Caique sitting on eggs

[Caiquetiels]

Oh, that may be my fault. The pet store told me that they got hormonal because I was playing with them, it was lighter out longer, and I pet them on their backs. I have been making them go to bed at 7 and I am not using light in my living room so they think it's winter.

So I took egg #1 away and neither knew it was gone. I'll take #2 out tomorrow and #3 out Sat. So, after the eggs are gone, I should play with them and keep it light in room til bedtime?

PS-I haven't been cutting their wings for years so they exercise, but when the male got hormonal, he chased me daily to land on my shoulder and peck my neck. He stopped after I had one wing cut, but then she had her egg 3 days later. Should I keep one wing cut so he doesn't get power? The pet store owner said it chills them out.

 

[noodles123]

Oh, that may be my fault. The pet store told me that they got hormonal because I was playing with them, it was lighter out longer, and I pet them on their backs. I have been making them go to bed at 7 and I am not using light in my living room so they think it's winter.

So I took egg #1 away and neither knew it was gone. I'll take #2 out tomorrow and #3 out Sat. So, after the eggs are gone, I should play with them and keep it light in room til bedtime?

PS-I haven't been cutting their wings for years so they exercise, but when the male got hormonal, he chased me daily to land on my shoulder and peck my neck. He stopped after I had one wing cut, but then she had her egg 3 days later. Should I keep one wing cut so he doesn't get power? The pet store owner said it chills them out.

You want them on a set night/light schedule of 10-12 hours a day in keeping with whatever is normal in their native habitat.
You DO NOT want shadowy spaces around....
too much touching anyplace other than the head and neck can certainly make them hormonal!
It isn't a dominance thing with birds...there is no "I HAVE THE POWER!"-- that is a dog mindset...and it is problematic. I am not saying trimming is always wrong, but you can't think this way

 

[Talven]

"I HAVE THE POWER!"

*Insert image of Caique in He-Man pose with the sword of Greyskull*

Geez showing my age a little there.

 

[Caiquetiels]

Noodles, I thought I was done with advice, but I'm not.

The female seemed ok Friday night to not have any eggs. I took it away, she looked for it, then came out and enjoyed life. She wanted to be scratched for 5 min, til she started panting. She seemed so happy.

Sat-they both screamed and screamed, and were restless. I caught them trying to mate twice outside of the cage, but if I stand up they get distracted so they never finished. I've never seen them mate inside the cage, but I have an open door policy when I'm home. They can go in the cage or come out and play anytime. I ended up bringing one at a time to the couch to play, but the female can fly.

Sun-they were still screaming and I had them on the couch with me and they were trying to find a place for a nest. Trying to mate again......so I gave her the eggs back so she would get distracted until I can find a new vet. My vet from years ago moved.

I do not have a 2nd cage for them. Just a travel cage. I put the 3 eggs back and they were all excited, moving them around, but she didn't sit on them and she slept next to the boy over night. What do I do since she is hell-bent on having babies?

 

[noodles123]

Eek...I mean, it's a tough call and a highly personal decision.
I probably wouldn't have given the eggs back, as you may now have to wait for them to lose interest again...Then again, I guess I get why you did, as you don't want her laying a new set of eggs and stressing her body, so that was a tough call (considering you don't have a vet...so I may have done the same thing...who knows...tough choice). I actually have no idea what I would have done lol! Now that I think about what a tough situation it is.

I wouldn't let them access bedding (couches, under furniture, shelves, drawers, blankets, pillows, low shelves, huts, tents, boxes etc). Don't bring them to places like a couch where they could easily nest (that's one of my bird's fav places to get hormonal...same with my lap, cabinets and boxes if she can find them).

There will have to be some changes to get them out of hormone mode at some point (IMO), because the status quo is what led to this---so..Hard to say what to do exactly but doing the same things will just lead to more of the same.

They are going to mate if the opportunity is there...you may have to adjust your routine a bit. It's a tough call because they are a male and a female and nature is strong like that...The fact that they are housed together means they could be mating when you aren't home..They are housed together, right?

Physical barriers will be the only way to prevent them from mating....but obviously separating them is going to stress them out too....so it's not a simple situation at all, but as long as they are housed together you will have this risk...

Ideally, a male and female wouldn't be together if you were worried about mating/eggs etc, but again, I know it is what it is at this point. At the very very least, you may need to seriously restrict their access to the house as a whole during this time if everything is a potential nest...

I really don't have a good answer...
I mean, if you don't want hormones/babies, the most traditional options are:
1. minimize triggers
and/or
2. keep them in separate cages and don't let them out at the same time.

But that's a given...and I know they are bonded and it isn't that simple....

How's the vet search going?

**OH-- You COULD try moving the cage or rearranging it ***This sometimes will throw them off their rhythm a bit and make them less likely to feel so hormonal, but it may be a bit of a long-shot given all that is going on***

 

[Caiquetiels]

When I took the female to the vet to pass egg #2, she said she does not recommend the hormone shot as she is in her prime and it gets less effective the more you use it.

So I called the old vet I went to, and the new vet doesn't know much about birds. They referred me to an ER clinic, and I kept getting stuck in a loop with nobody answering.

Then I called the pet store who only deals with birds. I've been going there for 17 years. The woman doesn't recommend separate cages and says she may still try to lay eggs even without the male, so she said keep the eggs there as a distraction until I can find a vet to respond.

This happened with my cockatiels. After they had their babies and I took over the hand feeding, the parents got right back to it, so I had to separate the pair, but she still had one egg every few months.

I'm going to monitor her weight and make sure she eats the smoothies/eggs/calcium until I see what she does. She has the itch now

 

[Caiquetiels]

Noodles-leaving the fake eggs is totally helping. The female is not sitting on them but she rolls them around a few times a day. She has not gained any weight. The boy guards the eggs. I caught them trying to mate a few times Friday, but if I stand up they stop. All I have to do is reach inside the cage and they both run to the eggs and they forget about mating. They are confused, but not trying to have more. Whew