Plucking while sitting on eggs???

[southern_feathers]

Will a female cockatiel normally pluck her chest while she is sitting on a clutch of eggs??? I just noticed that Syd is missing some feathers on her chest. Not a lot but if you brush the feathers on her chest up you can definitely tell. The eggs are infertile by the way and she rarely gets up but for food, water, and poop breaks.

 

[suebee]

if she is lining the nest then yes, i know birds line there nests with there feathers

 

[MikeyTN]

Not Cockatiels! They don't nest by plucking! What kind of nesting material are you giving her? Or is she just laying on the bottom?

 

[southern_feathers]

None. She laid them in her one of her food bowls on top of her food.

 

[MikeyTN]

Are you finding the feathers or you think she's plucking? The females some times will have feathers from her head to neck being plucked by the male during mating or dominating period. But to pluck while nesting would be a no!

 

[southern_feathers]

That's the thing I have found very few feathers. And while the affected area is actually very small I would expect to see more feathers than I do. And she lives by herself in her cage. So no one else is plucking them fore her.

 

[MikeyTN]

That's the thing I have found very few feathers. And while the affected area is actually very small I would expect to see more feathers than I do. And she lives by herself in her cage. So no one else is plucking them fore her.

If you could post a pic, it would be great!

 

[southern_feathers]

Well here are a few pics. The first is just a normal pic to show you that under normal circumstances that you cant really tell. But where her feathers kinda swirl is where there bald patch is. In the second picture i have spread the feathers apart to show the bald spot. Its like that a good bit up the breast bone.

By the way, that second one was EXTREMELY hard to get. lol!!!

 

[MikeyTN]

I think she'll be fine! Keep an eye on her. Let her sit on the eggs until she's tired of them. Are you providing her cuttle bone, mineral blocks, and oyster shells?

 

[southern_feathers]

Yea thats what i did with the last clutch. She stopped sitting on them so I tossed them. Ima leave these in there as long as possible. She has been getting cuttlebones, shes gone through two this clutch. I havent provided mineral blocks, thought they just needed the cuttlebone while laying. Never heard of using oyster shells before. Should I be providing all three simutaneously?

 

[MikeyTN]

That's something what I've always provided when they're laying. I let them choose, my girl goes after all 3 when she's laying eggs. Oyster shells provide calcium as well like the cuttle bone. Is she thinking your her mate? I have a girl that did that to me and I almost lost her. She was a chronic egg layer, she don't even sit on them but she kept laying. I was extremely worried about her and one day she got egg bound and it almost killed her. She squeeze so hard to push it out while I wasn't home, there was blood everywhere and she pushed part of her insides out. I managed to save her life and I kept my distance from her, once she got better I placed her in the big cage with all the other birds. She's very healthy now, she's not as close to me as she once was but I'm just happy that she's still alive. She laid 20 something eggs in a row none stop....This happened back in Jan/Feb.

 

[southern_feathers]

Im not really sure if she considers me her mate or not. She definitely favors me over my fiance. But she has never tried to mate with me. So far she has laid 8 eggs. She laid the first clutch at the beginning of July and I let her sit on them all month. I think Im gonna try and fine some dummy eggs for after she is done with these just to be safe.

 

[henpecked]

No one else said anything about it so i will,The plucking you asked about is called a brood patch,many birds do it to help warm the eggs back up quicker when's she's been off them. Also if you don't want your hen sitting eggs and laying more eggs buy some fake eggs and give them to her when she starts to lay.I'd give her at least as many as she can sit ,that should keep her from laying.

 

[MikeyTN]

No one else said anything about it so i will,The plucking you asked about is called a brood patch,many birds do it to help warm the eggs back up quicker when's she's been off them. Also if you don't want your hen sitting eggs and laying more eggs buy some fake eggs and give them to her when she starts to lay.I'd give her at least as many as she can sit ,that should keep her from laying.

There's a brood patch yes but they don't pluck to get a brood patch. Fake eggs don't work on a excessive laying hen. A batch of 4 eggs is pretty normal for a cockatiel. But like you said that patch is a brood patch and fake eggs could help on a regular laying hen.

 

[southern_feathers]

No one else said anything about it so i will,The plucking you asked about is called a brood patch,many birds do it to help warm the eggs back up quicker when's she's been off them. Also if you don't want your hen sitting eggs and laying more eggs buy some fake eggs and give them to her when she starts to lay.I'd give her at least as many as she can sit ,that should keep her from laying.

There's a brood patch yes but they don't pluck to get a brood patch. Fake eggs don't work on a excessive laying hen. A batch of 4 eggs is pretty normal for a cockatiel. But like you said that patch is a brood patch and fake eggs could help on a regular laying hen.

So the feathers just fall out themselves from the hormones her body releases when she lays eggs I'm guessing?? Yea, her last clutch was 4 eggs and this one is 4 as well. I am planning on getting some dunny eggs to at least try and trick her. If you have any suggestions on a particular brand or type Id gladly take them. I found some solid plastic ones online but I dont know if there is something better to use?

 

[henpecked]

Those should work fine, when she starts laying next time just put those in her nest and she'll think she laid them and hopefully not lay any more.

 

[southern_feathers]

Good deal! Thanks for all your help everyone!