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Horny Female

Marloz

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Can anyone please help me. I have a female cockatiel who is horny. She already twice laid 2 lots off eggs and she still is horny and she wants to lay another lot. How can I stop her. I live in Australia and it's Summer
 

Lady Jane

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Monica

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This is generally what I recommend for egg-laying hens. (X-post) :)

  1. Remove Eggs
    • Rearrange the cage
    • Move the cage to a new location
    • Use a cage grate
    • Get a new cage/Use a different cage
    • 12-14 hours of complete darkness (may require as much as 16 hrs for 2 weeks - or try providing the opposite, as little as 8 hrs of sleep)
    • Full Spectrum Lighting/Better Lighting
    • Lower the indoor temperature
    • Decrease calcium and protein within the diet (if she is on a high calcium & protein diet prior to laying eggs)
    • Remove anything that could be taken as a nest
    • Remove anything that could be used as nesting material
    • Don't allow her in any dark place or enclosed area
    • IMPORTANT: save the eggs in the fridge
    • If she lays more than 3-4 eggs, put them back in the cage
  2. Leave the Eggs
    • Leave the eggs alone in the cage
    • [Optional] Replace with fake eggs (prevent eggs from breaking)
    • Increase calcium
    • Let hen sit on eggs for 3-4 weeks or until she gets bored of them
    • Once done sitting, toss



Generally speaking, there are triggers to hens laying eggs, and if you can remove the triggers, you may be able to stop the egg laying. Triggers can include toys that she can lay in, a plastic base to a cage, nesting material (i.e. cage bedding), a diet high in protein and fat, too much or not enough light, quality of light, etc. All things that should be considered. Removing the triggers to egg laying should be considered *FIRST* before any drastic measures should be taken. You never know, it could be something simple!
 

Marloz

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[QUOTE="Lady Jane, post: 2748345, member: How old is she? Does she have a mate? What is her diet? How much sleep does she get?[/QUOTE]

She is two years old, she lives with a male but they never mated, she eats a lot of veges like peas, spinach and chickweed, she sleep 12 hours. I also have to turn on the Air conditioning cause it's so hot here. I use old newspaper for the floor and my male also shredded them
 

Monica

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If she has access to the cage bottom, then you may need to put a cage grate in where she can't get to the newspaper or get a different cage with a grate.


Could try more hours of sleep, or less.
 

Marloz

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She laid one egg this morning. How do I get her to stop
 

Monica

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In order to get her to stop, you need to figure out what's triggering her to lay in the first place.


If you remove the triggers, she would stop laying eggs.
 

barry collins

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Do not remove the eggs unless you replace them with fake ones. Let her sit for about 21 days then she will start to ignore and abandon her useless clutch. Then turn her life upside down. New cage, new room, less greens, different routine and make her generally uneasy to persuade her that laying another clutch would be a bad idea..
The reason you must let her sit on her eggs is to give her laying hormones a chance to reduce and she will ready herself for looking after babies. Then maybe she will stop? Laying eggs is a hormonal thing and you must make her hormones reduce to stop laying it is seldom the birds choice as it must just expel the egg it's body has produced from a hormonal cue.
Good luck eggs are tiring and emotional for you both.
 

Laurul Feather Cat

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The purpose of a hen is to lay eggs. :bash::bash:Trying to get her to STOP is a futile and less than intelligent exercise in wasting time and energy. Keep her well fed, with lots of calcium sources to keep her from getting soft shells and just let her do what comes naturally. Eventually, she will stop on her own. You say she is not mating with the cock, so you at least do not have to deal with fertile eggs; however, I would candle her eggs to make sure they are not fertile so she doesn't surprise you with chicks. Allow ALL the eggs to collect in the place she prefers to lay them and allow her to play with the eggs as much as she wants. These are the absolute best ways to handle a reproductive hen; no shots, no extreme cage or diet changes, etc. Let her do what comes naturally and don't interfere. :joyful::joyful:

She will stop when she wants to and not before. Just watch for any fertile eggs and remove them so she doesn't hatch chicks (unless you want chicks). This is how I manage my cockatiel, budgie and lovebird hens. :)
 

Laurul Feather Cat

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By the way, the"trigger" that is encouraging her lay eggs is the fact it is time (summer) for her to produce eggs and chicks and you just have to wait out the summer until she stops laying. It is much easier and fun to allow her to do what comes naturally than to fight Mother Nature!
 

Fergus Mom

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<< thinking to self... Pleeeeeeeze no eggs Fiona..... pleeeeeeze, no eggs!
 

barry collins

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I think the point is that a normal or natural cycle of laying in nature creates chicks and the process of sitting on eggs then looking after the brood will not require she lays more eggs (unless her brood perished ie taking eggs away).
The fact that we create an unnatural environment in captivity and regularly see chronic laying means sometimes we have to help out to reduce the stress on a laying hen.
The fact that you would allow a bird to continually lay eggs putting huge stress on her body with no babies to even compensate the effort is akin to a female dog in a puppy farm??
The same as any other animal in the world pregnancy is not required to be fulfilled or healthy and if you have ever used birth control yourself ever in your life then you would be a hypocrite for controlling your own natural bodily functions?
I have not had 1 egg last summer at all and have 3 male and 3 female cockatiels and all I had to do to keep them from laying was have no nesting boxes or areas to lay but most of all they sleep in the house and spend the days outside in an aviary as a flock so no female feels settled in a permanent place. My birds are healthy and happy and mentally stable.
If you think about it a cage is just one big nest box and spending most of your time in there is a good way of getting them to lay.
Let's not pretend our birds live a natural life with us in tiny cages most of the day, under florescent lights in the evening, forced to live with cage mates of our choosing and on a diet that we choose for them while we persuade them to whistle our tunes and be entertaining for us. None of this is natural and for the privilege of keeping a bird in captivity for our own entertainment surely the least we can do is try and help it live as stress free life as possible and surely laying eggs is one of the most stressful things a bird will ever Do?
Just my 2 cents worth?
 
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Laurul Feather Cat

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"The fact that you would allow a bird to continually lay eggs putting huge stress on her body with no babies to even compensate the effort is akin to a female dog in a puppy farm??"

This is not a relevant statement to the issue at hand. Puppy mills wish to create offspring and what I am talking about is NOT interfering with nature and allowing a natural event to run its course and fade as the world turns and times change and the desire to reproduce ends naturally. If a hen is correctly husbanded, (fed, exercised and housed), the "stress" on her body is a natural stress she is designed by evolution to withstand and is far from the situation of a puppy mill pretty lady kept to produce profit for its owners. If you want to debate my method of handling reproductive hens, please use science and logic relevant to the situation, not inflammatory dialog designed to create emotional reactions.

You feel not allowing the hens a place to feel safe within which they could reproduce is the reason your hens do not lay. This could be quite true and it is a novel and very intelligent way of short circuiting the reproduction instincts. I applaud your intelligence and bird smarts on this.

I allow my birds to be as natural as they wish, having a mate, having sex, laying as many eggs as they feel secure in laying and also allowing them to brood the eggs until the hens and cocks realize they will not hatch and abandon them. Over the last eighteen years I have seen no negative outcome from the birds not hatching any eggs from their broods; either behaviorally, physically or as mentally as I can feel. I have had one hen, an elderly bird, die from a retained egg; no others ill from any egg production or laying problems. I have hatched (accidentally) five babies and bred on purpose three birds in these past 18 years as well. I have one hen who is great at hiding eggs and since I use egg abortion as my birth control method, if Cookie manages to hatch a baby, I allow it to grow up and keep it as my own. I cannot cull a live chick; just the eggs. I have had hens who are prolific egg producers and I my avian vet's way of managing them is to keep them as physically well conditions as possible and allow them to lay their eggs until they stop naturally; no interference at all unless they get run down, physically. I have never yet (knock on wood) had a hen hurt herself by producing excessive eggs. I am hoping to never have this.

Oh, I did have a newly adopted GCC die of a hemorrhaged egg follicle. Found her dead in her nest box one morning. I had only had her for a month. It was a really hard loss for me.
 

barry collins

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Ok I don't wish to offend or start an argument about either of our beliefs but the original post says: help my bird has layed two clutches and starting a third.
Professionals and vets say more than 2 clutches in a year can be harmful to a hen and especially with no break in between clutches. So I am merely offering my suggestions to stop unnecessary health problems for someone's bird. My beliefs about this are backed up by common sense and an understanding that we are responsible for what happens to our birds.
My understanding of your idea is that nature will take its course and what happens will just happen. Kind of absolves a bird keeper from any responsibility or guilt when it goes wrong doesn't it? Like hey it's fate or It's gods will or some other it's not my fault sayings?
What you do works for you but this bird does not need to be laying anymore eggs this year surely?
Sorry I don't want to seem funny but I will always stand by my beliefs unless someone can explain to me another way that I understand to be better.
 

Laurul Feather Cat

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No, it does not absolve anyone about anything. What it does is encourage people to allow nature to take its course. If you see the bird is suffering or needs vet help, get it; but I am sure you would agree most people make the problem worse when they interfere is the natural process of reproduction. Why is the bird starting her third clutch of eggs? Where are all the eggs she laid before beginning this third one? With my outlook, she would already have a large pile of previous eggs staring her in the face every time she looks at her "nest" site and would feel no reason to add to it. If she is having unusual hormonal influence to lay more, I would allow her to do it, add to the pile, as long as she remained healthy and happy. Humans interfere too much in their bird's instincts and when we short circuit their instincts that is when the poor things literally kill themselves trying to answer nature's call.

I suggested the owner pile up all the bird's eggs, let her add this next clutch to the pile and then LEAVE HER ALONE WITH HER EGGS. Don't touch them, move them, even look at them cross ways. Let the hen see her riches and let her feel fulfilled. Changing around the cage, altering her food, changing her environment just makes a hen who is feeling broody look for a better place to lay eggs and fulfill her hormonal mandates. Instead, back off. Let her lay and watch her. If a health situation develops, deal with it. But as long as she is healthy and happy, leave her alone.

Go ahead and stand by your beliefs. I think it is great you found a novel way to prevent triggering your birds' reproductive instincts. Hope it continues to work. I am not saying my way is better. I am ony saying my way, so far, works well for me.
 

barry collins

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So we're both agreed then that eggs should be left with the hen in one form or another so she can sit on them and this reduces her need for more eggs. This much we agree on. But from then this is where we differ. I elect to try and persuade birds not to lay too many eggs so to reduce any complications and having to deal with hormonal birds. Where as you choose a more natural method where you see laying lots of eggs as a natural part of life and a right of passage for your broody birds and then promptly murder every egg they lay making all the effort of reproduction fruitless and if they suffer from it then just deal with it as it happens? Your words.
Both schools of thought probably have their merits I just choose the former and you choose the later.
 

orphansparrow

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Good discussion guys. I'm was really interested to hear both of your opinions.
 

Monica

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My take on it is that many people unintentionally set their birds up to be hormonal. We feed them a varied diet that could be too rich in nutrients, calcium or protein, warm foods, pet them incorrectly, give them places to nest, have them on a day/night breeding schedule, etc. A place to nest could be a coconut toy, the bottom of a cage that has a plastic base, happy huts, or similar things.

Basically, a lot of people are unintentionally setting their birds up for being hormonal, and if they allow the hens to lay eggs and nest, then the hens may get into a constant egg laying cycle, thus becoming chronic egg layers. Some hens may continue laying even if they are at 8-10 eggs!


In that sense, I'd rather discourage the behavior by removing the triggers to egg laying. Not many people understand that in order to get a hen to stop, you need to remove the triggers, so simply allowing them to sit on the eggs for 3-4 weeks and removing the eggs after the hen supposedly gets bored wtih them wont stop the hen from laying more... she may just lay another clutch.
 

barry collins

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Without wanting to fan the flames of any different opinions I feel I should try and explain the reasons behind my belief that birds in captivity should be managed at all levels from basics like diet and perch choice through environment and husbandry right up to mental and physical stability.
We take birds into our homes and lives with every intention of loving and caring for them Well, sometimes just as well as children. This cannot be denied and whatever approach we take we believe we are doing the best for our birds as well as we can. The problems can start when we treat them like children and not like birds.
In the wild birds do not lead sedentary lives Sat on the same perch in the same tree all day with a pot of food next to them and a safe climate controlled roof over their head. This leads me to share the reason behind why I believe what I do about reproduction in captivity and egg over production and why naturally birds have evolved to stand 2 clutches a season. In the wild a cockatiel is a prey species that is constantly on alert to protect its life from all manner of dangers. In a breeding season a pair of birds must firstly be successful in finding enough food and finding a suitable nesting site in competition with all other living creatures fighting for the same things. We simply give them a box and a pot of wonderfully nutritious food at their feet every day. This is the start of our illusion that we are doing them good. In nature if a pair is successful at doing these first steps they must now fight to defend their prize (cue a hormonal change to higher aggression and defensive nature) now after mating the female makes a huge effort to make some eggs pulling minerals from her own body to give her brood the best start in life, just like any other mother in the animal kingdom. This same effort is reproduced in captivity when laying eggs. In nature the pair work extrodinarily hard to find food and avoid predators including hawks, snakes and even small mammals who would all make a meal of either the parents in the nest or the amazing nutrient rich eggs they have worked hard to produce. In nature they get plenty of opportunities to vent all the extra energy and hormonal anger defending their brood. in captivity they still have all these defensive feelings and usually only have you or other birds they live with to vent this on. Don't forget while doing all this they fly miles every day. So after all this effort the female gets chance to recover some as both parents take turns sitting on the eggs.
Nature will often be cruel and if the clutch is lost for any reason the female will sacrifice her own health to replace the clutch so the breeding season is not wasted. So when a clutch is finally hatched the parents spend all their energy feeding and defending the chicks from predators etc. All this time the hormonal cues are changing as the clutch is more likely to be successful and the parents spend time raising their chicks. However back in captivity we now have no chicks to raise so the hen starts to feel a desire to replace the eggs that have not hatched because food is plentiful and the nest box is safe and the light cycle in the house is always like the breeding season ( long days) so she lays more eggs regardless of the other eggs that have failed. This cycle will and does repeat over and over while conditions are favourable and we unfortunately and usually unwittingly keep this cycle going because we make their breeding cycle unsuccessful over and over again by killing their eggs while allowing them to be in a sometimes constant hormonal breeding state because we supply all the cues to make them breed. ( triggers) we give them a reason to breed year round yet never allow them to raise chicks so forcing them to keep trying over and over to have a successful brood before the season is over just like nature has designed them. In nature if they have a good brood and are successful first time round then a second clutch may be layed if all the triggers or cues are still here like plenty of food, a safe place to nest and a mate that has survived the season and so the successful strong pair get a second chance to pass on their genes. After all this the breeding season is drawing to a close but back in captivity the heating has come on and the lights are on until bedtime and food gets changed everyday and the nest box is left in the cage because it is overflowing with eggs and we don't want to upset our gorgeous birds because they seem to love their box and you don't want to upset them. In the wild food is getting scarce and dry and the weather is changing and the days are shortening so naturally the hormonal triggers change and the birds work on building up strength to survive until next season and start again in many many months time. If you understand how things work in the wild you are better equipped to handle things in captivity and realise that a bit of disruption and change is small fry compared to life in the wild and to let a bird keep laying unsuccessful clutches while stopping the process halfway through so they can keep trying again and again is actually very unnatural. Birds often go a season without raising any young in the wild due to predation or lack of suitable sites etc but they don't keep breeding through winter because their body and mind tells them to give it up for this year and try again next year but because they do not have a sense of time and don't keep calendars they just rely on hormonal cues to tell them when to get horny.
And this is why I believe birds in captivity need management in all areas because they live in a false artificial environment and if we create a false environment for them to live in we must also step up and manage that environment to keep them happy and this includes understanding how they tick inside and out. Treating them like kids and trying to keep them happy sometimes we put unnecessary strain on them because we think that by doing nothing we are being natural but in fact by not acting we are letting a problem we have falsely created perpetuate.
This is explained as best I can and I'm open to anyone putting me right on anything if i don't make sense?
Nobody knows everything and we learn more everyday and I strive to understand things the best I can and share what I know to try and help if I can.
 
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