Conure Wont Stop Laying Eggs

[mrsnibbles]

My conure lays eggs usually once a year and as long as I leave them alone in her cage she usually stops and only lays three or four but for whatever reason this year she has laid nine. I did just have a baby four months ago, I am wondering if that may have something to do with it. Does anyone have any ideas as to why she may be laying so many and how to stop her from laying more? I would hate for her to become egg bound or have any other health problems because of this. Thank you for any help you an give!

 

[noodles123]

1. Does she have ANY shadowy spaces, hits, bedding, low ledges, nooks, tents, huts, holes of boxes in her cage? If so, remove them. When she is out, do not allow her in bookshelves, under furniture, under curtains, under clothing, under pillows etc. NO shadowy spaces ever.

2. Is she getting 10-12 hours of sleep nightly on a regulated light schedule (e.g., 7 AM uncover, 7 PM cover).

3. Are you petting only on the head and neck?

4. Are you leaving the eggs in her cage until SHE loses interest in them?

 

[LaManuka]

My lorikeet Lilly is a notorious little egg layer. Last year she presented me with three clutches of infertile eggs (because apparently I am her “boyfriend” ) and each time it coincided with me being on leave from work. Quite a few members here have reported their hens have been a lot broodier than usual because of them suddenly spending much more time at home due to the Covid-19 lockdowns in place, and your bird may have been similarly affected. Noodles’ pointers above are spot on - I would add that you should supplement your hen’s calcium intake by taking either a cuttlebone or mineral block and scraping some of it over her food rather than adding anything to her water. If she’s a really chronic egg layer you can buy fake eggs from dummyeggs.com and swap her own eggs out. She can sit on those to her heart’s content until she loses interest and it *should* help to prevent her from laying any more. In extreme cases you can also speak to your avian vet about having a hormonal implant done, although many vets will advise diet, exercise and environmental management before medical intervention.

Once this cycle finally comes to an end, remove anything from her reach that is even remotely nesty in appearance and try to decrease highly energy dense food, so more veg and less fruit for example. I know how worrying this can be so I wish you all the very best!

 

[mrsnibbles]

1. Does she have ANY shadowy spaces, hits, bedding, low ledges, nooks, tents, huts, holes of boxes in her cage? If so, remove them. When she is out, do not allow her in bookshelves, under furniture, under curtains, under clothing, under pillows etc. NO shadowy spaces ever.

2. Is she getting 10-12 hours of sleep nightly on a regulated light schedule (e.g., 7 AM uncover, 7 PM cover).

3. Are you petting only on the head and neck?

4. Are you leaving the eggs in her cage until SHE loses interest in them?

She does have a happy hut, and she is on a light schedule 9-9
I have not been able to handle her at all because she has become very aggressive so no petting.
I still have not removed any of the eggs, even though she has dropped them to the bottom and they have broken.
I can try taking out her hut and mirrors and see what happens.

 

[mrsnibbles]

My lorikeet Lilly is a notorious little egg layer. Last year she presented me with three clutches of infertile eggs (because apparently I am her “boyfriend” ) and each time it coincided with me being on leave from work. Quite a few members here have reported their hens have been a lot broodier than usual because of them suddenly spending much more time at home due to the Covid-19 lockdowns in place, and your bird may have been similarly affected. Noodles’ pointers above are spot on - I would add that you should supplement your hen’s calcium intake by taking either a cuttlebone or mineral block and scraping some of it over her food rather than adding anything to her water. If she’s a really chronic egg layer you can buy fake eggs from dummyeggs.com and swap her own eggs out. She can sit on those to her heart’s content until she loses interest and it *should* help to prevent her from laying any more. In extreme cases you can also speak to your avian vet about having a hormonal implant done, although many vets will advise diet, exercise and environmental management before medical intervention.

Once this cycle finally comes to an end, remove anything from her reach that is even remotely nesty in appearance and try to decrease highly energy dense food, so more veg and less fruit for example. I know how worrying this can be so I wish you all the very best!

I do not work so I have always been home all the time and my boyfriend works from home as well so the lockdown hasn't changed much in our house. Honestly the only thing that has been new is our little girl was born in January and Nibs "my conure" seems to get very upset when she cries. She hasn't sat on her eggs at all, she drops them from her happy hut and then leaves them at the bottom of the cage. I have been giving her a powder food supplement for egg laying and she has a cuttlebone as well, but I have only been giving her a seed blend with fruit zupreem pellets, should I switch her to veggie zupreem for now?

 

[noodles123]

1. Does she have ANY shadowy spaces, hits, bedding, low ledges, nooks, tents, huts, holes of boxes in her cage? If so, remove them. When she is out, do not allow her in bookshelves, under furniture, under curtains, under clothing, under pillows etc. NO shadowy spaces ever.

2. Is she getting 10-12 hours of sleep nightly on a regulated light schedule (e.g., 7 AM uncover, 7 PM cover).

3. Are you petting only on the head and neck?

4. Are you leaving the eggs in her cage until SHE loses interest in them?

She does have a happy hut, and she is on a light schedule 9-9
I have not been able to handle her at all because she has become very aggressive so no petting.
I still have not removed any of the eggs, even though she has dropped them to the bottom and they have broken.
I can try taking out her hut and mirrors and see what happens.

I'd 500% remove the hut. It's like a nest. I would also leave the eggs in the future until she indicates that she is done w/ them. If they broke, that is different. The mirrors could definitely be a trigger as well. Huts, though, are notorious.

 

[LaManuka]

Hmmm ... I don’t know if your bird is observing your mammalian mothering techniques and is following suit, that would make for an interesting study!

Yep definitely remove the happy hut, they exacerbate undesirable hormonal problems as well as potentially causing blockage of the gastrointestinal tract from chewing on the synthetic fibres which cannot be digested. She may grumble about it for a few days but she really doesn’t need it and they can and do cause some pretty awful health issues.

I’d just start by removing fruit from her diet for starters. If she already eats fresh veg that’s great. Don’t make too many changes to her diet too quickly or it may upset her gut flora. You certainly can introduce a more veg-based diet but just do it a little at a time over the space of a few weeks.

If the egg laying continues unabated however it may be time for a visit to the vet to talk about what further management advice they may have or even discuss a hormonal implant to get her out of this cycle.

 

[mrsnibbles]

Ok thank you so much! I will try removing the hut and mirrors. And yes her eggs are still at the bottom.

 

[mrsnibbles]

Yeah she gets super mad when my daughter cries. I am going to take out the hut and her mirrors and ill cut back her fruit pellets and see what happens. This is the first time she has ever done this so I was super confused and worried. Thank you for all the advise!

 

[Jottlebot]

I wonder if getting fake eggs or boiling her own if any are still whole and putting a shelf in so she can sit on them might get her to finish the cycle and then remove? She might need to brood them this time round? It's a fine line between encouraging egg laying and allowing her to brood though.

 

[LaManuka]

If you do go down the track of boiling, you can do so on your stovetop in a saucepan. Start with the egg in the water at room temperature and steadily bring it to the boil to prevent the shell from cracking. Once it’s boiled for about 5 minutes or so let it cool and mark it with a felt tip pen, that way if she lays more you’ll know which one is already boiled. Boiling them will prevent your hen making a nasty smelly mess if she breaks the shell. My Lilly frequently breaks the shell of hers after about 2 weeks of determined sitting. You can also get those fake eggs I mentioned and allow your bird to work off her hormonal urges on those. The *only* issue I found with fake eggs is that, because they're indestructible, Lilly will sit on hers indefinitely, so after about 4 weeks or so I have to take them away. She would still be sitting on her last lot from December 2019 if it was up to her! But she hasn't laid any more since so fingers crossed!!

 

[mrsnibbles]

Well I moved her cage to a different location, took out her happy hut, took out her toys that have mirrors and took out her fruit blend food. I gave her new toys for distraction and a new cuttlebone as well as a mineral block. I still left her eggs on the bottom and I am going to wait and see if this helps. For now I will order some dummy eggs just in case this doesnt work but fingers crossed that it does because she laid another egg last night before I changed everything so she is at 10 eggs now. Wish me luck and thank you again!

 

[mrsnibbles]

Unfortunately she drops her eggs from her hut and its a tall cage so they all crack to some degree when they hit the bottom. So far only one has not completely cracked open but does have a small crack, but she has done that every time she laid eggs and this is the first time she has done this.

 

[LaManuka]

Yes in this case replacing them with fake eggs is probably your best bet. This along with the environmental changes to her housing and diet may be enough to stop the cycle but if it doesn’t, please do consider a trip to the vet. Sometimes it’s extremely difficult to get them out of that laying mindset and some professional intervention may be in order. Good luck!

 

[mrsnibbles]

I hope the fake eggs can get here fast! So far she hasnt shown that she is upset with the changes but we will see over the next few days! I will keep you all posted thank you again for all the help!