Keeps laying eggs what should I do?!?

[Cubarican]

Hi everyone!!
I have a female Eclectus, her name is Storm. For the past 3 months she keeps laying eggs. Of course they aren't fertile; but my question is once she lays them do I remove them or leave with her for a while. Any help and/or suggestions are greatly appreciated

 

[LaManuka]

Hello there, welcome to the Forums to you and Storm!

Although I have no particular experience with eclectus parrots, I am the mother of a chronic little egg-laying lorikeet called Lilly, who will lay infertile eggs anywhere and everywhere given half a chance! Chronic egg-laying like this can cause your hen to become depleted in calcium in her bones and other various nutrients if it continues, or could even result in egg-binding so you do want to take steps to stop it.

If and when my Lilly starts to lay eggs (which I do everything I possibly can to prevent but sometimes she just has a mind of her own!) I boil the eggs, let them cool, and return them to her to sit on. This prevents her from continually laying more and more and allows her to work off her maternal yearnings until she loses interest of her own accord, which usually takes about a month. Boiling the eggs when they're infertile will assist in the event that your hen breaks the eggshell during a determined stretch of sitting, which could leave you will a nasty smelly bacteria-laden mess to have to clean up, and to clean off your bird which I'm sure is something you'd rather avoid! You can also buy plastic or ceramic dummy eggs that are made to be the correct size for almost any species. As nearly as I can tell, eclectus lay a clutch of only two eggs and incubate them for around 28 days, so give your hen two either boiled or dummy eggs to sit on until she realises nothing is hatching and she should lose interest in them all by herself.

Once this cycle of laying is over, it is important to remove ANYTHING remotely resembling a nest and prevent access to any nesting material either inside or outside the cage. My Lilly has never had a nest as such but she LOVES to burrow behind the cushions on my couch, so if she even looks sideways at them I strip them all off so that she has no access.

I wish you the best of luck with your hen. If the egg laying persists beyond even this, I would strongly suggest you consult your avian vet, because chronic egg laying can be a very worrying condition and I am glad you are here and seeking help

 

[noodles123]

leave them.(unless they are broken--then you need dummy eggs until interest is lost). If the egg is broken, it can be in there for a few hours while you find a replacement..They sell them online or if you are sure she won't eat it or chew it, you could possibly risk using a fake egg from hobby lobby (but again, these can be made of dangerous things, so it's a gamble)...I would go for something designed for parrots specifically or hard plastic.

ensure she is never being touched anywhere but head and neck

10 hours sleep nightly on schedule (forever)

no shadowy spaces, boxes, huts, hampers, tubes, drawers, under furniture, paper piles, low ledges, shadowy sea grass walls etc etc <- these are out for adult birds.

consult an avian certified vet regarding diet- this takes a lot of calcium and normally id say add cuttle bone etc- but eckies havie unique systems compared to other parrot and shouldn't technically even eat pellets.

 

[chris-md]

Hello from a fellow Maryland Ekkie lover.

All great advice above. Thought I’d take the sleep farther and tell you a minimum of 12 hours sleep.

What can you tell us about her general diet? What are you feeeing her on a daily basis? Diet will be a big key here as well.

 

[Ellie777Australia]

Hello Cubarican. Thank you for joining us and reaching out for assistance. You have been given excellent advice regarding eliminating anything resembling a nest box and the ‘do not touch’ Storm anywhere but the head and neck. Your female is currently in a serious situation of ‘continuous egg-laying’ and this cycle MUST be broken. In order for this to occur she must finish the ‘clutch’ or the cycle continues creating the risk of egg-binding, calcium depletion…death. First we address the egg laying situation then prevention and diet discussion. Immediately remove all ‘nest box’ locations.


An Eclectus hen will usually lay 2 eggs per clutch and 1 to 2 clutches per year. The hen usually sits on the eggs for about 4 weeks. Hens will not usually start sitting on their eggs until there are 2 or even 3 eggs present. Once the egg laying starts leave the egg (boil if needed or use a dummy egg for replacement). Ellie laid 3 eggs in her first clutch. If the egg is laid in her bowl, remove it to the bottom grate of cage and allow them to accumulate there. Ellie’s pattern was one egg every three days. Once your hen begins sitting on the eggs she only gets off for up to an hour to eat, drink and poop. So, once the egg laying starts do not remove the egg for 3-4 days as she must finish the ‘clutch’ of 2-3 eggs.



Once she loses interest in the eggs then you are free to remove all eggs. She decides when this will be and it could be the full incubation period or until she realizes they will not hatch. If she has started sitting on the clutch of eggs then Do Not remove the eggs until she has been off the clutch for one to two full days. This ends the ‘breeding season’ that she is in and should stop the production of Follicles and Eggs.



Your hen needs extra Calcium immediately. She should always have access to Cuttle Fish Bone but it is not a complete source of Calcium. Ensure that she has natural sunlight to create Vitamin D3. Give her a boiled egg mashed with shell.