Female pineapple conure

[llocklear47]

Hello, I'm new here. We just found out Christmas day that our conure is a female. We got her from a friend when she was 2 years old and was told that she's a male. Well she's 12 years old now and we found a egg in the cage. Til this day she's laid 11 eggs, never laid any til now. But, now she's bald on her stomach and middle of her back. She has us worried it sounds so weird calling Asher a her.
Should we be concerned?

 

[Owlet]

Do not take the eggs. Either leave them or replace them with a dummy egg. Taking eggs will encourage them to lay more to replace the missing eggs. Leave her with the eggs/dummies until she gets bored of them.

 

[LaManuka]

Welcome to the forums, llocklear47, I'm sorry that it's under these worrying circumstances however.

What have you been doing with the eggs that Asher has laid so far? As Owlet mentioned, ideally they should be left with your little hen for her to work off her maternal yearnings on, as taking them away too early will generally result in her laying more to replace them. This would probably be around 25 days for a conure. maybe more until she loses interest of her own accord.

You can buy fake eggs from www.dummyeggs.com and swap her own eggs out, that way your hen can sit on those to her heart’s content until she loses interest and it *should* help to prevent her from laying any more. You can also boil the eggs that Asher has already laid in order to make them a bit more durable, because she really should be left to sit on those eggs until realises they're not going to hatch and she loses interest in them. Boiling the eggs also means you don't have a nasty, smelly mess to clean up and clean off of your bird if she does happen to break the shell, but dummy eggs are the best thing in these circumstances.

Once this cycle finally comes to an end, you should then remove anything from her reach that is even remotely nesty in appearance, and try to decrease highly energy dense food, so more veg and less fruit for example. It might also be worth your while having her checked out by a certified avian vet, particularly if she has not had a wellness check in the last 12 months or so.

I know how worrying this can be so I wish you all the very best!

 

[llocklear47]

Welcome to the forums, llocklear47, I'm sorry that it's under these worrying circumstances however.

What have you been doing with the eggs that Asher has laid so far? As Owlet mentioned, ideally they should be left with your little hen for her to work off her maternal yearnings on, as taking them away too early will generally result in her laying more to replace them. This would probably be around 25 days for a conure. maybe more until she loses interest of her own accord.

You can buy fake eggs from www.dummyeggs.com and swap her own eggs out, that way your hen can sit on those to her heart’s content until she loses interest and it *should* help to prevent her from laying any more. You can also boil the eggs that Asher has already laid in order to make them a bit more durable, because she really should be left to sit on those eggs until realises they're not going to hatch and she loses interest in them. Boiling the eggs also means you don't have a nasty, smelly mess to clean up and clean off of your bird if she does happen to break the shell, but dummy eggs are the best thing in these circumstances.

Once this cycle finally comes to an end, you should then remove anything from her reach that is even remotely nesty in appearance, and try to decrease highly energy dense food, so more veg and less fruit for example. It might also be worth your while having her checked out by a certified avian vet, particularly if she has not had a wellness check in the last 12 months or so.

I know how worrying this can be so I wish you all the very best!

Yes, we've been taking them out. But we've left 2 in and she's been laying on them. What about her balding, is that normal?

 

[LaManuka]

Yes, we've been taking them out. But we've left 2 in and she's been laying on them. What about her balding, is that normal?

I am not intimately familiar with conure hens - my experience was with a chronic egg laying lorikeet - but some species seem to have a habit of pulling chest or belly feathers out in order to line the nest with them. Obviously I can't tell from here if this is definitely what's happening, but it's what some do in the wild. I would definitely leave the two remaining eggs in there for her to continue sitting on, and boil them to make them a bit more durable. It's a REALLY good idea to try to get your hands on some of those dummy eggs if you can.

Once this cycle of laying is over, I think you should seriously consider having her wellness checked by an avian vet, as chronic egg laying can become a serious health issue for some hens. Just in case you need help in finding one, this link may assist you

https://www.aav.org/search/custom.asp?id=1803