Solo female, egg laying question

[buurd]

My solo female rosy bourke parakeet laid an egg on feb 25, and she laid another one last night …7 whole days later.
Is this weird? She’s about 7-8 yrs old (adopted), solo, never laid eggs before this. I don’t know what to make of this. Reading up on this usually only addresses fertilized eggs. So is this normal/ok for nonfertilized eggs? Info has said the parakeet should be passing eggs every day or two days… but 7 whole days? Has anyone experienced this?

This past week she’s been eating normally (seed, grain, pellet mix), flying, singing. Eating from her cuttlebone. Even tonight she alternated between sitting on perches and laying tail up on the bottom of the cage. As soon as I put a little lined nest in there for her, she popped the egg out. She looked fine and sat up in her perch. I took the nest and the egg out. I’m not sure what to expect next.

 

[DonnaBudgie]

My solo female rosy bourke parakeet laid an egg on feb 25, and she laid another one last night …7 whole days later.
Is this weird? She’s about 7-8 yrs old (adopted), solo, never laid eggs before this. I don’t know what to make of this. Reading up on this usually only addresses fertilized eggs. So is this normal/ok for nonfertilized eggs? Info has said the parakeet should be passing eggs every day or two days… but 7 whole days? Has anyone experienced this?

This past week she’s been eating normally (seed, grain, pellet mix), flying, singing. Eating from her cuttlebone. Even tonight she alternated between sitting on perches and laying tail up on the bottom of the cage. As soon as I put a little lined nest in there for her, she popped the egg out. She looked fine and sat up in her perch. I took the nest and the egg out. I’m not sure what to expect next.

When solo females lay eggs they frequently don't lay every 1-2 days like they do when they are put in a real breeding set up with a compatible male and a nest box. Hopefully she won't continue to lay eggs. It can be difficult to get them to stop.

 

[buurd]

Thanks. She looks slim again and not doing anything suspicious, so fingers crossed. I thought I read somewhere that giving them long hours of sunlight can kick it off? But I don’t know what an appropriate amount of time in front of the window would be. She’s free to fly and go anywhere, and the blinds are open from morning til sundown.

I also have another question. Is it normal for an egg to be totally round? Her first one was egg shaped, but the second was completely round, like a tiny ping pong ball.

 

[DonnaBudgie]

Thanks. She looks slim again and not doing anything suspicious, so fingers crossed. I thought I read somewhere that giving them long hours of sunlight can kick it off? But I don’t know what an appropriate amount of time in front of the window would be. She’s free to fly and go anywhere, and the blinds are open from morning til sundown.

I also have another question. Is it normal for an egg to be totally round? Her first one was egg shaped, but the second was completely round, like a tiny ping pong ball.

I read that the shape of the eggs can vary even in the same clutch so I wouldn't worry about it. You probably should close the blinds, cover her cage and put her to sleep after about 9 or 10 hours of daylight. To a hen, longer days encourages breeding because it means more hours in the day to feed theor babies. That's one of the reasons songbirds fly to the far north to breed in the spring- the days there are 1 hours long.

 

[DonnaBudgie]

I read that the shape of the eggs can vary even in the same clutch so I wouldn't worry about it. You probably should close the blinds, cover her cage and put her to sleep after about 9 or 10 hours of daylight. To a hen, longer days encourages breeding because it means more hours in the day to feed theor babies. That's one of the reasons songbirds fly to the far north to breed in the spring- the days there are 1 hours long.

I meant to say

I read that the shape of the eggs can vary even in the same clutch so I wouldn't worry about it. You probably should close the blinds, cover her cage and put her to sleep after about 9 or 10 hours of daylight. To a hen, longer days encourages breeding because it means more hours in the day to feed theor babies. That's one of the reasons songbirds fly to the far north to breed in the spring- the days there are 1 hours long.

I meant to say that

I meant to say

I meant to say that

Days are 16+ hours long up there

 

[buurd]

Days are 16+ hours long up there

In Australia? Thank you for your replies.

She dropped another egg last night. She must’ve been quiet cause
I slept through it. I’m constantly looking at her tum and she looks as slim as usual. I’m going to do as you say, and pull the blinds. Thanks.

 

[DonnaBudgie]

In Australia? Thank you for your replies.

She dropped another egg last night. She must’ve been quiet ,cause
I slept through it. I’m constantly looking at her tum and she looks as slim as usual. I’m going to do as you say, and pull the blinds. Thanks.

You should probably cover her cage, too, and encourage her to sleep at least 12 hours a night.
I don't know much about long distance migratory birds in the Eastern Hemisphere, just North America. I did read somewhere that migratory birds don't generally fly to the far Southern Hemisphere (SH) to breed during SH summers because there isn't enough land mass down there to sustain huge populations of breeding songbirds like there is in the far north. If you look at the globe you'll see that there's far more ocean and far less land mass below the equator than above.

 

[buurd]

You should probably cover her cage, too, and encourage her to sleep at least 12 hours a night.
I don't know much about long distance migratory birds in the Eastern Hemisphere, just North America. I did read somewhere that migratory birds don't generally fly to the far Southern Hemisphere (SH) to breed during SH summers because there isn't enough land mass down there to sustain huge populations of breeding songbirds like there is in the far north. If you look at the globe you'll see that there's far more ocean and far less land mass below the equator than above.

Shes a bourke parrot. They are sedentary and nomadic, in australia.

She popped out another egg 3 days ago and I think another ones coming soon, based on her droppings.
I do cover her cage, so thats good. But she can still hear the birds outside of the house, and call to them. I’ll continue doing this but if anyone any other idea for me to get her to stop producing eggs… shes only had 3 so far and they are not fertilized.

 

[DonnaBudgie]

Shes a bourke parrot. They are sedentary and nomadic, in australia.
View attachment 48253
She popped out another egg 3 days ago and I think another ones coming soon, based on her droppings.
I do cover her cage, so thats good. But she can still hear the birds outside of the house, and call to them. I’ll continue doing this but if anyone any other idea for me to get her to stop producing eggs… shes only had 3 so far and they are not fertilized.

I just read that nomadic birds like budgies and bourkes don't really breed based on seasons like some birds like long distance migratory birds do. Apparently they travel around nomadically looking for places that have adequate water and food from recent rains. and tega

 

[DonnaBudgie]

I just read that nomadic birds like budgies and bourkes don't really breed based on seasons like some birds like long distance migratory birds do. Apparently they travel around nomadically looking for places that have adequate water and food from recent rains. and tega

Recent rains, and regardless of the time of year they will take advantage of the plentiful resources and breed. This makes it difficult to prevent breeding in captivity because bird owners are not going to deprive their birds of food and water to stop breeding behavior. There are lots of ideas floating around.on this topic and intelligent minds may disagree. Some day let them sit on the eggs until they lose interest. Some say take the eggs away. I'd try both and see what works for you.

 

[Chenetaqwa]

Recent rains, and regardless of the time of year they will take advantage of the plentiful resources and breed. This makes it difficult to prevent breeding in captivity because bird owners are not going to deprive their birds of food and water to stop breeding behavior. There are lots of ideas floating around.on this topic and intelligent minds may disagree. Some day let them sit on the eggs until they lose interest. Some say take the eggs away. I'd try both and see what works for you.

Try this ... leave the eggs for her to sit on but one at a time hard boil them and put the boiled eggs back for her to sit on ... mark them so you can find any new eggs laid... hopefully after a while she will loose interest in them when they don't hatch .. boiling them helps so they don't break and helps to prevent her from eating the eggs ...also as she's making eggs she need mineral block and cuttle bone... also not a bad idea to add egg shell to her food

 

[buurd]

Try this ... leave the eggs for her to sit on but one at a time hard boil them and put the boiled eggs back for her to sit on ... mark them so you can find any new eggs laid... hopefully after a while she will loose interest in them when they don't hatch .. boiling them helps so they don't break and helps to prevent her from eating the eggs ...also as she's making eggs she need mineral block and cuttle bone... also not a bad idea to add egg shell to her food

Thanks guys. I think she knows they are infertile because she rolled the first one out of her food dish and onto the ground. She let them all alone, and went back up to sit on her perch. I think the egg laying is speeding up though, because she had another one yesterday and is pushing one out right now, again. Since theres no male, its must be her hormones? Shes 7 or 8 now. Do parrots stop laying eggs with old age?

She has cuttlebone, its always in the cage wall. The egg shell is to replace calcium ?

 

[Chenetaqwa]

Thanks guys. I think she knows they are infertile because she rolled the first one out of her food dish and onto the ground. She let them all alone, and went back up to sit on her perch. I think the egg laying is speeding up though, because she had another one yesterday and is pushing one out right now, again. Since theres no male, its must be her hormones? Shes 7 or 8 now. Do parrots stop laying eggs with old age?

She has cuttlebone, its always in the cage wall. The egg shell is to replace calcium ?

Yes ...the process of making egg shells robbs the hens body of calcium and feeding egg shell with her food helps to replace it ... which brings me to ...if she continues to produce eggs it can be detrimental to her health ... if it continues you might want to talk to a vet

 

[buurd]

Thanks guys. I think she knows they are infertile because she rolled the first one out of her food dish and onto the ground. She let them all alone, and went back up to sit on her perch. I think the egg laying is speeding up though, because she had another one yesterday and is pushing one out right now, again. Since theres no male, its must be her hormones? Shes 7 or 8 now. Do parrots stop laying eggs with old age?

Yes ...the process of making egg shells robbs the hens body of calcium and feeding egg shell with her food helps to replace it ... which brings me to ...if she continues to produce eggs it can be detrimental to her health ... if it continues you might want to talk to a vet

This will be her 5th egg in about 2weeks. Is that excessive?

 

[Chenetaqwa]

This will be her 5th egg in about 2weeks. Is that excessive?

Give her another week and see what happens... feed the egg shells ... I give my birds a smashed up hard boiled egg shell and all once a week on their feeding schedule year round... I treat my female green cheek conure as if she's breeding even though I'm not ... just in case she manages to get together with my male ...
Vegetable about 60% of diet
Pellets about 20 %
Fruit about 10 %
Seeds about 10 %
Mixed with vegetables one day weekly the hardboiled eggs
I feed this diet to all 4 budgies and 2 green cheek conure

 

[DonnaBudgie]

Thanks guys. I think she knows they are infertile because she rolled the first one out of her food dish and onto the ground. She let them all alone, and went back up to sit on her perch. I think the egg laying is speeding up though, because she had another one yesterday and is pushing one out right now, again. Since theres no male, its must be her hormones? Shes 7 or 8 now. Do parrots stop laying eggs with old age?

She has cuttlebone, its always in the cage wall. The egg shell is to replace calcium ?

I would put Calcivet in her water to supplement vitamin D3 and calcium in the most efficient way. It can also be dosed directly in her beak if she gets egg bound. It will raise her blood calcium very quickly allowing her cloaca muscles to contract strongly enough to expell a retained egg. Muscles need calcium from the bloodstream to contract and low blood calcium is a cause of egg binding. I got this information from my avian vet. Good luck!

 

[Chenetaqwa]

I would put Calcivet in her water to supplement vitamin D3 and calcium in the most efficient way. It can also be dosed directly in her beak if she gets egg bound. It will raise her blood calcium very quickly allowing her cloaca muscles to contract strongly enough to expell a retained egg. Muscles need calcium from the bloodstream to contract and low blood calcium is a cause of egg binding. I got this information from my avian vet. Good luck!

Hmmmm
I learned something from you... calcivet... I never heard of it before but I just ordered it from Walmart.
I love the internet for accessing information and connecting with others like this ...it's great

 

[buurd]

Give her another week and see what happens... feed the egg shells ... I give my birds a smashed up hard boiled egg shell and all once a week on their feeding schedule year round... I treat my female green cheek conure as if she's breeding even though I'm not ... just in case she manages to get together with my male ...
Vegetable about 60% of diet
Pellets about 20 %
Fruit about 10 %
Seeds about 10 %
Mixed with vegetables one day weekly the hardboiled eggs
I feed this diet to all 4 budgies and 2 green cheek conure

I would put Calcivet in her water to supplement vitamin D3 and calcium in the most efficient way. It can also be dosed directly in her beak if she gets egg bound. It will raise her blood calcium very quickly allowing her cloaca muscles to contract strongly enough to expell a retained egg. Muscles need calcium from the bloodstream to contract and low blood calcium is a cause of egg binding. I got this information from my avian vet. Good luck!

Omg thank you! Im going to find this now and I’ll let you know how it goes. I just watched a clip that said lack of vitamin d3 is a big culprit and it makes sense because shes stuck indoors.

Edit: It also said too much calcium is bad, and that they need d3 with it, for absorption And to stop feeding hemp and oats, which I have been giving her some oat groats and hemp seeds with her pellets, so I wonder if that caused this…

 

[buurd]

I’m not going to put calcium in her water because she does hit that cuttlebone a few times a day, at least twice. Im here with her, so I know firsthand, and I don’t want to overdose her. I’m just giving her boiled crushed egg shell, and shes already had some, so she must know she needs it. The Calcivet I will hold off on giving her unless and until she is having difficulty laying the egg. So fingers crossed.

 

[DonnaBudgie]

I’m not going to put calcium in her water because she does hit that cuttlebone a few times a day, at least twice. Im here with her, so I know firsthand, and I don’t want to overdose her. I’m just giving her boiled crushed egg shell, and shes already had some, so she must know she needs it. The Calcivet I will hold off on giving her unless and until she is having difficulty laying the egg. So fingers crossed.

Great strategy. A bird that eats such a healthy diet doesn't need supplements. If she gets egg bound pick her up and give a few drops undiluted right into her mouth and the egg should pop out within 30 minutes. I hope you never have a situation where you need to do it! Good luck.