Galah eggs problem

[tasha]

I have a pair of Galahs. Hen I got as a young bird, (less than 12 months old at the time), male looked to be a youngish bird when I got him 2 years ago.
I have had the hen for almost 7 years now, so she would be nearly 8 years and the male at least 3 maybe 4 years old.

Last year the male tried to breed with the hen. She was willing but I think he was a little confused at to which end he was actually meant to be at! lol The head was NOT the right end lol

This year he seems to have gotten his act together and at least has the right end lol ;P

I found an egg with about the size of a one cent piece hole in it almost a week ago. The yolk was still intact so I gave them the benefit of the doubt and put it down to maybe an accidental breakage. Just this afternoon I checked the nestlog again, (have done so daily since the first egg), and found another egg. This time just an empty shell. Same breakage as before.
So now I am thinkning this is being done on purpose.

Does anyone know why this could be happening?
Maybe the eggs are no good and the hen knows this?
I remember when I had 2 budgies as a kid, the hen used to kick out the eggs until we got her another partner then she quite happily incubated and successfully hatched the eggs. Dad said the eggs must have been no good and this was why the hen rejected them.
Or is it because they are lacking in something?

I feed them seed and try them with fruit and veg but the only veg they will eat are apple, corn, sweet potato, peas, and a little carrot. They have cuttlebone in there aviary.

The nest is a log about 4 foot deep and about 1 foot (or a bit more, not good with measurements lol) across.
It is off the ground so mice can't get to it.

I have put gum leaves in there which the hen lined her nest with. I did notice that she lined the nest for the first egg then relined with more leaves for the second nest a few days ago.

Sorry for the long post but I am trying to give as much info as possible to give you an idea on what the problem could be.

Oh, the hen was handraised and very tame until we got her an aviary bred partner then she went feral and attacks whenever she gets the chance.

Any ideas/help is much appreciated.

Thanks in advance....

Tasha

[Silvercloud]

I wish I could help Tash but have never bred galahs or any other bird for that matter. Has she laid any more eggs?

[Jen]

We find the hen will kick eggs out that are no good but usually not until they are a bit older. I dont think she would know the egg is no good so soon after laying it. It is a bit of a worry though. Are the shells nice and hard. Just thinking if they are lacking calcium they might be too easily damaged by the hen in the box. also does the nest box have wire down the side for her to climb down as I have heard Galahs can be a bit clumsy and jump down onto the eggs damaging them and all it takes is a claw to go through one and it would be no good obviously.
You could try getting some fake eggs and for the 5-6days removing the good eggs and replacing them with the fake ones. Store the eggs pointy end down in a cool place (not the fridge thats too cool) and when she has 3 eggs put the real ones back. The eggs should be fine out of the nest for 6 days I think as the hen won't sit until she is happy with the amount of eggs in the nest. My idea on this is that if she is breaking them herself then having the fake unbreakable ones in may stop the habit. If you check them a day or two after putting the real ones back and find all 3 broken then i would suspect she is deliberately doing it herself and it will be very difficult to stop.
Hopefully someone will have some better ideas as this is all I can think of. Good Luck

[tasha]

Thanks for responding

No silvercloud, the hen has not laid any more eggs since those 2.
She has relined the nest with gum leaves again so guessing it is a sign of maybe more egg laying.

The nest box is a huge hollow log that is tilted on an angle. There is no wire in it but it is very rough and ragged looking on the inside.
I have a small inspection door near the bottom so I can see any eggs etc.

I was wondering about the calcium but they do have cuttle shell in there ( my vet told me they don't get much calcium out of cuttle shells, more of a beak trimmer).

I will see if she has any more eggs and will watch what happens then.

Will also try the fake egg idea and see if that works.

Thanks again guys.