Something seems wrong.....

-Moonie-

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Aug 5, 2023
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A few days ago i made a post about my bird laying eggs. We left her egg inside her cage for about 3/4 days but the last day she started broking the shell to eat it and we threw it away. This morning when my mom woke up she went to our bird cage and saw another egg there but half the shell was missing and you can clearly see my bird eat it during the night. Is this a normal behavior, she did laid her first eggs in april/may she laid 3 eggs and this time she has laid 2 so far.
 

wrench13

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Maybe get some fake eggs and swap them out as soon as you see one. Usually they loose interest when the eggs dont hatch.
 

ravvlet

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Jun 25, 2019
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Have you seen a vet about the laying? If she’s eating the shells she may have a calcium deficiency from laying frequently. Your vet can determine that & help you adjust her diet, and may also be able to offer options (like Lupron) to prevent the laying behavior.
 

DonnaBudgie

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Jan 24, 2023
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Have you seen a vet about the laying? If she’s eating the shells she may have a calcium deficiency from laying frequently. Your vet can determine that & help you adjust her diet, and may also be able to offer options (like Lupron) to prevent the laying behavior.
I don't think it's unusual for birds to eat eggs, but they generally don't deliberately break and eat their own unless I suppose they try some when one of their eggs breaks and like it. My budgie absolutely loves to eat eggs but they're not her own and they're scrambled (plain).
Nutrition wise, eggs are a great source of protein, vitamins and minerals so it can't be harmful, but probably too "fattening". Hopefully she doesn't think she's discovered a new way to "make her own breakfast"!
You certainly don't want her laying a lot of eggs as this can dangerously deplete her calcium and lead to potentially fatal egg binding. An avian vet can help break the hormonal cycle with Lupron and environmental modifications. I have some experience with female budgies becoming egg bound, and it's a horrible thing. I tell everyone who has a female bird to buy a bottle of Calcivet, an excellent Calcium Vitamin D oral supplement and add some to her drinking water while she's on an egg laying "binge". If she becomes egg bound, a few drops of straight Calcivet into her beak will raise her blood calcium quickly, allowing her cloacal muscles to contract with enough force to (hopefully) expel a retained egg if you cannot get her seen by a certified avian veterinarian right away.
 

ravvlet

Well-known member
Jun 25, 2019
2,349
7,085
Seattle WA
Parrots
Kirby - OWA, 33yrs old (2019-)
Broccoli - Dusky Conure - 3?mo old (July 2023 -)
~~~
(Rehomed) Sammy - YNA, 45 yrs old (2022-2023)
(RIP) Cricket - Cockatiel (2019-2022)
It’s not the act of eating eggs that worries me - I would feed our laying hens egg when I kept poultry - it’s the fact that she is cracking and eating her own eggs which is abnormal, especially since she’s eating the shells, and may even be laying eggs with soft shells; another sign of a calcium issue.
 

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