Cockatiel has a chronic egg laying problem?

[krupali]

My lutino cockatiel has laid 4-5 clutches of eggs this spring and summer. I've tried everything I think I'm considering lupron. She shares the cage with my other female cockatiel. I hope her egg laying stops when fall comes around. Right now, she's staying at my sister's apartment however we're gonna move her back to my place because there's too much daylight in her apartment. I even bought fake eggs and they do help as she thinks they are her real eggs. I know how many eggs she lays in a clutch, around 8-9. So I make sure sure I put atleast 7 fake eggs plus her real eggs so more than 12 eggs in her cage which is crazy. She's always looking for a nesting place. I make sure there's nothing on the bottom of her cage but she still somehow finds a way to lay eggs. I've even tried reducing her daylight to only 6 hours and I let her sleep for more than 12 hours. I did this for a couple of days but it still didn't work. Have you guys had success with stopping your bird from laying eggs without lupron? I'm just worried I don't want her to become egg bound. I make sure she gets her calcium. I think she'll stop when the whether starts getting colder because she laid her first clutch in july last year and stopped.

 

[expressmailtome]

Bump.

 

[CeciliaZ]

My female was a chronic layer for about 2 years. Then she quit for over 5 yrs. Started again last year - laid all year - through all seasons. I tried so many of the suggestions - nothing worked. I finally took her to the vet for Lupron. It has been over 2 months now. I was told the shot should last at least one month. At least her body has had a break from laying. If she starts up again and becomes chronic I will discuss continuing Lupron on a regular basis. Good luck. Maybe staying at your sister's in another environment will stop her for awhile. Good luck.

 

[metalstitcher]

I was wondering when she was laying last year was it all summer long as well or was it just one or two times?

I know reducing her day light like you have should help but since that is a no go I think the Lupron shot might be your best bet. I know a few members here have had them done on their birds.

 

[rocky'smom]

I'm dealing with this also, right now thanking God, she is NOT laying. This is, what I am doing, reduce the amount of seed mix she getting to 2tablespoons a day. She get a warm mash/ worldly cuisines/ fresh veggies for breakfast about 14 grams worth. Because your female shares a cage with another bird you will have figure out how to limit her intake. My girl gets calcium add to her mash in the morning. Keep their weight in check.you nay have, weigh her, daily. She is going to bed at about 5-5:30pm , her covers are black, you cannot see thru them. Watch for her triggers, what gets her 'happy' on. If it's something that you can remove from cage, do so. This is working for now, but I am ready to do is swap cages if need be.

 

[krupali]

I'm dealing with this also, right now thanking God, she is NOT laying. This is, what I am doing, reduce the amount of seed mix she getting to 2tablespoons a day. She get a warm mash/ worldly cuisines/ fresh veggies for breakfast about 14 grams worth. Because your female shares a cage with another bird you will have figure out how to limit her intake. My girl gets calcium add to her mash in the morning. Keep their weight in check.you nay have, weigh her, daily. She is going to bed at about 5-5:30pm , her covers are black, you cannot see thru them. Watch for her triggers, what gets her 'happy' on. If it's something that you can remove from cage, do so. This is working for now, but I am ready to do is swap cages if need be.

How long has it been since she's stopped laying eggs? I used dummy eggs and they helped in the beginning and now I just keep them all in her cage with her real eggs. I've heard that reducing the amount of see mix she gets is good, I would just give her zupreme fruit blend. For that I would have to separate the cage because my other bird is diabetic and she can't handle zupreme fruit blend. There's another problem, my bird who's a chronic egg layer has separation anxiety but I guess I can keep them separated for atleast a week and see if they get used to it. Thanks for the advice Rocky'smom!

 

[krupali]

I was wondering when she was laying last year was it all summer long as well or was it just one or two times?

I know reducing her day light like you have should help but since that is a no go I think the Lupron shot might be your best bet. I know a few members here have had them done on their birds.

She only laid a clutch of eggs last year and that was it after that she never laid another clutch. And now she's been laying eggs from spring to now.

 

[rocky'smom]

It's been 8 days since she laid a egg. It also been 9 days since I reduced rations to 2tablespoons of seed mix. Cockatiels should have some type of seed mix not just pellets. Otherwise they are getting too much protein and it can damage their kidneys. 50/50 mixture is best, 1tablespoon
pellets,1tablespoon seed mix. Keeping their protein in check seems to make a difference.
I have dummy eggs and JMHO, I think that the bird keep laying because of them. You never leave the dummy eggs in the cage all the time anyway. Its encouraging them not discouraging.

 

[krupali]

Hey guys a little update. She laid an egg tonight, this is going to be her 4th clutch. I tried my best to make sure she wouln't lay but nothing worked. I'm sad because I don't want her to go through this again and she's beginning her to molt which is going to put alot of stress on her. These past days I've been trying to distract her when ever she's in the heat and made sure she doesn't find a nesting spot. I would turn of the lights at 8 or 9 and cover the entire cage. I even covered the windows with blankets so no light would peak through. I I think when a cockatiel lays an egg, it's going to keep laying until it makes a clutch. 'm going to put the dummy eggs back in her cage again. I going to continue to give put her to sleep early and give her 12 hours of darkness. I'm worried, she's just gonna sit on her egg all night

 

[sunnysmom]

Sorry she's still laying. You may find this article helpful: Little Feathered Buddies hormone control

 

[krupali]

Sorry she's still laying. You may find this article helpful: Little Feathered Buddies hormone control

I read the article just yesterday and I thought it was very helpful. I'm following some of the advice from that article.

 

[TikiMyn]

Have you tried increasing the darkness to 14 hours? Perhaps that helps your little girl. She could sleep in another room, if that doesn’t scare her I hope she stops laying soon! Dummy eggs help my duck to stop laying as well so I think it helps your girl as well

 

[rocky'smom]

Sorry to hear that she is still at it. My girl has not laid a egg since July 11. She gets up at 9 am and goes to bed at 5:30 pm. Try this reduce amount of seeds to 1 1/2 tablespoonful a day.

 

[finchly]

I’ve been going thru this with Torrie too. Rearranging the cage stopped her once. This time we decided to let her lay the clutch. She has three that she sits on intermittently but today it looked like she’s going to lay one again.

 

[Tiel Feathers]

Niko was laying last month. She laid four eggs, and I put them on a plate with seven dummy eggs. She started sitting on them and laid one more. She was using her sleep cage as a nest, so I just let her sit on them in there. She sat on them for three weeks. In that time she came out about three times a day for food and to poop. After three weeks she stopped trying to get back to her “nest.” I guess she was done, so I started taking the eggs out two at a time and she hasn’t laid any since, thank goodness. I think she got it out of her system.

 

[Betz]

I had 2 female lovebirds together. They were synced up in laying eggs.
What worked was taking away anything that resembled a "nesting idea" to them and separated them and just let them play together. Separate cages.
Also, I added calcium to both their diets, reduced sea and gave them more dark for sleep.
It's been over a month and a half.
So far, things are great!

 

[krupali]

I’ve been going thru this with Torrie too. Rearranging the cage stopped her once. This time we decided to let her lay the clutch. She has three that she sits on intermittently but today it looked like she’s going to lay one again.

Sorry to hear that she's laying eggs again. Did you try reducing daylight hours ?

 

[krupali]

Sorry to hear that she is still at it. My girl has not laid a egg since July 11. She gets up at 9 am and goes to bed at 5:30 pm. Try this reduce amount of seeds to 1 1/2 tablespoonful a day.

Wow, your bird gets alot of sleep haha. Ive been putting her to sleep early for the past few days. I put her to sleep at 8 sometimes 9 and don't wake her up till it's 11. I will continue to do this for atleast a week hopefully it will reduce her hormone levels.

 

[finchly]

Sorry to hear that she's laying eggs again. Did you try reducing daylight hours ?

Not yet. I’m not sure about that since she’s in a room with the others, and finches have just begun laying. They should be wrapping it up but nobody started until July. So it might mess them up, or maybe I should just do it and let whatever happens, happen. I don’t need more babies.

We talked about covering their cage but her cage mate, Spirit has so many night frights.

 

[krupali]

I'm dealing with this also, right now thanking God, she is NOT laying. This is, what I am doing, reduce the amount of seed mix she getting to 2tablespoons a day. She get a warm mash/ worldly cuisines/ fresh veggies for breakfast about 14 grams worth. Because your female shares a cage with another bird you will have figure out how to limit her intake. My girl gets calcium add to her mash in the morning. Keep their weight in check.you nay have, weigh her, daily. She is going to bed at about 5-5:30pm , her covers are black, you cannot see thru them. Watch for her triggers, what gets her 'happy' on. If it's something that you can remove from cage, do so. This is working for now, but I am ready to do is swap cages if need be.

I know this is an old post but how is your bird doing now? My cockatiel is still laying eggs. after losing her mate in december, my bird would drop her eggs and they would crack. Luckly, I had some of her old eggs that weren't cracked and some dummy eggs. Currently she has 9 real eggs and 4 dummy eggs. I hope she gets tired of them. I've noticed that she's not being very hormonal so maybe that's a good sign. I'm going to try to keep the eggs for 2 weeks. The problem is, she gets constipated easily because she's sitting all day and not getting an exercise. I'm going to reduce her seeds intake. Today, I gave her some broccoli and cilantro with some white millet. One reason why I think she lays eggs is that she doesn't want to be abandoned. if nothing works then I'm just going to have to get lupron. She's not tamed and gets scared easily. Not sure how they would give her shots it scares me a little because my bird is always anxious. I don't think the light therapy would work on her. She was left in another room one time and kept chirping all night because she couldn't sit on her eggs. and when i moved her back to my room she went in to the corner and sat on her eggs. I don't think the light therapy is all that effective if a bird is a chronic egg layer

 

[Ripshod]

@krupali

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