She dosen't have a mate so the eggs are unfertilized and she will not stop laying them. The first started laying at the end of May and I took the eggs out about 9 weeks after that. Then a week after all the eggs were gone she layed 8 more eggs.
2006-10-29 10:11:12 · 8 answers · asked by bugatti 2 in Pets ➔ Birds
I have a four year old lovebird with this problem. I will share the things I have done.
1) Reduce the number of hours of daylight she is exposed to. Daylight hours will stimulate the pineal gland in her brain and bring on egglaying hormones.. If you can, put her in a completely dark room for 12 hours a day, ideally. This is hard because if you work or go to school you'll hardly see the bird. But try to get her as much sleep as you can. It has to be dark, not just covering the cage in a room with a light on.
2) Save her old eggs. When she starts laying put several more old eggs in with the new one. This makes her think she has too many eggs already and is a biological cue to stop laying more.
3) I find with my lovie I have to let her sit on the eggs for two weeks. If I pull them earlier she just lays more. Experiment to find out how long your hen needs to sit to get this out of her system. When your hen starts to molt (you'll see lots of loose feathers lying around) you'll know she is done and it is a good time to try pulling the eggs.
Basically, I do all of the above to try to stop my lovebird from laying or at least limit the total number of eggs she lays. Egg laying is a real strain on your bird's body - it takes a lot of nutrients and calcium to make an egg and shell! Egglaying should therefore be discouraged in a pet bird that does not need to be laying. If all else fails, you can have a vet give injections of a drug called Lupron. I have heard it is very expensive, though, and not without side effects. In extreme cases they sometimes spay pet birds but this is a very risky procedure for a bird and not normally done. Make sure your bird has a good diet and a cuttlebone at all times for calcium. Even with my best efforts my lovie still lays about 1-2 eggs every two months. My vet feels this is not too excessive and does not require drug treatment but opinons on this topic differ. Good luck!
2006-10-29 11:30:05 · answer #1 · answered by Rags to Riches 5 · 5⤊ 0⤋
Some people gave some great advice on this, but everyone is right!
Reduce the amount of sunlight, afterall spring is their natural mating season. 8 hours at most!
Rearrange the cage, and make sure theres no mirrors in the cage, they will bond with "themselves" sometimes if theres a mirror. Birds won't typically lay eggs when they're in a "new" environment because its a protective thing. This will at least buy you a little time.
Remove shredable things.
Move her to a different part of the room, preferrably a whole different room, it will take them that much longer to adjust!
Don't wait 9 WEEKS to remove them, God if you did wait that long I bet they stunk! The eggs should be removed no more than 24 HOURS AFTER BEING LAYED. Otherwise your bird will sit and try to hatch them, and they can become very agressive and depressed because their babies won't hatch.
Also changing her diet up a little bit wouldn't hurt. Anything new you can introduce her to will prolong her desire to lay eggs, just keep it new, I would recommend rearranging her cage monthly, Rotate certain toys in and out.
Thats the best I can tell ya, good luck!
2006-10-29 19:29:04 · answer #2 · answered by acekingsuited83 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
You can take your lovebird to your vet and get a hormone shot. Mine recommended 2 per year, early Spring and maybe again in the Fall. I lost my cockatiel due to egg binding. She was a single hen, but laid eggs all the time. I wish I would have known about the "birth control" shots. My bird laid 3 clutches before one egg became bound. Not only can eggs become bound, it's very hard on the bird to produce these eggs. Please take your lovebird to the vet and ask about the shots before it's too late.
2006-10-29 10:20:43 · answer #3 · answered by Valkyrie_123 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Take away her nestbox and remove alllll shreddable materials from her cage. Rearrange her entire cage, new perches, toys, food dishes etc. Limit her to 8-9 hours of daylight a day. Put her in a completely different location and/or cage altogether.
She's going to become seriously ill and possibly eggbound if you don't stop this chronic laying pattern. Avian vets have hormone shots for chronic layers which you might have to consider too
Good Luck
2006-10-29 10:20:08 · answer #4 · answered by Kimmie 5 · 2⤊ 0⤋
Leave the eggs with her for a week or two.
In the wild if a predator eats the eggs, the birds lay more. If you leave them, it will "shut off" her instinct to constantly lay more.
2006-10-29 10:26:01 · answer #5 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
haha my friend has a female cockatiel and she lays eggs like crazy.. i dont think theres much you can do to stop it.. it's not really a bad thing
2006-10-29 10:13:02 · answer #6 · answered by Michelle 3 · 0⤊ 1⤋
WHAT i HAVE HEARD IS IF YOU TAKE OUT A NEST THEY WON'T LAY EGGS. iF YOUR BIRD IS LAYING WITH-OUT A NEST MAYBE SHE NEEDS A MATE. sOMETIMES THE NEED TO BE A PARENT IS VERY STRONG,EX: i ONCE HAD A GOLDEN LAB SHE WAS NEVER BRED...WELL WE FOUND A KITTEN & WAS HAND FEEDING IT TIL OUR DOG TOOK OVER. sHE HAD PRODUCED MILK! gOOD LUCK!
2006-10-29 13:55:03 · answer #7 · answered by linda g 1 · 0⤊ 1⤋
get her a mate to produce fertilized eggs then youl have more cute birds to take care of
2006-10-29 16:33:57 · answer #8 · answered by ........ 4 · 0⤊ 2⤋
She's probably lonely :(
2006-10-29 10:16:03 · answer #9 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 1⤋