Surprise mating/breeding questions

[SilverSage]

That's a fun idea I love sprouting as well but I don't want to start overloading you with things you COULD do (no matter how great) and overwhelming you so you can't do the things you SHOULD do.


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I sprinkled some of the cuttlebone on the pellets, she is eating them now. And boy does that make a god awful sound, ugh

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It does! Like fingernails on a chalkboard!


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[SilverSage]

I got them both in their cages and got the egg out. Then she laid another one right away, but I took it away

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Ok, good. That's also good because with the disruption timing it's perfect that she doesn't have that egg in her anymore. If all goes well that may be her last egg or there may be one more, but hopefully none after that. Good job taking quick action.


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[Kendar]

I got them both in their cages and got the egg out. Then she laid another one right away, but I took it away

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Ok, good. That's also good because with the disruption timing it's perfect that she doesn't have that egg in her anymore. If all goes well that may be her last egg or there may be one more, but hopefully none after that. Good job taking quick action.


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I called our avian vet too, mostly because it's easier when you can hear someone. They said to keep the eggs in there so that she isn't trying to replace them, and to boil them so they don't hatch. F-ing weird boiling parrot eggs lol.

One thing I forgot to ask is how long do I have to keep the birds separated? I'm assuming until they arent hormonal or mating season is over. I feel bad that they aren't together because they have been together for over a year now, and now they're bonded.

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[SilverSage]

I disagree with your vet specifically because of the calcium issues and the fact that it is a special case. However, I'm a stranger on the internet, and he is an avian vet. I know the experience I have that leads me to make these choices, but you can't know the experience I have, and you don't know me. So in light of what the vet told you, and because I hate to ever instruct anyone to go against a veterinarians advice, I suggest that you place the eggs on a flat open surface such as a piece of cardboard, or even the very shallow list of open boxes, with no more than an inch of lip left around the edge. That way you can leave the eggs with her, But not include any of the other nesting signals such as darkness or enclosed space. Yes, absolutely boil the eggs, do not return them to her until they are room temperature.


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[SilverSage]

As far as how long this will last, it will probably write out the spring. In the future you can take steps to prevent this from happening to start with, and leave them together all spring without having a problem most likely.


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[Kendar]

I disagree with your vet specifically because of the calcium issues and the fact that it is a special case. However, I'm a stranger on the internet, and he is an avian vet. I know the experience I have that leads me to make these choices, but you can't know the experience I have, and you don't know me. So in light of what the vet told you, and because I hate to ever instruct anyone to go against a veterinarians advice, I suggest that you place the eggs on a flat open surface such as a piece of cardboard, or even the very shallow list of open boxes, with no more than an inch of lip left around the edge. That way you can leave the eggs with her, But not include any of the other nesting signals such as darkness or enclosed space. Yes, absolutely boil the eggs, do not return them to her until they are room temperature.


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Yeah, she has bred birds before, for a long time, and warned me about everything. They are both in their cages now and I have given her a cuttle bone (as well as sprinkled it on both their food), a calcium block, and some clay-cal. Lots of options

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[Kendar]

That's a fun idea I love sprouting as well but I don't want to start overloading you with things you COULD do (no matter how great) and overwhelming you so you can't do the things you SHOULD do.


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I sprinkled some of the cuttlebone on the pellets, she is eating them now. And boy does that make a god awful sound, ugh

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It does! Like fingernails on a chalkboard!


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I keep getting random shivers, just thinking about it

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[SilverSage]

I understand that!! Haha I actually have purchased pre-ground cuttle bone in the past just to avoid it! But I never buy other calcium supplements because they aren't regulated and the risk is more than I'm willing to do.


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[Kendar]

I understand that!! Haha I actually have purchased pre-ground cuttle bone in the past just to avoid it! But I never buy other calcium supplements because they aren't regulated and the risk is more than I'm willing to do.


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Ok, so stock up on cuttle bone.
I should do that, just crunch it up and throw it in my magic bullet

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[Kentuckienne]

I do that with eggs, grind them up in the blender with the shell so the shell is pulverized. Gus eats that, the cannibal...

 

[SilverSage]

The very thought of putting into a blender is making my whole arm shudder at the thought of that much hideous grinding.


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[Kendar]

The very thought of putting into a blender is making my whole arm shudder at the thought of that much hideous grinding.


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I'm having my visions of my bf coming home from work to find me in the fetal position screaming "make ot stop!"

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[Kendar]

I do that with eggs, grind them up in the blender with the shell so the shell is pulverized. Gus eats that, the cannibal...

Yeah, I tried that, neither one of them liked it

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[Kendar]

I woke up this morning and there was a third egg in the cage, so she must have had 2 in her yesterday.

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[EllenD]

I just read through this thread, as a former breeder I thought I might help, but SilverSage has it under control! Just as an FYI, I agree with SilverSage about removing the eggs as well, that's always the way I handled it when I had a bird that I wanted to stop laying, I always found that if I boiled or froze the egg and put it back in with the hen it seemed to encourage her to stay in "breeding mode" or "nesting mode", but if I took the eggs out completely she would more quickly forget about the whole situation. But I too would never try to advise you to go against what your avian vet has told you to do, I'm not a vet either.

I would however advise you to take your hen in for an avian vet visit soon, possibly after you're sure she's done laying (or perhaps before since she did lay a soft egg, that's a scary thing), and see if your vet will give her a calcium injection. That was what my avian vet would do, I had one cockatiel hen that was beautiful and a real sweetie but I just couldn't breed her. She was the only bird I had ever had that laid soft eggs, and she did it on a regular basis. She was a little bugger, I actually took her away from my breeders and made her a pet, she was always separate from all males so her eggs were infertile, but that little hen would not stop laying no matter what I did, and I started getting her calcium injections. She ate the same high-quality diet as all my breeders did, Harrison's High-Potency pellets, egg food, she loved her calcium block, but she just had this low calcium issue. So she started getting calcium injections and it did help with the soft eggs, but didn't she become egg-bound anyway...She's one of maybe 3 or 4 hens that became egg-bound in 21 years of breeding, and I got her to pass it but I hope you never have to go through that, as it is so scary. I only ever lost one hen to egg-binding, a beautiful spangled English budgie that was actually very tame even though she was a parent raised bird that I specifically bought as part of a proven pair. She never had any issues, I had her for 2 years and she and her mate had 2 large clutches after they settled in to my aviary. But she had laid 2 eggs and all of a sudden on the third she started squawking and was obviously in pain. I put her in a steamy bathroom and did the usual things that you do but nothing helped, so I rushed her to the emergency animal hospital about 40 minutes after I discovered she was egg-bound, and she died during surgery. So that's how suddenly egg-binding can happen. Any calcium you can get her to ingest is good. Coating her pellets with the cuttlebone is a very good idea, even coating any seeds she eats is good because they can't help but to put the seeds in their mouths to crack them, and they inadvertently eat the calcium. Same with sprinkling it on their veggies and fruit, the same way you do with calcium supplements for reptiles. I have a bearded dragon and a huge part of their care is making sure they get an ample amount of calcium and vitamin D3 every day along with proper UVB lighting, if they don't get calcium supplementation and proper UVB lighting every day they cannot digest their food and they quickly develop Metabolic Bone Disease (MBD), which is similar to what happens to female hens laying eggs. So every day I sprinkle a calcium with vitamin D3 supplement on my beardie's salad and dust his feeder insects, and every other day I do the same with a total vitamin and mineral supplement that also contains calcium and vitamin D3. So the same principle can be applied to your hen. But a liquid calcium injection can bump her levels up quite a bit.

Good luck to you, and make sure to watch your hen closely to make sure she is not carrying an egg she can't pass. If you think she might be egg-bound or you have any questions at all about anything, please don't hesitate to ask, or to take her to your avian vet. Better safe than sorry.

"Dance like nobody's watching..."

 

[Kendar]

So I feel like I should update this. Loki was the one laying eggs. I had Bailey DNA tested as a male, not long after we got him. That DNA test, I found out, is 99% accurate. Well, it turns out that Bailey is the 1%. So another surprise for us LOL. Good news, I don't have to boil the eggs

They are both laying eggs. Loki has slowed down, and Bailey has only laid 2 in 5 days, and has put holes in both of them.

I have separated them (they are not happy about being in their cages all the time now), rearranged the room, lengthened the amount of darkness they get (I don't care if they're squawking, lights don't go on until 6 at the earliest), have been sprinkling ground up cuttle bone on all their food (plus they have other calcium options in their cages).

Loki was a bit mad at me tonight (nipping), since we moved the aviary and her "nest" is exposed. BUT the good thing is, this is the first time I havent had to chase her away from the aviary. So things are looking up. Thank you, everyone, for you advice! You were all really helpful!

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[SilverSage]

Good news! So glad to hear it! Keep up the good work


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