Egg laying questions!

[Agapornis]

Ok, as I stated in my last post, the mating season is going strong, full throttle, at my house. Seriously, these birds are TWITTERPATED!:11:

Fiji has laid 3 eggs so far. I have replaced them with fake eggs, from www.dummyeggs.com and placed them in a "nest" bowl, with nesting material. After she laid the first egg, I immediately replaced it with the fake eggs, 5 or 6 of them. I thought she would stop laying, but every couple of days she lays another egg. The latest was this morning, and there was a little blood on it.

Should I be worried about the blood? it was just a little, and it was dried. I checker her vent, didn't see anything sticking out. She is eating plenty of good, healthy food, along with the Hen Supplement that Dummy Eggs sells. She has gained a lot of weight, she went from 70 grams to 92 grams, since she started brooding.

I'm going to boil her real eggs and put them back in the nest, maybe THEN she will stop laying? Is she rejecting the fake eggs, by continuing to lay her own?

Any advice is welcome!

 

[Taw5106]

I had a tiel that would lay eggs, this was in the 90s so Internet was not as robust as now. My tiel kept laying eggs nd my research found an article that said to place the hen in a position where she didn't feel as safe. Hens lay when they feel safe per the article. So I moved her cage down a bit, she would flap her wings to instigate the dog. I moved her cage to a table about 36" from the ground, based on an article I found I did this because the recommendation was to move her to a safe location that had some a window for threat that was minimal. I lowered her cage and she stopped laying. She was an amazing girl.

 

[weco]

Ok, as I stated in my last post, the mating season is going strong, full throttle, at my house. Seriously, these birds are TWITTERPATED!

Fiji has laid 3 eggs so far. I have replaced them with fake eggs, from DummyEggs.com Dummy Eggs Stop Bird Egg Laying! Fake Falso Faux Plastic Eggs and placed them in a "nest" bowl, with nesting material. After she laid the first egg, I immediately replaced it with the fake eggs, 5 or 6 of them. I thought she would stop laying, but every couple of days she lays another egg. The latest was this morning, and there was a little blood on it.

If, as you say, you inserted that many faux eggs after the first, you probably defeated your purpose then, by including more than was actually laid...she knew they were not hers & continued laying.....

It is normal for conures and most parrot species, to lay a new egg every 1.5 days or every two days and though I can't cite any specific study, I'm pretty sure your Fiji can count and would not be fooled by so many eggs suddenly appearing.....

Have you ever closely compared Fiji's eggs to your fake ones, including weight? Some fake eggs are easy to spot as fakes, while others feel real.....Is she rejecting any of the fake eggs, by continuing to lay her own, she may just be ignoring them...


Should I be worried about the blood? it was just a little, and it was dried. I checker her vent, didn't see anything sticking out. She is eating plenty of good, healthy food, along with the Hen Supplement that Dummy Eggs sells. She has gained a lot of weight, she went from 70 grams to 92 grams, since she started brooding.

I would think that the weight gain is her body trying to replace what she has expended to produce her eggs...and with some hens, a spot of blood is a normal occurrence with some laying hens...does she bathe daily or at least every other day.....have you never seen a blood spot on any of the hen eggs you've ever bought?

I'm going to boil her real eggs and put them back in the nest, maybe THEN she will stop laying? Since she apparently was not fooled when you originally inserted the fakes into the nest, boiling might not stop her either and you may need to speak to your vet about giving her an injection to end her current laying proclivity.....since boiling solidifies the egg's contents, there would be no further movement of the contents and your miss Fiji just might be a really smart bird.....

Conure hens normally lay 3-6 eggs as normal clutches and often don't begin setting their nest hard until the 3rd or 4th egg has been laid, ignoring the first eggs.....

Good luck.....

 

[Agapornis]

Thanks for your suggestions Weco! The instructions that came with her fake eggs said to immediately put a full clutch of fake ones out, the minute a real egg showed up, and it would fool her into thinking, "hey I have all these eggs, I don't need to lay any more." Her natural eggs are slightly bigger than the fake ones. The fake ones look real until you look closely, and you can see a ridge around the middle. Obviously, Fiji is smarter than the average bird, lol.

I think you are right about her ignoring the fake eggs. she has been trying to push them out of the nest with her beak.

So when I get home, I will remove the fake eggs, and put the 3 boiled eggs back in. I just want to be sure I do the right thing, with the least amount of stress to Fiji! This is a learning experience for me.

 

[weco]

When you put the boiled eggs back in, I might put them in warm water, to warm them so she doesn't want to throw them out too, though she may think there's something wrong with them too.....

I don't know about being smarter than the average bird, but apparently she's smarter than the people who made the fake eggs ! ! !


Good luck.....