She laid an egg (unfertilized)!

Zeytin

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Apr 13, 2020
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Hi everyone!

Her name is Zeytin (Olive). Back in 2019, this was happening often, and this forum helped me figure out how to stop the behavior, but it's happened again!

It seems like Zeytin is getting enough sleep.... and this was the issue before. But all she wants to do is stay at the bottom of her cage. When we let her out, all she does is go find paper and go back. She doesn't want to play or be pet anymore.

I know we should remove all paper, and we try, but she'll find anything - like paper towels! And we know not to pet her in certain ways.

There is a male lovebird in the house, but he's in a different cage, and we already know they aren't mates - we originally bought him when she started laying these eggs in 2019, without enough research unfortunately, and now we know they aren't a pair. So, I don't think he is the baby daddy.

My question is: Any other advice for getting this to stop? I know it's not healthy for her. How long should we wait to remove the egg from her cage?

Thanks!

Melanie
 

Terry57

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Hi Melanie,
I'm so sorry that Zeytin is laying eggs again. Because she doesn't have a male she mated with, I would leave the egg in her cage without boiling it first until she is no longer interested in it. Hopefully if she completes her cycle the egg laying will stop.

You can also add extra sleep time, even one more hour could help.
Warm, mushy food can also trigger hormones in a female, so if you feed that you could either reduce or remove it from her diet until she gets through this hormonal period. If she starts to become hormonal again once you start feeding it to her again, it may be time to cut it out completely, and only feed raw veggies or ones that have been cooked and allowed to cool.

Make sure she has lots of toys. My Lovies can chew up way more wood than I had expected. The more things to keep her occupied at the top of the cage, the better (as long as she still has room to get around, of course).
If she still goes to the bottom, you could put a small foot toy on the bottom, perhaps she will be distracted enough by it to at least reduce her tearing up the paper. My lovebirds love small vine balls. I throw a couple on the bottom of the cage and they bat them all around. I go through a lot, even if they haven't destroyed them they will still end up with poop on them.

You could also try a small foraging box with all kinds of fun things for her to play with. That would hopefully keep her busy for awhile:)

I hope Zeytin will get through this hormonal period quickly, and that it will be the last time🙏
 

HeatherG

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Apr 25, 2020
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Is there any way to make the shreddable paper in her cage totally unreachable? Shredding paper has set off egg laying in a few of my girl birds.

Years ago I built a replacement for a missing cage grate out of hardware cloth (big square wire mesh). Now I don’t remove and throw away my cage grates!

Lupron injections stopped Lucy’s eggyness and resulting health problems. I think Lupron is much safer than cycling through egg-laying!
 
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Zeytin

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Apr 13, 2020
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Hi Melanie,
I'm so sorry that Zeytin is laying eggs again. Because she doesn't have a male she mated with, I would leave the egg in her cage without boiling it first until she is no longer interested in it. Hopefully if she completes her cycle the egg laying will stop.

You can also add extra sleep time, even one more hour could help.
Warm, mushy food can also trigger hormones in a female, so if you feed that you could either reduce or remove it from her diet until she gets through this hormonal period. If she starts to become hormonal again once you start feeding it to her again, it may be time to cut it out completely, and only feed raw veggies or ones that have been cooked and allowed to cool.

Make sure she has lots of toys. My Lovies can chew up way more wood than I had expected. The more things to keep her occupied at the top of the cage, the better (as long as she still has room to get around, of course).
If she still goes to the bottom, you could put a small foot toy on the bottom, perhaps she will be distracted enough by it to at least reduce her tearing up the paper. My lovebirds love small vine balls. I throw a couple on the bottom of the cage and they bat them all around. I go through a lot, even if they haven't destroyed them they will still end up with poop on them.

You could also try a small foraging box with all kinds of fun things for her to play with. That would hopefully keep her busy for awhile:)

I hope Zeytin will get through this hormonal period quickly, and that it will be the last time🙏
Thank you so much! I put toys at the bottom of her cage, and it already seems to be working. She hasn't laid another egg (yet).

Since there is a male bird in the house, do you know how to distinguish a fertilized vs. unfertilized egg?

Thanks!
 
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Zeytin

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Apr 13, 2020
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Is there any way to make the shreddable paper in her cage totally unreachable? Shredding paper has set off egg laying in a few of my girl birds.

Years ago I built a replacement for a missing cage grate out of hardware cloth (big square wire mesh). Now I don’t remove and throw away my cage grates!

Lupron injections stopped Lucy’s eggyness and resulting health problems. I think Lupron is much safer than cycling through egg-laying!
Thanks for your feedback! I took the paper lining out of the cage.... but we like to let her fly around a few times during the day, and lately all she does is look for paper - anywhere! paper towels, labels on water bottles, it's wild! I guess I should keep her locked up for a bit? It's sad, but, for her health.
 

Terry57

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Thank you so much! I put toys at the bottom of her cage, and it already seems to be working. She hasn't laid another egg (yet).

Since there is a male bird in the house, do you know how to distinguish a fertilized vs. unfertilized egg?

Thanks!
You're very welcome! If this is her first egg, there may be more coming this round so please keep an eye on her.

I believe I misunderstood...if the male had access to her during her season, the eggs may be fertilized.

Here is a video on candling, it will help you to find out if the egg is fertilized:
(He gives a warning at around 6:24 that the ones after that have passed away in the shell in case anyone doesn't want to see that)

 

HeatherG

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Apr 25, 2020
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Girl lovebirds can be VERY DETERMINED about finding nest sites and paper. Hmm. I wonder if it would be best to curtail her roaming until she’s over this? I really don’t know.
 
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Zeytin

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Girl lovebirds can be VERY DETERMINED about finding nest sites and paper. Hmm. I wonder if it would be best to curtail her roaming until she’s over this? I really don’t know.
She's laid another egg....so I think so. I think I should start removing them.
 
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Zeytin

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Apr 13, 2020
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You're very welcome! If this is her first egg, there may be more coming this round so please keep an eye on her.

I believe I misunderstood...if the male had access to her during her season, the eggs may be fertilized.

Here is a video on candling, it will help you to find out if the egg is fertilized:
(He gives a warning at around 6:24 that the ones after that have passed away in the shell in case anyone doesn't want to see that)

Thank you, I'll watch this. Both birds are out at the same flying around, but no one has ever seen them physically touch. In fact, she always scares him away when he is in her space. So, I really don't think that they mated. But, I'll do this test to make sure.
 

Owlet

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Oct 27, 2016
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Do NOT remove eggs. Give them a shake or put them in the freezer for a little bit to deter any growth. or replace them with fake eggs. removing will encourage her to keep laying to replace lost eggs.
 
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Zeytin

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Do NOT remove eggs. Give them a shake or put them in the freezer for a little bit to deter any growth. or replace them with fake eggs. removing will encourage her to keep laying to replace lost eggs.
OK thank you for letting me know that. I can't remember if it was another post on here from two years ago, or the bird store where we got her, but someone recommended removing them slowly.
What does putting them in the freezer do? She'll realize they're not real?
 

Owlet

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OK thank you for letting me know that. I can't remember if it was another post on here from two years ago, or the bird store where we got her, but someone recommended removing them slowly.
What does putting them in the freezer do? She'll realize they're not real?
the freezer just prevents any possible growth IF they were fertilized.
 

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