I am worried about my female eclectus

[wentcountry]

:red: Hi. I adopted a pair of Eclectus and shortly after getting them the female laid a couple of eggs and sat on them for a few days and then they was gone, about a month later she laid again and before the second egg came the first one was gone, she laid the second one and sat on it for four days and now it is gone, is this normal for them to eat their eggs if they are not fertile? or is there something I need to be doing like taken them away from her so she doesn't keep doing this..

 

[Auggie's Dad]

It does not likely have anything to do with the fertility of the eggs especially when it is happening that early - with our best efforts we could not tell if the egg is fertile until later, so I'd be surprised if the birds could tell.

That being said it is not an uncommon behavior unfortunately and it rapidly becomes a habit.

Perhaps breeders can chime in her with the best way to deal with this.

Are you trying to breed them? Do they have a suitable nest box and materials? If you take the eggs away do you have another pair to foster them with? If not then what would be the purpose of taking them away?

 

[wentcountry]

No I am not really trying to breed her but I do have a couple of friends who would love to have one cause they love the male I have and would love to have one so if she does give one that would be nice,Yes on the suitable nest box and materials and No on the pair for fostering..I just couldn't understand why she was doing this and was hoping someone to help or lead me in the right driection to find out why she was doing this..
I am one of those people that can't say no and don't like to see any kind of animal put down cause they are unwanted and that is how I have ended up with 9 birds 2 dogs and 5 horses and a 4 month old colt cause I can't say no..

 

[Auggie's Dad]

Do you know if she's doing it or might the male be eating them? You could wait for the next clutch then separate the male to see.

Of course it might sound like a great fun idea to raise new little ones, but honestly if you don't have experience or work at learning all about breeding them there's a high likelihood that any young that did hatch might not survive or be healthy. Eggs being eaten may be unpleasant but its far better than the heartbreak of raising and getting to know a new little-one only to see them die later.

Just some thoughts though - I really have no experience with this, so hopefully some of our breeders will be able to help out with some knowledge.

 

[wentcountry]

You know I never thought of the male doing it and yes I have the experience of raising a young bird cause I hand raised my Blue & Gold and she is such a sweet heart and who runs the house, Non of my birds are caged they have their very own big play area that they stay in so when anyone comes in they can be played with them and loved on them and the birds can see everything that goes on. I have curtains around the area so when they are closed at night they know it is bed time, I have a cage for the eclectus in there and only the female stays in it except when the male goes in and trust me she won't let anyone but him near it and my blind afrian grey has her own cage and she only out for a few hrs a day for her protection..