What are dummie or fake eggs?

Pictured here is my plastic divided egg case with a lid that I found years ago at a general store. There are two blue plastic eggs and one white one. I also have used the marbles pictured.The marbles hold heat and help keep the babies warm. The hens are accepting of them.

I use the measuring spoon to move the eggs back and forth, so that I do not have to touch them.

What are fake canary eggs used for?

Canaries lay eggs 4 to 6, one egg a day. When they have a full clutch the hen will continue to sit on them until they hatch and feed them. Since they were laid a day apart, by the time the last egg hatches, the first baby is 3-5 times the size of the newest hatchling.

The baby birds instinctually shove the smaller birds out of the nest or get in the way of the feeding of the smaller birds. This can result in the loss of 1 or 2 birds.

The artificial eggs are used as decoys for the real eggs. The hen will sit on the fake ones too. When the hen lays one egg, take a plastic spoon and carefully remove the real egg from the nest and put in a safe place, on a bed of cotton, tissue or burlap. 

Repeat this for the entire time the bird is laying the eggs, when she is at the 4th or 5th egg, you can then remove the fake eggs and replace the real ones in the nest. She will sit back on them and they will all develop and hatch the same day. 

Thus all the babies will be the same size and have the same chances with being fed and cared for with less loss of hatch lings.

Fake eggs can also be used to stop a hen from laying eggs..Give her 6 eggs at one time and she will think it is time to incubate an stop laying.

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I pull the eggs every day and replace them with a dummy egg. This way all the chicks will hatch on the same day.

I place the eggs in a plastic container that is filled with nest materials. I place a small piece of index card with the cage number.  After the hen lays her fourth egg I replace all the eggs under her and take away the fake eggs.

If you use this method it will ensure all the chicks are the same size when born and have the same opportunity to get fed and banded all at the same rate of growth.

Ah! My Lady Godiva chocolate box. What a wonderful egg storage box. Just the correct size to hold the canary egg. The real egg is pictured on the nesting material, index card with cage #, spoon and 3 blue fake eggs to add as she lays. Nest is pictured with the replaced fake egg..

Donations of Godiva choco boxes accepted.