Hand Carved Egg Shells ... Lovely!

As promised, here are photos of Dixie Doris Bowman's beautiful hand carved egg shells. The Emu eggs were done by her daughter, Jennifer Sperling. 

There are shells from:  Ostriches; Emu's; Bob white quail; Pheasants; Tinamou's from both Argentina and Chile; Guinea fowl; Geese; Pigeons; Turkeys; Chickens, both Aracauna and Rhode Island Reds; and even diminutive Cockatiel eggs. 

I've given her Bourke & Splendid parakeet eggs, but have yet to see one carved. She tells me that the emptied shells have to dry out for a very long while before they're ready. Also, the shells have to be substantial enough to hold up to carving. My hens get plenty of calcium, so hopefully their eggs are strong enough. In case you're worried, I only provided infertile eggs.  

These beautiful works of art are for sale. If you're interested, you can contact Dixie Doris Bowman at 541-756-4998. She is located in Southern Oregon, USA.

 

As you can tell by this sign, a robbery occurred and many items were stolen. If you see any of these one-of-a-kind items, please let Mrs. Bowman know.  Thanks! 

FOSTERING EGGS & THEIR VIABILITY

If you have one or more fertile eggs that a hen cannot, or will not, take care of, you should try to foster them with another hen. The ideal situation is to have other hens with eggs that were laid about the same time. You can usually transfer an egg or two to a setting (or brooding) hen without too much trouble. If you don’t have a hen available, you can always try incubation as a last resort, but that’s another story.

Here’s how to check to see if an egg is good. Warning: always handle the eggs gently, as there may be a viable chick inside. Fill a cup with warm water – not hot, but comfortably warm when you place a finger in it. Check one egg at a time by carefully putting them into the water. (I use a half-full one-cup clear glass measuring cup.) If the egg floats that indicates it has started to dry out, meaning it’s old and no good. If the egg sinks, it’s fresh and has a chance of hatching providing it’s fertile.

Determining Fertility. A few days after an egg is laid there should be red vessels visible through the egg. Hold the egg over a flashlight and peer through it. If there are red vessels, then the egg is fertile. If, after a few days the egg is still clear, then it isn’t fertile. But, remember it takes approximately three days for vessels to appear. All eggs appear clear at first. I always wait at least a week before ruling that an egg isn’t fertile. Sometimes, too, I simply leave the eggs with the hen until she decides to abandon them herself.

The photos show an egg directly on a flashlight and one balanced atop a toilet paper roll with duct tape over the top. A hole is cut in the center of the tape to craddle the egg and allow light to shine through it.

NOTE:  If you have one or more babies hatch, leave all remaining eggs that didn't hatch in the nest. They help keep new chicks warm.

I’ve fostered eggs, and once even a chick. Here are my stories:

My first pair, Rhett & Scarlett, were happy together. However, of the eggs Scarlett laid, only one was ever fertile. She managed to raise a hen, Bonnie. Later, another older hen passed away with four eggs in the nest. I floated them and one sank. Scarlett successfully fostered that egg and raised the baby.

I had another hen that typically hatched four eggs, but often wouldn’t feed all of them. When her eggs began to hatch, I monitored the babies closely. As soon as it became apparent that she wouldn’t feed the last baby, I placed the new chick under Scarlett. Fortunately, she had infertile eggs that were due to hatch which I hadn’t removed. Scarlett examined the chick, but didn’t appear to harm it. Fostering chicks is very risky. Keep an eye on the situation, other hens might kill a chick that isn’t theirs. If you can, hand feeding it is safer. However, although unusual, Scarlett accepted the newly hatched chick and raised it to adulthood.

I’ve read that most hens will accept another bird’s eggs if added to their own, but never chicks. Scarlett was probably unique in that regard, but she also had a very sweet nature and that’s why I thought she might accept the chick. If I hadn’t been working full-time, I would have handfed that baby, but was unable to do so then. Scarlett and Rhett successfully raised that adopted baby.

Currently, one of my hens, Cherry, is sitting on five eggs … well, not really … she has two eggs and three babies. She had three eggs when I gave her an extra egg from a young hen who laid it on the floor of her cage. That young hen had been mating, so I believed the egg to be fertile. I could have put it in the young hen’s box, but, believing it had a better chance with Cherry, I chose to give it to her because she and her mate are excellent parents. Cherry later laid another egg, giving her five. The fostered egg hasn’t hatched so far, but I’m still hopeful.

Fostering eggs and babies is never an exact science. The young hen mentioned above has since laid three eggs in her nestbox and is sitting on them. So, in retrospect, maybe putting it in her box would have been okay.

This is Cherry’s third brood of the year and the young hen’s first. I will close Cherry’s nestbox off once her babies are fledged. Three clutches a year is enough for any bird. Too many weakens them too much and you may lose them.

I’ve been told that Budgerigar parakeets (budgies) make very good foster parents for the more expensive parakeet varieties. This is true, and I once even acquired two pairs for this purpose. They did a good job rearing young, but my birds are indoors and four budgies were extremely noisy. I gave one pair away and, when the noise level remained high, eventually divested myself of the other pair too. I’ve grown used to the soft, lilting songs of the Bourkes and Splendids. Also, I have enough pairs now that foster parents are usually available. I try to open all the nestboxes at the same time of the year. An available nestbox stimulates mating and rearing young. If all the boxes are available at the same time, most pairs will raise their young in approximately the same time period too. This helps if fostering becomes necessary.

Peace & Blessings.

Hand Fed Baby Bourke Parakeets

The tiny Bourke in the photo with two eggs hatched the day the photo was taken, Jan. 18, 2010.  His head is facing downward so that only his neck and back show.

The two larger babies are about two weeks old. They grow fast! Their sister from an earlier clutch is very interested.  She likes to share their food, although she's been able to eat on her own for weeks.

The egg photos below show the potential for differing sizes of parakeet eggs. They are round or oval with no problem. However, I've never seen a very small egg hatch. The eggs in these photos are left from clutches that didn't hatch. Most often simply infertile.

I recently opened a dead egg to see why it didn't hatch. In the past the hen has produced three healthy clutches with 8 healthy youngsters. This egg was in a clutch of three eggs, two hatched healthy babies. This egg had actually been piping, but had quit and several days later I opened it to investigate.

Instead of a normal chick, this one had a normal-sized head and body, but no limbs. The body had no wings or legs. Although it developed for the normal length of time, it couldn't open the shell. Nature prevented this deformed baby from exiting its shell.  Fortunately, it's the only one I've ever seen like this. I don't open every unhatched egg, but was curious about this one.

Bourke & Splendid eggs can vary in size. Some are round, others oval. Although white, slight color variations may also exist. For countless reasons, more eggs don't hatch than actually do.  The two tiny ones on the right in this photo weren't likely to hatch under any circumstances.