Need advice

Hello All,
I am new here and joined because I am at a loss as to what to do.
The day before Thanksgiving, I rescued a Lutino Lovie from certain death. I took food, and a few toys. From what I was told, it was a male, about 2 years old. Raised in a happy hut, no interaction whatsoever. (I found that out the hard way). In Dec, "He" laid an egg. Surprise! It's a girl!
She would kick the egg, push the egg, break the egg. A month later, another egg. Same thing, broke it. So I took away her happy hut. In Feb, another egg.
She has no nest building toys, no hut, no dark places to hide, goes to bed in complete darkness early. I move her toys around, I move her cage around, I limit her food (and even changed her food as the food she had was horrible), and in the past week and a half, she has laid 5 eggs. I have tried plastic eggs, I have boiled her eggs and swapped them out, she wants NOTHING to do with them. She has zero interest in laying on them. I put them near her, she pushes them away. I come home from work, they are scattered all over the cage. I am at a complete loss as to what to do with, A. eggs she doesn't want. and B. To stop the egg cycle. Any advise would be greatly appreciated. (I am trying hard to avoid the Lupron shots, as I heard they are hit or miss, and expensive.) Thank you.

Hello and welcome! Thanks for reaching out to us here. I have no experience with lovebirds but I do have a little experience with egg-laying. As for her not wanting the eggs, I would just take them out and toss them in the garbage. As to how to stop her from laying, you seem to have done lots of the things I would've recommended. Until another more experienced member replies to this thread, I'm wondering if you are offering her some cuttle bone. It's high in calcium, my two enjoy it, and it will help her with all the calcium she's losing from making those eggs.

It is that time of year for hormones to be high, and the urge to reproduce in birds gets really intense sometimes, so females will instinctively try to lay. That's good you got her on a better diet, but I don't think you necessarily need to be 'limiting' her food. You should be offering her the same amount every day. My two cockatiels will go through about 1/2-2/3 cup a day of their food, together.

Thank you. Makes me feel better. Yes, she has 2 cuttlebones actually. The regular white one, and one she picked out in the store. She actually talks now and says, "That's Good". So I held up strawberry and grape. She didn't say anything for the grape, and "That's good" for the strawberry. She seems to like it.
I'm really not sure if she laid eggs with her former owner or not. No one seemed to notice anything she did. She was around 3 barking dogs, that faught, a rat that lost the use of it's back legs, and I saw kitty litter, so there must have been a few cats. She was probably terrified to lay an egg. She will let me hold her and kiss her, on her terms, so I am working with her, it's the just the egg thing is making me crazy. I have read, "Leave the eggs in, she will lay on all of them when she is done laying" to, "Take them out" to "Don't take them out, she knows how many she laid and will lay more to replace them" so I don't know what to do.

Good for you, for reaching out and paying attention to this important issue. I really sympathize with people who have to cope with laying hens. So much to consider! As much of a nasty-tempered rooster as my bird is, I'm grateful that I don't have to deal with eggs!

Link15 said:

Thank you. Makes me feel better. Yes, she has 2 cuttlebones actually. The regular white one, and one she picked out in the store. She actually talks now and says, "That's Good". So I held up strawberry and grape. She didn't say anything for the grape, and "That's good" for the strawberry. She seems to like it.
I'm really not sure if she laid eggs with her former owner or not. No one seemed to notice anything she did. She was around 3 barking dogs, that faught, a rat that lost the use of it's back legs, and I saw kitty litter, so there must have been a few cats. She was probably terrified to lay an egg. She will let me hold her and kiss her, on her terms, so I am working with her, it's the just the egg thing is making me crazy. I have read, "Leave the eggs in, she will lay on all of them when she is done laying" to, "Take them out" to "Don't take them out, she knows how many she laid and will lay more to replace them" so I don't know what to do.

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That's great she has cuttlebone, and how cool she talks!! Finding foods she enjoys is a good way to bond with her, mmm yummy treats! And in my experience, birds will only lay when they feel comfortable with their surroundings. It's quite possible that in her old home, with all the chaos of the dogs and cats that she may not have ever laid due to stress. Now that she's laying, at least you can feel assured that she is comfortable. I'm sure she enjoys the quiet environment and the one-on one. Keep up the good work!

As far as what to do with the eggs, you will get a lot of differing opinions on this. My female has yet to lay an egg this year, but after their last clutch last year she continued to lay about 10 eggs after that from June - September. She wouldn't sit on them, so when they were both busy eating I took out and tossed the eggs. She stopped after that. They sit near a window and I allow them to watch the light changes and they have an avian lamp on their cage, they get about 8-10 hours of light a day, and I am very consistent with their routine.

The bird room has a timer on their light, so birdie bedtime is consistent. If I only gave them 8-10 hours of light, I would never see them, as I work 8 hours a day. They do get at least 12 hours of sleep a night. In her old home she was in the living room where there was someone watching TV 24/7. She never got darkness...ever. I have to keep reminding myself that I have only had her for 5 months now, and everything is new.
When I took her to have her wings and nails clipped she was in the carrier waiting to go home. The lady rang up the total (with food) and I say to Sparks, "You are an expensive date!" "That's Good" comes out of her mouth, and the owner of the bird store nearly lost it. Laughing she leans down, "Are you ready to go home?" "That's Good". Now every time I walk into the store, she laughs. She definitely keeps me laughing.

If she is actually laying that many eggs (5 in a week and a half?) and has no interest in them then it sounds to me like this is a serious health issue that needs addressed by a certified avian vet immediately. She is slowly killing herself by depleting her body of not only calcium, but of all vital vitamins, minerals, and nutrition in general. She has something going on hormonally causing this, and by hormonally I don't mean something that a Solar Schedule is going to solve.

I'd hate to say this but it could very well be a growth on an ovary or something similar that is causing a huge hormonal imbalance that is overstimulating her ovulation. If her levels of FSH are being effected by a medical issue this can be the result. Either way she cannot continue to lay eggs like this as she is going to start suffering many other medical issues as a result, and unfortunately Lupron is probably the best option that you have if a direct cause, such as a mass is not found.

Lupron is very effective as it's essentially chemical castration. It stops all production of primary sex hormone production and completely halts ovulation. It's an injection and though I don't know it's cost for birds, it is at least a 3 month shot so it's not something you have to have done every month.

You need to get her to a certified avian vet (please, no general or "exotics" vets for this issue) to have x-rays and blood work done to see if there is an obvious cause and to get her FSH levels to get the entire picture. You need to do this ASAP before she gets very, very sick (and weak/fragile, once that happens it's much more difficult to get her healthy again). The fact that she shows no interest in the eggs at all, nor any concern when you remove them tells me that conventional methods of hormone control are not going to be of help, and combine this with a huge production of eggs you've got a much larger problem than just conventional hormonal issues.

And please read up on Lupron Depot injections in birds because it is very well-documented how much it helps and what a literal life-saver it can be.

"Dance like nobody's watching..."

I was going to suggest a vet visit as an avian vet can and most likely will look at the birds ovaries via a sonogram. Using that tool a vet can tell more of what is going on. Lupron is a good choice since you have pretty much run out of options.

Thank you all, I will contact the vet....