Quaker Egg laying : What’s best to help her?

[Yelly]

Hi all, I am back again. I got some fantastic advice when I got my first Quaker. Then named Popcorn since been changed to Buddy. I loved him so much I wanted a friend for him. I now have a pair of beautiful Quaker’s. Again came from a pet shop and we were told he was male. Just like with Buddy we wanted to be sure so we arranged for DNA testing. Unfortunately life got in the way and by the time we had them DNA tested and realised we had one male one female they were already bonded and I didn’t want to separate them. Skylar my little lady has started laying for the first time. I’ll be honest and say I have no idea about this. Never intended to breed or raise birds. But also feel like if they are bonded and happy and have laid eggs it’s only fair I step up and do what I can for them. I will deffo try limit daylight and other tips I’ve read on here going forward to help deter further breeding. So far she has laid 5 eggs. First 2 were 48hrs apart last 3 were 72 hours apart. She ate her first 2 eggs. The first one after 24hrs second one almost immediately. The 3rd and 4th eggs she sort of ignored. 5th

she’s been sitting on but only on and off. Her mate has been feeding her on and off too. She had laid the eggs high up in the cage on the platform they usually sleep on. They have also started building a nest around that area. One of the 3 remaining eggs is now on the floor of the cage (around 3ft drop) it looks completely intact still no cracks I can see without picking it up and fully inspecting. She’s very very cage aggressive at the moment so I’m trying not to fuss in there too much. So now after all that big ramble what I am wondering is should I try take the eggs and buy an incubator? Should I just leave them for now and see what happens? Should I move them all together in one area? The two on her sleeping platform are on separate sides of it. Ones sorta mixed into the best they are building second just sat on its own. What’s best for Skylar my goal is to do what’s best for the birds. If I remove the eggs should I do it now or when I am sure she’s finished and should I replace with dummy eggs?
I had written this post on another forum and since writing it she has started to sit on one egg only. But not consistently like maybe for an hour then she will ignore it for an hour or so and then go back.

Sorry for all the long rambling and barrage of questions. Pics and video for tax! Thanks in advance for any advice.

 

[zERo]

Hi all, I am back again. I got some fantastic advice when I got my first Quaker. Then named Popcorn since been changed to Buddy. I loved him so much I wanted a friend for him. I now have a pair of beautiful Quaker’s. Again came from a pet shop and we were told he was male. Just like with Buddy we wanted to be sure so we arranged for DNA testing. Unfortunately life got in the way and by the time we had them DNA tested and realised we had one male one female they were already bonded and I didn’t want to separate them. Skylar my little lady has started laying for the first time. I’ll be honest and say I have no idea about this. Never intended to breed or raise birds. But also feel like if they are bonded and happy and have laid eggs it’s only fair I step up and do what I can for them. I will deffo try limit daylight and other tips I’ve read on here going forward to help deter further breeding. So far she has laid 5 eggs. First 2 were 48hrs apart last 3 were 72 hours apart. She ate her first 2 eggs. The first one after 24hrs second one almost immediately. The 3rd and 4th eggs she sort of ignored. 5th View attachment 50445 she’s been sitting on but only on and off. Her mate has been feeding her on and off too. She had laid the eggs high up in the cage on the platform they usually sleep on. They have also started building a nest around that area. One of the 3 remaining eggs is now on the floor of the cage (around 3ft drop) it looks completely intact still no cracks I can see without picking it up and fully inspecting. She’s very very cage aggressive at the moment so I’m trying not to fuss in there too much. So now after all that big ramble what I am wondering is should I try take the eggs and buy an incubator? Should I just leave them for now and see what happens? Should I move them all together in one area? The two on her sleeping platform are on separate sides of it. Ones sorta mixed into the best they are building second just sat on its own. What’s best for Skylar my goal is to do what’s best for the birds. If I remove the eggs should I do it now or when I am sure she’s finished and should I replace with dummy eggs?
I had written this post on another forum and since writing it she has started to sit on one egg only. But not consistently like maybe for an hour then she will ignore it for an hour or so and then go back.

Sorry for all the long rambling and barrage of questions. Pics and video for tax! Thanks in advance for any advice.

I would not take the eggs and try to incubate them, unless you’re wanting babies and know how to hand feed babies. If the eggs were to hatch, the parents may ignore them/kill them snd you might have to hand feed them anyway.
You can succeed in having a mated /bonded male and female pair of parrots without ever having babies.
I have a pair of cockatiels that live together, they breed often but have never had eggs in the 3 years they’ve been together.
A couple key points:
Don’t provide a nest of any kind.
Don’t have an overabundance of rich foods.
Make sure they get 12 hrs. Of sleep

Since she already has eggs, once she stops showing interest in them, throw them out.
Something else that also helps, rearrange the cage a few times a month.

It’s unfortunate that you’re dealing with this, it’s not just hard on your birdies but you too!

 

[Cottonoid]

I agree that if you weren't already planning to breed and help raise babies, I wouldn't allow the eggs to remain fertile. Is she leaving the nest at all to eat or drink? Are there really tummy treats she likes where you could encourage her to leave the cage for a bit? Do you still have an extra egg? If you do you could hard boil it then try to replace the egg she is sitting on when she's not at the nest. Otherwise there are dummy eggs online.

They are a really cute pair

 

[tammyheller]

I have a male and female quaker pair they have laid 6 eggs and she thew one out i removed it from the cage it looks to be infertile.

 

[tammyheller]

I am thinking that she thew it out because it was no good

 

[DonnaBudgie]

Hi all, I am back again. I got some fantastic advice when I got my first Quaker. Then named Popcorn since been changed to Buddy. I loved him so much I wanted a friend for him. I now have a pair of beautiful Quaker’s. Again came from a pet shop and we were told he was male. Just like with Buddy we wanted to be sure so we arranged for DNA testing. Unfortunately life got in the way and by the time we had them DNA tested and realised we had one male one female they were already bonded and I didn’t want to separate them. Skylar my little lady has started laying for the first time. I’ll be honest and say I have no idea about this. Never intended to breed or raise birds. But also feel like if they are bonded and happy and have laid eggs it’s only fair I step up and do what I can for them. I will deffo try limit daylight and other tips I’ve read on here going forward to help deter further breeding. So far she has laid 5 eggs. First 2 were 48hrs apart last 3 were 72 hours apart. She ate her first 2 eggs. The first one after 24hrs second one almost immediately. The 3rd and 4th eggs she sort of ignored. 5th View attachment 50445 she’s been sitting on but only on and off. Her mate has been feeding her on and off too. She had laid the eggs high up in the cage on the platform they usually sleep on. They have also started building a nest around that area. One of the 3 remaining eggs is now on the floor of the cage (around 3ft drop) it looks completely intact still no cracks I can see without picking it up and fully inspecting. She’s very very cage aggressive at the moment so I’m trying not to fuss in there too much. So now after all that big ramble what I am wondering is should I try take the eggs and buy an incubator? Should I just leave them for now and see what happens? Should I move them all together in one area? The two on her sleeping platform are on separate sides of it. Ones sorta mixed into the best they are building second just sat on its own. What’s best for Skylar my goal is to do what’s best for the birds. If I remove the eggs should I do it now or when I am sure she’s finished and should I replace with dummy eggs?
I had written this post on another forum and since writing it she has started to sit on one egg only. But not consistently like maybe for an hour then she will ignore it for an hour or so and then go back.

Sorry for all the long rambling and barrage of questions. Pics and video for tax! Thanks in advance for any advice.

I incubated an egg from my budgies (egg incubator on Amazon for about $60) and it hatched and I hand raised the baby, Rocky. If you intend to let them breed you should get them a proper nest box. If not, you have a bit of a problem unless you have them in separate cages. You can remove the real eggs as soon as each is laid and dispose of them before they start developing and replace each one with a dummy egg. Or you can incubate the eggs yourself, hatch them, and feed the chicks yourself. Or let the parents do it. I had to incubate the egg and raise Rocky because the Mama had a medical emergency and couldn't.
Keep in mind that raising baby birds is a lot of work and is risky for the babies unless you know what you're doing. Then you will need to find good homes for all the babies and that's not easy either. Surely keeping all of the babies isn't an option for most people!