egg problem

noodles123

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Umbrella Cockatoo- 15? years old..I think?
So, in all the years I have had Noodles, she has never laid eggs (even though she has been an adult the whole time).


In what I believe to be some sort of odd response to me returning to work, Noodles laid an egg. About 2 month later, another and today SHE LAID HER 3RD THIS YEAR!


She gets 12 hours sleep
cage covered at night
picky eater
Petting on head and neck only
no huts/boxes/access to shadowy spaces....


I am hoping the summer resets her hormonal clock though, or I am starting to think we may need to look at lupron or something....I haven't changed anything but after years of sexual maturity without eggs, this one has come as a but of a shock.


The only thing I haven't tried is leaving her ACTUAL egg in there--- normally I swap it for a dummy, but seeing as it is not cracked at all this time, I may leave the real thing in and see if that helps.
 
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wrench13

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Having only had males, I know little or nothing about egg laying. But hormone triggers? Yeah, plenty of that. The only thing I see missing from your list above is nesting materials. During mating season, Salty loves to shred the papers lining the bottom of his cage, make a mess of them and even guard the pile he makes of the shreds. He sticks a toe through the bars, snags an edge and pulls it up through the bars and then its off to the races! And, its only in the far corner of his cage that he does this. So come mating season, I use a large-ish piece of card stock in that area of his cage bottom. Think the backing of a notepad weight of cardboard. I get sheets of poster board from Staples. It helps. He can't snag it thru the bars.

Switching the egg for a fake one? Probably a good idea, cuz you don't want an unfertilized egg breaking in Noodles cage, it's messy and stinky. Why not pinhole at each end, blow the yolk and white out and keep them as mementos.
 

Laurasea

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Its weird how she just does one...
I'm sorry you are going through this again @! But glad she can lay on her own.

I. Would move your cage and rearrange everything. The stress of that can kick them out of breeding....
 

Littleredbeak

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I don’t have experience with this- just wanted to say to make sure she gets a lot calcium.
 

Scott

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I don't have much experience with females laying eggs without the presence of a male and nest box. Hard to know if you can alter her hormonal cycles environmentally beyond your already thorough precautions.

Given past experience with her laying, might need to consider Lupron. IDK if you can administer seasonally as needed or whether it requires life-long use once begun?
 

SailBoat

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First of all, 2020 Fall /Winter has for whatever reason rained hard on our Male Amazon with an early start to his hormonal season with flows far beyond normal. To add insult, the season has continued on past January, smash February and finally in March he's showing signs of normality, kind of!

What does that have to do with Noodles' egg laying, I haven't a clue other than; this 2020 /2021 hormonal season has pushed buttons that I was unaware existed!

With great hope they will both reset soon and life will become a bit less eventful!
 

WhiteFlight

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SHE LAID HER 3RD THIS YEAR!

That's odd. Out of character.

Its weird how she just does one.

Meisha is the same breed as Noodles, however older. Since early 2006, Meisha has laid about eight eggs with the last one in March 2019. Always singles. This year, so far, has been manageable.
 

Laurasea

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LaManuka

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Oh no noodles, not again! Thankfully at least she is passing them without incident - if she's gonna do it fingers crossed she keeps doing so with no intervention! By all means leave the egg with her rather than substituting a dummy one if you want to try a different tactic, but I'd still boil it just in case she manages to break that shell and make a mess. Noodles you're a naughty girl!
 
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noodles123

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Having only had males, I know little or nothing about egg laying. But hormone triggers? Yeah, plenty of that. The only thing I see missing from your list above is nesting materials. During mating season, Salty loves to shred the papers lining the bottom of his cage, make a mess of them and even guard the pile he makes of the shreds. He sticks a toe through the bars, snags an edge and pulls it up through the bars and then its off to the races! And, its only in the far corner of his cage that he does this. So come mating season, I use a large-ish piece of card stock in that area of his cage bottom. Think the backing of a notepad weight of cardboard. I get sheets of poster board from Staples. It helps. He can't snag it thru the bars.

Switching the egg for a fake one? Probably a good idea, cuz you don't want an unfertilized egg breaking in Noodles cage, it's messy and stinky. Why not pinhole at each end, blow the yolk and white out and keep them as mementos.


See, for her, nesting materials make it worse... When they are absent though, she shreds her toys into tiny matchsticks and sawdust. I took away paper linings like 3 years ago because they seemed to be inspiring increased hormones.
 
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noodles123

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Oh no noodles, not again! Thankfully at least she is passing them without incident - if she's gonna do it fingers crossed she keeps doing so with no intervention! By all means leave the egg with her rather than substituting a dummy one if you want to try a different tactic, but I'd still boil it just in case she manages to break that shell and make a mess. Noodles you're a naughty girl!




This is the worst and best story--- "naughty girl" made me think of it.. Okay, so the other day, I caught her doing some unsavory activities involving her tail and claw....SO, since she kept doing it, I thought it would be funny to give her a little startle with a hawk sound (because she always reacts to them in a startled/ alert way). So, being the terrible mother I am, I played a screeching hawk, and I'll be darned if that didn't inspire her further!!!! I was like... "AH, turning it off, ew"! haha --desperate times I guess.
 
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noodles123

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Its weird how she just does one...
I'm sorry you are going through this again @! But glad she can lay on her own.

I. Would move your cage and rearrange everything. The stress of that can kick them out of breeding....




I agree-- 1 so far each time...and it's also weird that this just started happening after so many years.
 
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noodles123

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I don't have much experience with females laying eggs without the presence of a male and nest box. Hard to know if you can alter her hormonal cycles environmentally beyond your already thorough precautions.

Given past experience with her laying, might need to consider Lupron. IDK if you can administer seasonally as needed or whether it requires life-long use once begun?




I called the vet to make a note on my record that it happened again and left a message asking if he though Lupron was the next step but I haven't heard back yet.


She was straining to poop this evening, so I am hoping there isn't another one this time....Vet tech said that it didn't sound too alarming at this point (the straining this eve, that is), but we shall see...
 

GaleriaGila

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WOW.

Just... wow.

After all this time. Just when you think you can trust a basic routine. And now... EGGness!

Wow.

Well, hang in there!
 

WhiteFlight

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This is the worst and best story--- "naughty girl" made me think of it. I caught her doing some unsavory activities involving her tail and claw. I played a screeching hawk, and I'll be darned if that didn't inspire her further!I was like... "AH, turning it off, ew"!

Years ago, I boarded Meisha with her vet while I travelled. Returning to pick her up, I performed a brief examination, finding her vent area to be lacerated. Long and short of it, she was stimulated by the avian social gathering and executed a modified version of the activity.

First aid was performed, clean-up and antibiotic, graced with a line item on the invoice.

In the event I find it necessary to board her again at the facility, for safety, I will recommend the tail/claw over the perch method.
 
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noodles123

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She's pooping normally again.. She shows little overt interest to the egg, but I think her version of interest (as an inexperienced "mother") may be different...She notices it if I touch it etc...She's not sitting on it, but she is very aware of its presence and location.

I am thinking I will keep it in there longer...The first one I removed after she lost interest, but my only thought is that maybe she was still interested in her own, weird, inexperienced way, and that interest manifested differently from that standard sitting etc.
 

WhiteFlight

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Egg Problem

Reflecting on the similar experience, Meisha has shown no interest in the eggs. After the first laying, I've pulled them after the passing.

For Meisha, taking her in to the shower results in redirecting her attention to effective feather maintenance.

With the warmer weather you might consider it. Give her a complete washing without any kind of soap. A hand cupped around the head will prevent unexpected water intake. Meisha's cooperation and trust is absolute.

Remembering you mentioning toweling issues, a washcloth could be utilized in dab drying. For cooler weather, a hair dryer with precautions is useful.
 
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SailBoat

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Great point regarding the hand cloth in place of a towel. Our Julio is far more comfortable with the much smaller hand cloth.
 
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noodles123

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Re: Egg Problem

Reflecting on the similar experience, Meisha has shown no interest in the eggs. After the first laying, I've pulled them after the passing.

For Meisha, taking her in to the shower results in redirecting her attention to effective feather maintenance.

With the warmer weather you might consider it. Give her a complete washing without any kind of soap. A hand cupped around the head will prevent unexpected water intake. Meisha's cooperation and trust is absolute.

Remembering you mentioning toweling issues, a washcloth could be utilized in dab drying. For cooler weather, a hair dryer with precautions is useful.

The toweling issue is that it "starts her engines", if you get my meaning lol-- I think that all of the exams with her first egg also triggered further hormonal responses, due to the toweling and sexual nature of the touching :(
Sometimes, if I walk near her, she starts quaking (sexually)...Just from me being in the room. This is all new and very weird, as I have had her for many many years and she has been sexually mature the whole time. I feel very confused by it all and I do appreciate all of your input. it's not like she's never been hormonal-- she always is....but this laying and shaking when I am near has taken it to a new level. Like I said, she has been with me as an adult for a long time, so this is just very odd and stressful.

If I try to help her with her feathers, she quakes and stares up at me...It's very heightened sexual behavior and I think the lock-down triggered it, but I'm trying to break the cycle and finding it to be difficult, given the fact that I already was doing everything under the sun to prevent hormones.
 
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