What Do You do When She Will Not Get Off Her....

Greetings Parronts and Bird Breeders,

I have a Female U2 who is 9 years old. I have had her for 2.5 years. She has also laid eggs during that time, losing interest in them after a few days, and she figures out that they are not fertile. This is the second eggs she has laid this year and for some reason she has sat on it now for almost two weeks. I replaced the egg with a hollow egg 13 days ago. This time she has not lost interest in it. She leaves her cage long enough to eat and then she want to go immediately back to her cage so she can sit on this hollow egg...I do not understand it at all. I tried to remove the hollow egg when we were preparing her cage for bedtime, but the first thing she did was when she entered the cage was to look for this egg. She became very agitated looking for it, so I returned it back to the cage, and then she calmed down and again tucked in under her. During the day she does not even want to leave this egg or her cage unless she is hungry. She then eats and then wants to go back to her egg that is in the cage. I leave her un-covered and the door to the cage open. She is very protective also with hissing and puffing her feathers when my husband or I just walk by the cage. She is on a diet that includes fresh fruits and veggies, along with Zupreme Pellets and I use Kaytee Nutri- Berries for treats and rewards for training. Have any of you experienced this behavior before? Should I go and locate a mate for her? Should I remove the egg and just not give it back to her? no matter how irritated she gets.... I do not want to cause her any trauma or any other problems by the sudden removal of this dummy egg. I truly do not know what to do about it. Any advice, or comments you may have would be greatly appreciated. I pray that one of you Parronts out there may have experienced, or dealt with this kind of behavior. I apologize for the post being so lengthily but I felt that details were important. Thank you in advance for your time and interest in helping us. Have a blessed day.

Thank-you, for the long and detailed Thread!!!

With hope this Post will bump you into the afternoon and by that time, one of the Breeders will be in and can comment.

It is interesting that she has extended her behavior this time!

Just way outside of the box thinking here, if you have other hollow eyes, keep them cold and when she is out, switch to a cold egg!?!?!

Hello!!

I'm sorry I am of no help as to what to do with the egg, I'm hoping some experienced female cockatoo owners or breeders can help out here.

If anything, I do not suggest getting her a mate. She's just in breeding mode, and adding another bird could possibly add to the aggression she has now for her egg, they may not get along, it would be added vet bills, etc.

So I guess your options would be to just let her lay on it until she gets bored of it finally (who knows how long that could take, another couple weeks, a month?) or you could remove it and let her be agitated for a day or two, though I'm not sure if this is the right thing to do, either.

Any others want to share their 2 cents??

I assume Sheba has a nest-box and this is where the egg-laying takes place? My guidance below is based on the affirmative!

If you have no desire to breed additional U2s, perhaps the nest should be removed. Having an enclosed and dark area may seem beneficial but in fact stimulates the desire to procreate and can make a female more aggressive. Should you desire to have Sheba breed, please very carefully consider this action as U2s are among the most temperamental and re-homed/abandoned of cockatoos.

Not trying to make a value judgment for you, but breeding cockatoos is complex and fraught with hazard on many levels.

First of all, I second highly advising against introducing a second bird unless you actually intend to breed your bird, and even then you should first talk to some breeders first, maybe even spend a day with them to get the full crazy experience. I don't think you want your U2 to be a breeder, I feel like you want her to be a friendly family bird again. Encouraging hormonal breeding behavior is not the route to go if you want this. It's also very dangerous for all the birds involved. My U2 has many missing toes because she was at some point owned by a breeder who tried to introduce her to a male and they did not take well...would you really like to expose your bird to such risks?

Second of all, I do suggest you go see your vet about this as he can probably advise you best, especially on possible diet changes to make sure your baby doesn't become egg bound or have any other problems related to egg laying. I also suggest doing all of the standard things to reduce hormonal behavior like making sure she gets 12 hours of sleep, removing nesting conditions, watch where you're petting her, etc. Your vet could also talk to you more about more dramatic actions like hormone reducing implants, which I have never used but I have heard about being effective.

For my bird w egg laying behavior, I never take away dummy eggs as I just fear she will make more. I have never had mine have as long of an interest as yours obviously. Patience is a virtue though and in the mean time you can definitely try to change all the other factors to see if they improve her behavior

I'm bumping this again so it'll be seen by the folks who have been thru these things and can help.
My heart breaks for the want-to-be-mom. She feels the need Ulta nurture and love and this is the strongest instinct in almost all females, regardless if human or otherwise.
Good luck!

Breeding cockatoos is a complex and often disappointing or hazardous experience. While not a breeder per se, I have experience with two species:

Goffins: Bought a wild-caught pair nearly 30 years ago and placed them in a large cage with nest. Took nearly 10 years before they produced live offspring. Refused to feed them past day 2 or 3, so my mom had the joy of hand-feeding round the clock! Next box was eventually removed, and the pair lived in bliss. About 10 years ago the male became progressively more aggressive, leading to some mangled toes and a topical head injury to the female. Immediately separated them, so the male lives in a large flight cage and the female lives with 2 of her 3 offspring.

Citrons: Gave them a next box and they set up house, but never fertile eggs. Eventually male aggression developed, and they were separated.