Our one lovebird is laying eggs and we do not want to have any babies as do not have the facilities or space.?

Question

We do not know the sex of the other bird. They have had 3 eggs before which after 27 days did not hatch and where yolks only in them.

What do we do with the eggs so as not to upset the birds and also for them not to continue laying?

Answer 1

Your Lovebird Hen ,like lots of hens has gone into it's natural cycle of laying egg.
If you don't know the sex of the other bird you may have two females.
Therefore the eggs will not be fertile,have you seen the other bird mate with the laying hen?
By what you say about the last eggs this could have been her first laying.
Leave the eggs for 6-10 days then remove them if they are fertile they will be of darker appearance and you will know if they are fertile hold them up to a strong Light and you will see if there are young forming.
Then it's up to you what you want to do ?
Make sure your bird has plenty of Cuttle bone and a Mineral block as the laying of eggs depletes their body minerals,also as a tonic give them some soaked sprouting seed,
Soak some Sunflower,a little Hemp,Niger and Millet,Canary mix,in warm water over-night drain ,rinse ,place somewhere warm till it sprouts(2-3 days)then feed this to them,if you can get hold of some Spinach give them a leaf or two.these will all help to give your birds extra vitamins and keep them in good health.

Answer 2

Please do not listen to the people telling you that lovebirds are meant to have babies! Your lovebirds will be happier and healthier if they are not used for breeding, and you are doing the right thing by trying to stop the cycle now! Laying eggs is risky behavior, and can kill your female before you know anything is wrong.

To stop the laying cycle, you need to control the hormonal triggers that are leading the hen to lay eggs. First, go ahead and vigorously shake the eggs that are in the nest, then put them back. Taking the hen's eggs away will just drive her to lay more, but addling them and putting them back ensures they won't hatch, and she'll continue to sit on them until she decides they won't hatch.

Once your hen abandons the eggs, take them away, along with whatever she laid them in, or any other toy she might use as a nest in the future. Adult birds do not need nests or nestboxes, and they are triggers for laying behavior. You should also begin regulating their food. Measure their food and watch how much they eat in a day, then give them that much food and no more. They should have enough to be satisfied themselves, but not so much that they think there'll be extra food to feed to chicks. Cover their cage for at least 12 hours each night. This will make them think it's winter, and a bad time for laying eggs. Changing all these triggers is usually enough to make the laying stop, but occasionally you may have to take your female to the vet for a hormone shot to stop the laying. Good luck!

Answer 3

Distract the birds from being in the cage. Take them to another room for half of an hour. Take the eggs out, boil them and let them cool, then return them to the cage. If you remove the eggs, you risk the female laying repeatedly, which can deplete her calcium and other nutrient levels and cause her to die. If she continues to lay eggs, reduce the light exposure during the day. Birds don't want to lay during winter months. If it gets bad enough, and she lays many more eggs, you may consider talking to a certified avian vet about using Lupron.

Answer 4

When given a choice of mates they will chose male / female but any 2 lovebirds in a cage together will pair up & act like a devoted pair regardless of being m-m ,m-f ,f-m or f-f this is why they are called lovebirds. Hens dont need a male to lay infertile eggs or to raise young from donner birds. ive had them raise budgie chicks from budgie eggs placed under 2f lovebird pair. You could try giving them an open cannary nest to sleep/roost in & take there nest/sleeping box away. Merry Christmas

Answer 5

It seems they may both be females, since none of the previous eggs were fertilized.
So you don't have any worries about babies in the first place.
Now, birds DO lay eggs, whether they get fertilized or not, so there's no real way you can keep them from laying eggs.
However, you can take the eggs away and probably not upset the birds all that much.
Just try to take the eggs out while the birds are bathing, or otherwise distract them.

By the way: the eggs do not have to go to waste: if you have a cat or dog, they''ll be more than happy to eat them, and this would honor nature's way of letting nothing go to waste.

Kind regards,
Roselle

Answer 6

Replace the eggs with marbles or something similar in size. You can see if they're fertile by candling them. If you just destroy the eggs, they will continue laying, whether they're male/female or not. Females lay 1-2 times a year, but some can keep laying if they lose their eggs.

Answer 7

A female can lay eggs regardless of if they're fertilized or not. Lovebirds are usually sold in pairs - male and female, so chances are you have one of each. If you don't want babies, remove the eggs when they're laid and replace them with little plastic ones of the same size to "trick" the female. If she's fooled by them, she'll lay on them and during this time won't lay other eggs.

Answer 8

Have scalding water ready.

Take your birds out to play for a while.

While out of their little home, remove the eggs and place them carefully into the scalding water (being careful not to scald yourself).

Do not boil them!
Boiling eggs can cause the shells to split.

After a few minutes, remove the eggs from the hot water (hopefully still in tact) and let them cool to the temperature of the would-be mother's body.

Now replace the eggs from whence they came and return your birds to their home.

If the trick works, there should be no grief in the cage and 'mother' will cease laying eggs until she gets fed up with the ones she's got.

After kicking the duds from the nest, the cycle may resume; but you will have at least slowed nature's course.

Whenever pet birds lay eggs constantly, stress ought to be presumed suspect 'numero uno'.

Perhaps a larger cage might help.

Having a 'warm-spot' (a single, small, infrared lamp placed high up in a corner somewhere just outside the cage so that the birds can soak up heat at will--and also get away from it when they've had enough) may also help to relieve stress.

Good luck!

Answer 9

seed only diets will not support the dietary needs of these birds or any other birds. laying eggs and raising a clutch requires a much better well rounded diet or the female will become malnourished and the parents will not be able to provide better nutrition for the clutch. please let the parents raise the clutch!! both of them. if they are not hurting the eggs or chicks let them alone. when birds raise a clutch it takes both parents. you need to get a more appropriate sized cage for sure. the bigger the better of they all will be. but to move them while they are nesting is a huge no no! wait. loads of breeding websites you can research to guide you on diet and what not to do. I would recommend a visit with your avian vet to get these birds started on the right path.

Answer 10

Female birds lay eggs even when they are not fertilised. It's like women ovulating every month. Now, if your other bird is male, eventually he will find the way to fertilise her. So if you don't want babies just take the eggs away. Do they sit on them? If so, leave the eggs to hatch, your birds will be so happy, and then sell the little birds or give them to friends. I am sure people will ba happy to have lovebirds for free!