Informative post: Stopping egg laying

[K9soul]

I've been wanting to get Dawn to stop constantly laying eggs, as I know it is draining for a hen and not particularly healthy. I asked Poppy yesterday for any links to active bird boards and she kindly provided me with some good ones. One in particular I found a sticky post on a common problem, egg laying, and I thought I'd share here since it might be helpful for people here as well. I certainly learned some things from it! I'm going to copy and paste it, and provide the link to the original thread at the bottom in case anyone wants to look at it.

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1. DO NOT REMOVE THE EGGS! (see number 4 below)

2. If you have her housed with another cockatiel, separate them. They won’t like it, but they’ll live. Reason: having a mate with her (whether male or female, they see the other one as a mate) will be more likely to stimulate her to lay eggs.

3. If the second cockatiel is female, or the female is by herself, ignore this (the eggs will be infertile already), but if you have a male with her, or you aren’t 110% sure she hasn’t had access to a male: boil the eggs! Reason: the eggs will then defiantly not hatch. When in doubt, boil them to be sure. Breeding is a massive thing, not to just jump into when you pair lays eggs! If you want to breed, just boil this lot and read more information in other categories to breed with the next clutch. Method: remove only one egg at a time. (She’ll be less likely to ‘miss’ it than if you took all the eggs at once). Boil it. Cool it. (Maybe by placing in cool water). Mark it with a pen or pencil (reason: you know which eggs have been boiled and which haven’t) and put back. The do the same for all the others until they’re all boiled. And do the same if she lays any more.

4. Let her sit on them as long as she wants!!! This is really important! If you removed them before she had abandoned them, she’d feel compelled to replace them and lay more eggs. And continual laying of eggs is very bad for a hens health! She will abandon them when they don’t hatch (after about a month) but do make sure she has totally abandoned them before removing them!

5. are you providing a nest box? if so, take it away. she can lay on the ground if she's so desperate (it's not good to BREED without a nest box, but simply laying on the ground isn't bad for her and the lack of a nest box will help)

here are some tips to try to stop the compulsive layer:

6. Do you cover her cage at night? If you don’t, start doing it. If you do, start keeping it covered longer. Leave it longer in the morning, and cover earlier at night. To the point where she’s covered about 14 hours in 24. Reason: it gives her longer nights and shorter days, like in wintertime, so it’ll help set her body clock to ‘winter mode’ and hopefully not ‘breeding mode’!

7. Is she tame? And enjoy head scritches? If so, try to limit them. Reason: during courtship, the male will preen the female’s head and back, and so when you give her scritches, it is helping to stimulate her into breeding mode!

8. Give her only the amount of food that she normally eats in a day. (you’ll likely have to experiment to find out how much she eats, make sure she DOES have enough and isn’t going hungry!) Reason: when there is excess food, it helps set her body into thinking it’s spring, and so therefore breeding time, with food a plenty to feed chicks. Limiting food to what she will eat and no more (well, a little more isn’t gonna do anything! But not excessively more) will help put her into ‘wintertime mode’

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And here is the thread: http://www.tailfeathersnetwork.com/community/showthread.php?t=1663

[Logan]

Very good info, Jessica, which you know I have needed with Milly!!! Thankfully, since Bennie left, and they are in separate cages now, there have been no more eggs. Whew! :D

[micki76]

I don't even have birds, but that was very interesting. :)

I wonder though, if the boiled eggs will begin to stink?

[K9soul]

I hadn't thought about that Micki, I guess since I just have Dawn and it doesn't pertain to me I didn't really think about it. But I think they are so small and as long as the shell isn't cracked I wouldn't think they would smell. I know at my mother-in-law's around Easter the boiled/painted eggs sit around for awhile in decorative baskets and I can't smell anything.

I found the post fascinating, as well as enlightening. I know I tended to give Dawn lots of head scritchies, and didn't cover her cage at night :o

[Logan]

I have boiled Milly's eggs......was forced to the last couple of times she was laying them (since ours had a high probability of being fertile). What I noticed was that the shells became even more fragile and cracked very easily. As they cracked, we had to throw them away, but they did not smell at all. But she eventually abandoned them, then we took them out.

[chrissycat21]

Very good information. Hopefully I won't need it, unless Buttons decideds he is a girl and lays a egg on me.;)

[K9soul]

Originally posted by chrissycat21
Hopefully I won't need it, unless Buttons decideds he is a girl and lays a egg on me.;)

LOL, ya never know ;)

I also read in another post that cat saliva can be toxic to birds and even cause death! So its best if you have cats to always wash your hands before handling the birds.

[Giselle]

Also, continually change the toys and perches. I'm not sure if the article mentioned this, but parrot species tend to get into the brooding mode once everything is in abundance, everything is stable, and the amount of daylight is increased. By switching perches and toys around, you're creating a less stable enviornment and the bird will be less inclined to lay. Also, objects such as an extra feeding cup can trigger the need to breed. I learned that the hardway:p Softfoods can also trigger the need to breed. Just some more tips :)

Also, No. The eggs generally do not stink if you leave them for about a week or two. Think about it this way. In a typical clutch, one or more egg will usually not hatch. However, experienced breeders like to keep the infertile eggs in the nest anways (provides warmth and support). The eggs are kept in the nestbox until the chicks fledge. That's about a month, so keeping eggs outside for a week or more shouldn't make it smell. Hope this helps!:)

[K9soul]

Thanks for the additional pointers Giselle :) With all this info I should be able to break Dawn's cycle of laying. I think a new, larger cage was a good first step. The grate on the floor is a lot higher up off the floor, before she could reach through and pick up feathers and stuff, but now she can't. She doesn't hang out on the floor near as much now. Also with a bigger cage I can do more variation with her perches and toys.