The other day, Reed got out of the cage while I was changing their food and took a few laps around the room with the cats on her tail. I finally had to flush her out from behind the entertainment center with a broom before grabbing her and putting her back in the cage.
She was not impressed, and for the rest of the day she stayed on a perch with her feathers fluffed. She wouldn't incubate the eggs, even with JD pushing on her. He's get on the other side of the perch and try and pet her towards the nest and she'd just peck back. JD would bring up nesting material and go inside the nest and shift things around, but she was still uninterested. By nightfall he had finally coaxed her in, a bit reluctantly, I might add.
I was torn on what to do. Should I remove the eggs? Should I wait to see if she sits again? I had no idea...so I chose to wait. I didn't bother them at all and only came near their cage to change their egg food.
Finally today...well, this morning, I woke up and went to change their food, and one of the eggs had been kicked out of the nest. It lay fallen and broken on the cage floor. It looks like Reed was rejecting the nest. There are two more eggs left in there...and even though the board told me to leave them there "just in case", I removed them. Reed looks as though she has no interest in sitting on them again. I removed them, candled them and then gave them to Mihah. Maybe she'll sit on them, maybe she won't. We'll see.
I'll be looking up candling pictures next to see if they are fertile or just duds. Either way, its a good learning experience for everyone.
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