My lovebird and laying eggs🥚🥚🥚

[MyDaisyGirl]

Okay, I've had quite the journey with my Lovebird. I am new to being a bird mom, kinda. Daisy is my love bird. I got her November of 2020 she was barely old enough to come home with us. A couple weeks back we noticed she had a bulge in her tummy between her legs. We waited several days for her to lay her egg. It never came on day 4 we took her to Avian Vet. She was gave x-rays and was egg bound they removed the egg it was really large. She was doing good she came home.

The next day we noticed she was sitting fluffed up tired and not eating. So we took her back to the vet she spent the night and passed an egg on her own. She was doing good so we brought her home. Now she has been home for 21/2 days and the vet said she will probably have one more and we have not gotten anything. She seems to pick at her feathers around her vent quite a bit today she is still eating and drinking... This bird stressing me out.

On a side note.. I was loving her to much and doing everything wrong apparently I was petting her back giving her alot of food keeping her up later. Since these events we have changed everything it's been so hard because there was things she was used to that we can't do anymore but I just feel lost. I'm hoping another egg does not get stuck because it's really expensive and I don't think I can afford to keep giving money to the vet like this any helpful tips greatly appreciated

 

[Laurasea]

So sorry.
If you click this link k it will take you to the page I hsve several articles saved about eggs. Then go to the next page for more discussion

Ornithology: Share and discuss scientific articles on parrots!

Information on diet, from a person who has observed wild parrots. His recommendations are 60% or a little less pellets, and a huge variety of vegetables, fruits , plus nuts and seeds. Ect. But has trouble generalizing as diets change seasonal and if breeding or not. He talks about increasing...

www.parrotforums.com

 

[LaManuka]

Okay, I've had quite the journey with my Lovebird. I am new to being a bird mom, kinda. Daisy is my love bird. I got her November of 2020 she was barely old enough to come home with us. A couple weeks back we noticed she had a bulge in her tummy between her legs. We waited several days for her to lay her egg. It never came on day 4 we took her to Avian Vet. She was gave x-rays and was egg bound they removed the egg it was really large. She was doing good she came home.

The next day we noticed she was sitting fluffed up tired and not eating. So we took her back to the vet she spent the night and passed an egg on her own. She was doing good so we brought her home. Now she has been home for 21/2 days and the vet said she will probably have one more and we have not gotten anything. She seems to pick at her feathers around her vent quite a bit today she is still eating and drinking... This bird stressing me out.

On a side note.. I was loving her to much and doing everything wrong apparently I was petting her back giving her alot of food keeping her up later. Since these events we have changed everything it's been so hard because there was things she was used to that we can't do anymore but I just feel lost. I'm hoping another egg does not get stuck because it's really expensive and I don't think I can afford to keep giving money to the vet like this any helpful tips greatly appreciated

Hi MyDaisyGirl, I'm sorry for the stress that your little hen is putting you through - unfortunately I understand it only too well!

My little Lilly the lorikeet was a notorious chronic egg layer and it took A LOT of effort to dissuade her from this. Once a little hen starts laying, it is likely they will continue doing so until they have laid the average clutch size for their species, which in the case of lovebirds is between 4 and 6 eggs as far as I can determine, so it's best to not remove them as it may only stimulate her to lay more. And this laying can continue to happen whether you actually give her a nest to lay them in or not - my Lilly would lay them sitting on a perch and they'd just fall to the grate below and break sometimes.

When Lilly laid eggs, I would make her a little spot where she was happy sitting on them - in her case it would be a spot on a blanket on my couch (it was Lilly, she was a bit special!), and I would leave her eggs with her to sit on, but boil them to give them some more durability. In your case you can use the little coconut that you mentioned if she's happy nesting there. My Lilly was quite a determined little sitter and would often break the shell of her eggs, ultimately I got her some dummy eggs and she was very happy sitting on those. If you boil the eggs you don't have to worry about cleaning mess off your hen, which can be a little nasty and smelly if the egg gets a bit old. The best thing to do really is replace them with dummy eggs, which you can get online from www.dummyeggs.com. They are great because your little hen should be left to sit on her eggs until she realises for herself that they are not going to hatch, which should be around 25 days or so, maybe a bit longer until she works out that she is wasting her time and gives up.

Once this cycle is over, you will need to remove her little coconut and prevent all access to anything else that even remotely resembles a nesting site. I used to have to strip all the cushions off my couch every day when Lilly was broody in order to prevent her accessing ANYTHING that she thought she could make a nest in. Also restrict high energy dense foods, so cut out fruit if your hen is eating it and get her eating more veg if she isn't already, and convert to a lower energy pelleted diet if she is not already on one. You should also try to increase calcium intake, such as providing a cuttlebone for her to chew on. If she won't chew on it, you can scrape some over her food so that she ingests it that way, and lack of calcium can be a factor in egg-binding. And keep a very close eye on her for any more signs of egg-binding too, as clearly she already has had a problem or two in that regard.

I do hope that this has been some help to you, and that you don't have to go rushing to the vet with her any more, I know how worrying these reproductive issues can be! I wish you the very best of luck with your little Daisy girl!

 

[MyDaisyGirl]

Thank you for your knowledge. Hopefully we have an egg by morning

 

[LaManuka]

Thank you for your knowledge. Hopefully we have an egg by morning

You're most welcome, I hope so too! Please let us know how she goes