Here a Double Yellow Head getting ready to hatch. It is 11:45 pm Wed. night. See the little tiny chips in the right top corner in the egg where he has done his external pip ?
Would you like to see ? The Hatching of an egg. Here a Double Yellow Head getting ready to hatch. It is 11:45 pm Wed. night. See the little tiny chips in the right top corner in the egg where he has done his external pip ?
Where the egg is dark to the left is where the baby is tucked in a little ball. The light yellow area to the right is the air space. That is where the baby gets it's first breath of air at about 26 days old. At about 28 days old the baby has used up the air inside the egg and is motivated to come out and get a fresh breath of air. He begins a striking motion with his head going backwards and hitting the inside of the shell with a little tiny point on it's beck that is called an egg tooth. As he strikes the egg he also pushes with his feet and rotates himself inside the egg with each motion. This turns him around the egg until he has cracked a little top off of the egg.
The Baby Yellow-Head hatched Thursday afternoon, July 23, 1998. He is a couple of hours old here and his down feathers have already dried. It is amazing that even within a few short hours the baby that came out of the little egg looks as though he could never have fit inside of it.
This is not how we usually hatch the babies, however this little Blue & Gold was kicking his way out.
Sorry the quality is not very good, but this was too funny to pass up on.
This is his beak in the middle. This is an elbow > This is a knee. >
< A wing
< A leg & foot.
A Hyacinth Macaw Hatching:
