Sweepea Double Clutched this year...

[Birdman666]

Well, about a month or two ago Sweepea laid three eggs. First time she's ever laid eggs. In fact she had no idea what to do with them. The first two she hung her butt over the side of her playtop and dropped them to the floor. (I discovered the mess in the morning, by stepping in goo!)

But the last one she laid on top of her playtop in the shredded phone book nest she made. She was very proud of it. And rolled it over to me with her beak... showed it off! LOOK WHAT I MADE! (Not clear on the concept of sitting on them.)

Well... Monday, she laid two more. This time, she sat on them for about a day. (Then she became bored with it. And went back to the big playstand.) I've since made the eggs disappear, and she didn't seem to notice or care.

None of these are fertile of course, no male big macs in the flock. Only member of my permanent flock that's ever laid eggs as a matter of fact, and almost all of mine are in the 15+ age group now.

 

[Birdman666]

Well she laid another one last night, and this time she is sitting on it. So I guess her instincts have finally kicked in.

She made a nest in her playtop tray, out of three phone books that she turned into confetti, I put her food and water in her nest, and I'll just let her sit there until she gets bored with it... and figures out the egg isn't going to hatch.

That is the seventh egg this year. I hope that's the last of it.

I'm going to scramble some eggs with the shell for her this weekend give her a little extra calcium.

 

[chris-md]

Are you at all concerned given her lack of history in laying? Taking any preventative measures?

 

[YUMgrinder]

aww that's cute! she rolled it over to you to show you! wish you had pics!

 

[Birdman666]

Are you at all concerned given her lack of history in laying? Taking any preventative measures?

Not at the moment.

Right now I'm letting her sit on it. She doesn't tend to sit long. The eggs are not fertile. I remove them when she loses interest.

She has been unusually hormonal this year. Masterbating with toys frequently, that sort of thing. And she's 15-ish now, so this is pretty much right on schedule. She lays the eggs just fine. Not egg bound.

I am letting her be in her little nest. I put food and water up there, and I check on her, scratch her head, etc. She seems perfectly healthy and happy. Full of happy squeals up there. She's eating fine.

I'll be adding calcium to the diet, obviously. Other than that, she's an adult female bird. It's what they do.

If she starts laying all the time, I'll be taking her to the vet, but two clutches for a first time hormonal bird isn't out of the ordinary...

 

[Birdman666]

aww that's cute! she rolled it over to you to show you! wish you had pics!

The first two, she hung her butt over the side and dropped the eggs to the floor. She didn't seem to realize what was happening or what to do.

Now, with this last egg, she's actually sitting on it.

 

[Kentuckienne]

Well she laid another one last night, and this time she is sitting on it. So I guess her instincts have finally kicked in.

She made a nest in her playtop tray, out of three phone books that she turned into confetti, I put her food and water in her nest, and I'll just let her sit there until she gets bored with it... and figures out the egg isn't going to hatch.

That is the seventh egg this year. I hope that's the last of it.

I'm going to scramble some eggs with the shell for her this weekend give her a little extra calcium.

Can I ask a question? I've been giving Gus (blue & gold rescue, 14) paper to rip up because he loves it more than anything in the world. He gets so excited just seeing the paper coming, then tears it into smaller and smaller bits until no piece ls larger than a quarter inch. The thing is, when he's doing this he starts doing something weird with his beak. He's up on the metal play top of his cage, and making some kind of constant snapping noise. I can't tell exactly what it is, but he wound up knocking a big chunk out of his lower beak this week.

So I look at him and don't know what to do...I don't want him to mess up his beak, I hate depriving him of paper to tear. Is the problem that he needs more paper, so he doesn't have to dig around for scraps? I thought this was some idiosyncratic thing, but it sounds like your bird does the same thing with the confetti production. Do you think it's ok to give him all the paper he wants, or should I worry that I'm fueling some kind of obsession?

 

[Birdman666]

My birds get phone books to shred. They've been tearing up phone books for about two decades now.

One of the best bird toys out there, and it's FREE!

Who else uses phone books anymore?!

 

[Kentuckienne]

I have some phone books, but the yellow pages have so much color printing and I think the green is copper or chromium and I hate to give him that much exposure...I'll ask around for white pages and keep him stocked up. Thanks.

 

[Birdman666]

Okay. Sweepea just laid two more eggs in the past two days. That puts her up to NINE in the past six weeks...

None of my other birds have ever laid any. She has never laid before. NOW she seems to be laying in overdrive.

Should I be concerned?! It's the right age bracket. She's due for this stuff... She's 14-15-ish now... so adult hormonal bird.

What is up with all the egg laying?!

 

[chris-md]

You know, I have no idea. However Parker is acting weird in his hormonal state this year. I have always known him to be super aggressive, but right now he's more on edgeand a little more high strong. And 80. But not amorous or aggressive. And a little more high strong. And needyBut not amorous or aggressive.

Odd hormonal behavior all around!

 

[YUMgrinder]

You know, I have no idea. However Parker is acting weird in his hormonal state this year. I have always known him to be super aggressive, but right now he's more on edgeand a little more high strong. And 80. But not amorous or aggressive. And a little more high strong. And needyBut not amorous or aggressive.

Odd hormonal behavior all around!

wait, parker is 80.. as in... 80 years old??

 

[Birdman666]

Well, she is dutifully sitting on her eggs now. Something that it didn't even occur to her to do with the first batch.

She's calm. Not aggressive. In fact, she shows off her eggs for me. I can still scratch her head. I've been putting her food and water on top at night just to make sure she eats and drinks.

The eggs aren't fertile, but I think I'll let her sit on them a bit longer to keep her from making more when I take them away.

I've five females in my flock, but none of them have ever laid before, and my oldest is 43. EVERYONE over the age of 10 is very hormonal at the moment, and like I say, this is BIOLOGICALLY right on schedule for pea pod...

I just wasn't expecting a full blown egg factory the first try.

And yes, she'll be getting scrambled eggs with the shells in them for dinner.

 

[Birdman666]

And LAST NIGHT SHE LAID TWO MORE EGGS!!! That makes TEN this year...

She's never laid before, and suddenly she's laying all the time...

Never had one do this before. Don't know what "normal" is for a bird that just starts laying like this... anyone else got a big mac that just kept laying?!

 

[Kiwibird]

Could it possibly have something to do with the addition of a baby macaw set off some kind of maternal drive in Sweepea? Has she been housed long term with baby macaws before? I know in other animals, females can spontaneously start producing milk if baby animals (not hers) are introduced because of the whole maternal instinct thing. Maybe something similar has happened, only the bird version which would be egg laying/nesting?

 

[plumsmum2005]

Have you thought about at least having a chat with your AV?

 

[Birdman666]

Could it possibly have something to do with the addition of a baby macaw set off some kind of maternal drive in Sweepea? Has she been housed long term with baby macaws before? I know in other animals, females can spontaneously start producing milk if baby animals (not hers) are introduced because of the whole maternal instinct thing. Maybe something similar has happened, only the bird version which would be egg laying/nesting?

Nah. I've hand fed baby macaws around Sweepea before... I don't think that was the trigger. She's definitely been more hormonal than usual this year.

 

[Birdman666]

Have you thought about at least having a chat with your AV?

Yeah. I'm going to have some of my birds groomed next week. I'll talk to her then.