I need help from those with Conure experience

Ned444

New member
Jun 27, 2015
2
0
Ontario Canada
Parrots
Kiwi- Cinnamon Conure
Buddy- Regular Green Cheek Conure
I need help from those with experience.
A bit of background. I have my female Conure “Kiwi” who is almost 5, have had here since she was a baby. We rescued our male “Buddy” at about a year old, we have had him a 1 1/2yrs. Kiwi and buddy hated each for the almost the 1st year than feel in love and started sharing a cage. We did keep the 2nd cage in case its ever needed. We added a nesting box in case mother nature took over, they ignored it till a couple of weeks a go. Here is the problem today. They set up the nest the way they wanted and Kiwi laid her 1st egg on Thursday, today is Sunday and there has been no other eggs laid, she is happy and healthy and currently eating a cherry next to me. She is showering me with love and regurgitating on me. She does not appear to be egg bound. They both spend a lot of time in the nest and were up all night again which is very unusual for them, we really thought there would be another egg this morning. Everything I’ve read says she should have laid another egg by now. Will a Conure only lay one egg? Should I be worried? Is there anything I can do to help her? Any advise would be appreciated. Thank you
 
G

gafdshbfsdahb

Guest
I'm not really a conure expert, but it definetely seems like she is about to lay eggs by the way she's behaving. Just to be sure, take her to the vet.:)
 

noodles123

Well-known member
Jul 11, 2018
8,145
472
Parrots
Umbrella Cockatoo- 15? years old..I think?
Not a conure expert here either, but regurgitation and the presence of another bird (especially of the opposite sex, but sometimes even same-sex) is likely indicative of heightened hormones etc (the presence of another bird can be a trigger for hormones and regurgitation is proof that your bird is hormonal). This goes for all birds (regardless of species). If you put a male and a female together, nature will sometimes "take over"...especially when you encourage it to do so...Aside from removing access to all shadowy spaces (huts, under furniture, nest-boxes, drawers, blankets, pillows, tents, boxes, under clothing, low ledges etc) refrain from "snuggling" your birds---head and neck petting is the only non-sexual form of contact....That is, unless you really want a bunch of babies and have money for new cages etc.

You should NEVER add a nest box unless you WANT babies. A single female bird can even start laying eggs when presented with a nest box or nest-like environment (which is hazardous to her health).
Birds are encouraged to mate by these. While I understand your logic, it is terribly flawed. Although birds can still produce eggs without nest boxes, the presence of a nest box increases the likelihood of reproduction and egg creation SIGNIFICANTLY (even in a single parrot cage----dark spaces etc trigger hormonal release even in the absence of a male, but more so when one is present). If a bird gets "pregnant", it doesn't have to have a nest box to lay the egg, but by putting a nest-box in the cage, you increase the chances of your bird getting "pregnant" (kind of like a young married couple who finally buys a nice 4-bedroom house in the suburbs LOL--"a studio apartment in a sketchy area is no place to raise a kid, BUT now that we have our dream house and a good school district, let's do it!" ).

Birds DO normally lay eggs in clutches, so I would get your bird to the vet for a check-up (even though what you say is promising in terms of health. Sometimes eggs can be a few days in between.

Are you planning on allowing these eggs to go to term? If so, what do you plan to do with the babies? They WILL mate and inbreed eventually....so each bird will need its own cage.
You really shouldn't keep a male and female bird in the same cage unless you want eggs, but if you get them, it is VERY complicated (and birds sometimes are crap parents who can kill or neglect their babies)....Aggression can increase...You may end up having to intervene....

I hope you are ready for that if you go the hatching route (it's not guaranteed, but it is important to be aware of how crazy things can get)
If not, you might consider boiling the egg and then returning it to the cage as soon as it is cool (With a mark on it, in case other eggs are laid and need to be boiled). It sounds terrible, but this is why I am not a fan of people keeping birds of opposite genders in the same cage--- a hormonal female housed by herself may lay an egg (which is risky for health) but at least then you don't have to boil it.

If you plan on preventing chicks, then make sure you leave them in the cage until the entire clutch is present--- if you remove them too early, you will just encourage new mating/egg-laying/hormonal cycles. You can boil them individually but you have to return them and leave them until they lose interest. This is very important.

Make sure your are not encouraging nesting by removing dark spaces from in and around the cage...Do not encourage regurgitation....
If you don't want babies, I would separate them...Sadly, this may stress them out, but egg-binding is a real risk for female birds!

Make sure she has access to green vegetables/ cuttle-bone etc (lots of calcium). The other risk of keeping 2 in the same cage is that you do not know who is eating what...
 
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Ned444

Ned444

New member
Jun 27, 2015
2
0
Ontario Canada
Parrots
Kiwi- Cinnamon Conure
Buddy- Regular Green Cheek Conure
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  • #4
Kiwi finally laid another egg. Thank you for the help.
 

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