why is my solitary lovebird laying eggs?

Question

She has been laying an egg every 10-14 days for a few months now. She has no mate so why the eggs and is this depleting her calcium?

Answer 1

There is a stimuli in the environment that is making her believe it's mating season. Some people may tell you to get a male or get a brooding/nesting box. Do not do this. It only encourages her grumpy mating behaviour which is not pleasant for you, having to deal with it, or for her, having to lay eggs (very stressful on her body) and sit on them only to realize a month later she's wasted her energy on eggs that didn't hatch. And if ever a male does fertilize the eggs and by chance, they do hatch for whatever reason, the parents are absolutely exhausted by caring for the chicks.

The best way to deal with this is cover her cage in darkness for at least 12 hours a night and those 12 hours need to be totally silent. Monitor her food intake. Give her only the amount of food you know she will eat because knowing there's extra will suggest there's enough to feed babies. Lovebirds generally eat one and a half spoons of food per day, but all lovebirds are built differently, so give her a little more than one and a half. If she eats it all and still looks for more, you'll know she eats more than 1.5 a day. If there's some left over, you'll know she eats a bit less. Re-arrange her cage totally. Even move it to a different room, but change everything within it too. Get new toys and new perches and swap them for every single thing in her cage right now. If her environment is unstable and changing, she won't want to have young living in these conditions in their early hatchlinghood. If you're petting her anywhere but on the head, stop. Petting on the belly, back, tail, and under the wings are especially important places to avoid touching. This stimulates her in the way a mate would and makes her think to lay more eggs again. Don't give her any places to hide or nest in her cage and avoid letting her near nesting material. If she has paper lining the bottom of her cage without a barrier between it and her, get a grate and put down so she can't reach the paper.

If she is consistently laying eggs over a prolonged period of time, her calcium levels will be very low - maybe even dangerously low at one point, but that's for an avian vet to determine. I suggest you take her to see a certified avian vet (not your average cat/dog vet - http://aav.org/vet-lookup ) and see what they can suggest if this ever becomes a problem. The above suggestions I gave are to minimize mating season triggers, and they've worked for my four hens. If she lays more and more eggs, her body becomes more and more exhausted, tapping out many important nutritional resources she needs for herself much more than she needs for some dead eggs.

When she does lay eggs, do NOT take them away. Since they're infertile, wait for her to lay an entire clutch (3-6 eggs) and when she gets up and leaves them to be her friendly self before all of the mating hormones got rushed up, and you can tell that she's tired of sitting on them and no longer interested (natural incubation is about 20 to 30 days, that'll be the approximate time she'll get up and leave for good), throw them out.

To counteract the calcium loss of laying eggs, feed her some leafy greens. Romaine lettuce, broccoli, spinach, and kale are fantastic, but be careful with spinach and kale. They have so much calcium that too much will bind calcium and flip the effects. Also, she should be on a pellet-based diet. The best, high quality pellets that I've seen drastic changes in through my birds are Harrison's, Roudybush, and Zupreem. Pellets are more balanced diets and the biggest change was the brightness in the eyes and softness of plumage. About 85% should be pellets, 5% seeds, and about 10% pasta, fresh fruits and veggies, and grains, give or take a bit from each percentage to your liking. That general area is good for lovebirds.

Other than general care and playing with her when /she/ shows interest and wishes to initiate playtime, leave her be until she's finished being broody.

Answer 2

About half (if not more) of Birds naturally produce eggs, regardless of if they have a mate and are fertile.

It will deplete her calcium, Most bird foods take into account that the females will be producing eggs, so it shouldn't be life threatening. Especially if you supply the proper calcium supplement. be it a Calcium hunk or whatever is appropriate for your species of bird.

If you think her egg laying gets excessive, You may check with your vet, as some birds will get a hormone imbalance when they don't have another bird of the opposite sex around to regulate their fertility cycle.
If you do get a male and don't want baby birds just take the eggs away when she has them, either sell/give them to a breeder who wants to incubate them, or break them.

Answer 3

All birds lay eggs regardless of a mate. This means the eggs are not fertile. I suggest getting fake eggs to slow down the laying and supply her with calcium supplements.

Answer 4

female birds don't need a male partner to lay eggs. Just like women ovulate whether they have a partner or not. If they don't have a male, the eggs are not fertile, therefore they would never hatch.
yes, laying eggs does use a lot of calcium. I think you're supposed to give them cuttlefish bone or some other calcium source. I used to have finches and that's what I gave them.
i don't think there's much you can do to stop the bird from laying .

Answer 5

Female birds do not need a male to lay eggs - it's what they do naturally like women have their period. To have FERTILIZED eggs, they need a male.
Make sure she is on a good diet, because if she starts egg-laying and she doesn't have enough calcium for proper egg production, she could develop life-threatening health problems

Answer 6

Don't worry, it's normal. We had a cockatiel who did the same thing, and chickens do it all the time. It's the female birdy version of menstrating. You might want to give her a little extra calcium right after she lays one from time to time, but it's perfectly normal.

I suggest giving her a little private mini-house or box within the cage and giving her some tissue paper or newspaper shreddings to make a nest with. You'll notice that she'll be very grouchy and want to nest a lot per her natural instincts. This will go away after a few years when she hits birdy menopause.

Answer 7

Birds lay eggs....

If there's no mate, then the eggs are not fertilized...but she will lay them regardless.

Answer 8

Birds can lay eggs that are unfertilized.

Why don't you get her a mate? She would be happier.

Answer 9

They're eggs. They just don't have babies in them.

You should try eating them. It's probably a really good aphrodisiac. lol.

Answer 10

They're infertile, but that's the way birdies do it.