New Member with a broody Conure

[Davidio]

Hi, My name is David and I have a Sun Conure who will be 9 years old in May. We thought that Ciro was a male until she laid eggs. Now we call her Cira. Cira has had several clutches of eggs. I have lost count of how many eggs. She gets a little stressed towards the end of each clutch, but survives really well.
Cira is a really affectionate bird. A bit noisy at times and a bit messy because she has complete freedom to fly.
Since we bought a new much larger cage and playpen for her she stopped laying eggs until just recently when she laid a clutch of two. For the first time she has become very broody and is sitting on the eggs (previously she ignored the eggs). I feel very sorry for her because I feel sure she hopes to have young. I wish I knew what to do?

 

[Taw5106]

Hi and welcome. I had a cockatiel that I thought was a boy but after she laid an egg, well I gave her a good name when she was born, Sam. She kept laying eggs and I got concerned so I started researching and learned that they will lay when they feel comfortable and safe. But laying so many eggs can deplete their calcium so suggestions I read was to change their environment. I did, and she got comfortable again, and laid again. My resolution was to lower her cage but not too low so my dog Tess was more visible. As long as Sam could see Tess really well, she stopped. Tess never was aggressive with Sam but it worked and she never laid another egg. That's my experience and what worked for me. Good luck.

 

[Sterling1113]

Hello and welcome to the forum! Cira is a beautiful conure. I love Suns.
I don't know much about PREVENTING egg laying, as some birds do it without any incentives (other birds, etc) and some just don't, and some do it sometimes in season. I'm pretty sure there's some herbal treatments out there that sort of "nullify" her urge to lay, but I haven't looked into them myself and I'd recommend you research it beforehand just to make sure there's no weird side effects that I haven't heard about.
But when it comes to the actual egg laying, if you're sure she isn't laying fertile eggs,(pretty easy to assume if she's an only bird.) then you can swap them out for fake eggs. So that way they don't end up breaking/smelling rotten, and she'll realize they aren't going to hatch and eventually abandon them. Best of luck with your feathered friend