulous four," are still doing well. They're beautiful, tame and happy.
The pair of Bourkes who produced these eggs have subsequently had three more clutches of eggs. All of them were fertile and developed to the point of hatching, but did not hatch. It would seem that the problem with these eggs not hatching was not the fault of the incubator, but more likely the genetics of the parents. Perhaps with new mates one or the other might be more successful. Unfortunately, we don't currently have other possibilities for them...maybe in the future there will be.
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