egg dilemma (sleep cage v main cage)

I am posting this based upon another member's question (which I was unable to answer-- and I'm worried others might miss it, as it is embedded in a long thread).


If a bird lays a non-fertile egg in a sleep cage, I would transfer the egg to the main cage when I moved the bird the next day (or it would almost be like removing the egg too early if the bird spent the whole day without it in the main cage). Plus, if it were a fertile egg, it would need attention around the clock..


My question is, at night, would you transfer the egg with the bird BACK to the sleep cage again (as mother birds can always check on their eggs in the wild and since they do attend to them at night?)


I am inclined to say transfer back and forth with the bird and sleep/day cage until interest is lost (as removing too soon can cause more laying) but I really haven't ever considered this, as I don't use a sleep cage and never encountered this issue. If the egg is moved gently (dummy or real infertile egg) and placed in a similar position/location in both cages, is that okay?



Thoughts?

I guess I would pose the question: why are you moving a nesting bird to begin with? Doesn’t sound like the wisest thing to be doing to begin with, on several different levels.

chris-md said:

I guess I would pose the question: why are you moving a nesting bird to begin with? Doesn’t sound like the wisest thing to be doing to begin with, on several different levels.

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The OP has always moved her bird at night. Would you suggest a change to routine so significant when the rest of the clutch has not yet been laid (that is my concern). The first egg was laid in the sleep cage, and OP didn't know her "he" was a "she".


That wasn't a rhetorical question either- I genuinely don't know what is best in this situation, given the routine has been established and keeping that routine would likely encourage lower stress (which correlates better with egg laying).


The bird can't spend its days in the sleep cage (too small)...So the question is, I suppose, does she stop moving the bird at night (and disrupt the comfort that comes with that routine, as well as hormonal regulation that comes with 10 hours sleep) OR move the egg with the bird? The egg is not fertile, so this has nothing to do with preserving the embryo.


A bird's interest in an egg can span a month if not more...That's a pretty significant shift if sleeping arrangements are not suitable elsewhere (potentially leading to less sleep ). I am assuming a sleep cage is necessary in OP's current situation.

My GCC laid an infertile egg.I called the vet and asked what to do. The vet said to leave it there for at least three weeks because she might lay another. The egg was as hard as a rock when I moved it. So hard in fact that it showed no damage when accidently dropped. In my case my GCC showed no interest in the egg.


I wouldn't move the egg unless the bird showed interest in the egg.


P.S. My bird does not have a sleeping cage

That's the thing-- I have dealt egg laying with my parrot , but never with a sleep cage issue and I want someone to hopefully provide an answer based on experience.

side-note: I did recently move Noodles and her fake egg when we traveled because she was still showing interest (even though it had been many weeks). She was fine with it...
The poster who is asking doesn't know what kind of a "parent" her bird will be yet, as this is all new to her (as of tonight)...OP has an egg and a parrot in a sleep cage (but she will need to have an answer because normally her bird is in the main cage or traveling with her during the day)

I just don't know what to tell her (OP) about what to do during the day and night with cage transfers, because the bird just laid the first egg tonight in her sleep cage, and that means that if it isn't transferred tomorrow, it would be the same as removing it, which can trigger repeat laying if not enough time is allowed to pass.

A note on "interest" levels and our perception of said interest:

Noodle's interest seemed non-existent the first time she laid, but then she did it again and I realized that she just sucks at parenting but really was still interested (even though she wasn't sitting on the egg--- she was still moving it at night etc). Leaving this dummy egg in has decreased her hormonal behavior, but again, she is still interested (even though the average person would think she didn't care at all)..


I don't want OP to be in a position where the egg isn't around enough so the cycle restarts and I also don't want her bird to struggle laying the rest of the clutch due to changes.

I think if this were me I would order 2 dummy eggs off Amazon, get rid of the original (continued moving around would be a risk of breakage => extra cleanup no fun), and leave one dummy egg in each cage.

fiddlejen said:

I think if this were me I would order 2 dummy eggs off Amazon, get rid of the original (continued moving around would be a risk of breakage => extra cleanup no fun), and leave one dummy egg in each cage.

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That's not a bad idea! I am not sure if it's been done before lol but it seems like it might work (??). The issue would be if there are a bunch of eggs in each clutch. Way to think outside the box Fiddle!

if you GCC shows no interest in sitting on the eggs. Then you can just toss them and nit bother with dummy eggs. Just having an egg around for them to look at does nothing, they have no connection to it if they aren't sitting on them.

Laurasea said:

if you GCC shows no interest in sitting on the eggs. Then you can just toss them and nit bother with dummy eggs. Just having an egg around for them to look at does nothing, they have no connection to it if they aren't sitting on them.

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"no interest" is EXTREMELY hard to tell. I say this with 1000% confidence. What humans perceive to be "interest" = not the same for parrots. Think about how they can react over a new piece of furniture--- they never reacted to the old, but when the original is gone, all hell breaks lose.



I am very very confident that we should wait longer than WE think to get rid of eggs, as I have made the mistake of getting rid of 2 when Noodles (by human standards) lacked interest.


Noodles touched her egg with her butt for about 1 second and then happily left it. My human mind though "oh, okay, she clearly doesn't care." I was very wrong. I just want everyone to understand that this happened twice and got her stuck in a cycle (despite well over 6 years in sexual maturity without an egg incident). This idea that if they aren't sitting on it, they aren't attached is so very wrong for some.



The fact that OP's bird LOOKED at the egg is a sign of interest...and if not, it does no harm to leave a dummy for the cycle. I'm telling you guys-- keep them in longer than you think they are needed because birds may just be crappy moms who are still interested but don't know what to do exactly.


Noodles is VERY smart, but she has NO idea what she is doing, so a dab of instinct is involved, but the rest is unknown to her--- she seriously is fascinated but you would never know it unless you watched the position of the egg at night. At night, she moves the thing around and she often looks at it during the day (but never making herself SEEM interested). I just want everyone to be aware of the fact that a bird feeling attachment to an egg does not mean them sitting on it or constantly attending to it. That is super important and a common misconception that I once held.


I have never seen her sit on an egg for real, but she is SO in-tune with where the egg is (even when ignoring it)