female birds and "laying"

[Rana]

Hi Guys,

Just wondering, Bandit is a young female (as far as we know - the age part, we're 100% on the female part)
and regardless of being a "pet" and not a breeding bird, I was wondering if it's necessary for me to fascilitate anything special in case she ever decides to pop an egg out?

Sorry if this is one of those "there's no silly questions, just silly answers thing" but i honestly haven't a clue if female birds have "special needs"...

 

[Karigan]

Not really. If you see her nesting (ripping up paper for a nest) or acting very hormonal and doing the skirt dance, then just make sure that there is nothing she can use as a nest box and try to ignore any sexual behaviour towards you. If she does start popping out eggs, alter her cage and take out whatever she laid them in and make sure she has enough calcium in her diet.

 

[MonicaMc]

You can either allow her to go through the natural cycle, or discourage her if she ever starts laying.

Here's a list of suggestions you could try to get a hen out of egg laying mode.

• Remove Eggs
  • Rearrange the cage
  • Move the cage to a new location
  • Use a cage grate
  • Get a new cage/Use a different cage
  • 12-14 hours of complete darkness
  • Decreace calcium and protein within the diet (if she is on a high calcium & protein diet prior to laying eggs)
  • Remove anything that could be taken as a nest
  • Remove anything that could be used as nesting material
  • Don't allow her in any dark place or enclosed area
  • IMPORTANT: save the eggs in the fridge
  • If she lays more than 3-4 eggs, put them back in the cage
• Leave the Eggs
  • Leave the eggs alone in the cage
  • [Optional] Replace with fake eggs (prevent eggs from breaking)
  • Increase calcium
  • Let hen sit on eggs for 3-4 weeks or until she gets bored of them
  • Once done sitting, toss

If she becomes too hormonal and starts masturbating or trying to, you can try and discourage her from doing so by teaching behaviors/tricks that are incompatible with her trying to masturbate.

 

[Rana]

thanks for all the tips!