''Tis the season

[JaclynBin]

The breeding season, apparently.

My presumed female Gem has now made her feminine side quite clear with the arrival of her first egg. She's been favouring small tight spaces for some time now and tries to get Panda to mate with her consistently if they're out together so it was only a matter of time - I suppose.

I've frozen her egg to sterilize it (I really don't think it's fertile, but it's just a precaution) and set it up in a small bowl lined with a paper towel. Gem seems to have no interest and was actually kind of skittish about it when I showed it her.

She also has a sleep cage and a day cage - I'm wondering if I should continuously move her bowl back and forth or if I should just leave it in her sleep cage, where she seems the most nesty?


The not quite so proud "momma"

 

[metalstitcher]

Lots of calcium for your fid and get some dummy eggs. Gracie was a super shredder but we don't have a lot of nooks for her to find when she was younger so we got lucky. But she still gets overly hormonal and testy even in her old age.

 

[LunaLovebird]

She might not show any interest until she's laid a full clutch. Luna is in the middle of her first batch of eggs right now as well, and she didn't start incubating until I put in a full clutch worth of fakes in her box. She spends much of the day with them and sleeps there also. Prior to that she'd laid 2 eggs, and would sleep in her normal spot in her cage. I would just leave it in the bowl in her sleep cage. Has she been trying to build a nest at all?

 

[fluffypoptarts]

Snerky never cares about her eggs once she gets them out, so it's possible Gem won't. (She also tends to lay only one or two, and goes months between. It has been quite a while since her last egg.)

 

[DQTimnehs]

No advice but Gem is adorable!

I do have a question. It seems to be common for females to ignore the first egg(s) until there is a full clutch. Assuming the eggs are fertile, do those first ignored eggs have a chance of surviving without being kept warm for the first days? I would have thought not. Or is this ignoring a sign of an inexperienced hen?

 

[JaclynBin]

Lots of calcium for your fid and get some dummy eggs.

Thanks for the advice - she's getting supplements added to her food and water currently and has a mineral block that she uses (so far she's ignored the cuttlebone though). I'll see if she's going to lay another then expedite some dummy eggs my way.

Has she been trying to build a nest at all?

Hope all goes well with Luna and her first batch of eggs!
Gem is not into nest building, she's not much into shredding either. If there's already pre-cut paper around from a toy she'll tuck it and fly around until they fall off everywhere. I say she just likes to maximize her mess.

Snerky never cares about her eggs once she gets them out, so it's possible Gem won't. (She also tends to lay only one or two, and goes months between. It has been quite a while since her last egg.)

Fingers crossed that Gem'll be the same way - it's a bit of a nerve wracking process!

No advice but Gem is adorable!

I do have a question. It seems to be common for females to ignore the first egg(s) until there is a full clutch. Assuming the eggs are fertile, do those first ignored eggs have a chance of surviving without being kept warm for the first days? I would have thought not. Or is this ignoring a sign of an inexperienced hen?

That is a good question - in Gems case it's very likely inexperience coupled with her personality that would make her a not so great momma bird. Maybe the hens body heat is required to start the growth of the chick within the egg but can be done without for some time without the egg completely dying off? Just a theory though. Someone with brooding chickens would likely have a better answer.

 

[LunaLovebird]

Thanks for the advice - she's getting supplements added to her food and water currently and has a mineral block that she uses (so far she's ignored the cuttlebone though). I'll see if she's going to lay another then expedite some dummy eggs my way.



Hope all goes well with Luna and her first batch of eggs!
Gem is not into nest building, she's not much into shredding either. If there's already pre-cut paper around from a toy she'll tuck it and fly around until they fall off everywhere. I say she just likes to maximize her mess.



Fingers crossed that Gem'll be the same way - it's a bit of a nerve wracking process!



That is a good question - in Gems case it's very likely inexperience coupled with her personality that would make her a not so great momma bird. Maybe the hens body heat is required to start the growth of the chick within the egg but can be done without for some time without the egg completely dying off? Just a theory though. Someone with brooding chickens would likely have a better answer.

Luna is an expert shredder, but so so bad at getting her wonderfully shredded bits to her nest. Very much from the maximising her mess school of thought.

I found the dummy eggs to be helpful. Luna was going to nest one way or another though, so the situation was a little different. She's very good at being a broody birdy mama. Anyway, they arrived so quickly! I got them delivered to me in Australia within a week.

Re leaving eggs for a while before incubation: I don't know how long they can last, but they certainly can hang around a little while before full incubation and be viable. There was a person here some time ago who put their hen's eggs in a fridge for several hours before returning them and they still hatched.

Also, gross random question: have you experienced the mega poops yet? I feel like I wasn't fully warned about these. Luna's have been the size of her head some mornings. Slowed down now that I think she's stopped laying.

 

[Joshie]

I just wanted to say what a cutie-pie!

 

[zoo mom]

No eggie experience but what an adorable girlie.

 

[metalstitcher]

I remember another member who had a clutch on here when I joined mention the huge poo when nesting lol. They said it was shockingly huge for such a little bird. They hold it for about a half day before nature calls.

 

[janicedyh]

What doll you have!

 

[JaclynBin]

Also, gross random question: have you experienced the mega poops yet? I feel like I wasn't fully warned about these. Luna's have been the size of her head some mornings. Slowed down now that I think she's stopped laying.

Haha - yes, that's definitely been a fun discovery over here as well, though likely just an extension of her massive morning poops since she's not otherwise terribly broody. Yet another factor to really cement her belonging to this mentioned School of Mess.

 

[JaclynBin]

Well, we're up to our second egg now which is currently chilling in my freezer (quite literally). The birds are pretty crazy about mating right now and they have no discretion about trying to do so while hanging out on my shoulder

Anyone have any recommendations for where to buy dummy eggs that also ships to Canada?

 

[ergunm]

They look very cute with their eggs

One question on fakes, do they stop laying more eggs after fakes are added?

 

[LunaLovebird]

DummyEggs.com, Dummy Eggs Help Stop Egg Laying in Pet Birds! Fake Eggs, Solid Plastic Eggs in all sizes.

I got mine from there

They lay every other day, so if she's already laid two and you get dummy eggs tomorrow, she'll likely still lay a full clutch. Luna laid 5 and then stopped. She had a full clutch of fakes given to her after two eggs, so I figure there would have been a few in the bank at that point and I wasn't stopping them from coming. She's very happy with her seven fakes.

 

[JaclynBin]

They look very cute with their eggs

One question on fakes, do they stop laying more eggs after fakes are added?

From what I've researched - yes - though some birds do apparently recognize that the fakes aren't in fact their own and continue laying. Though other people just use the dummy eggs to replace real eggs that are prone to rotting or breaking over the 'incubation' period.

DummyEggs.com, Dummy Eggs Help Stop Egg Laying in Pet Birds! Fake Eggs, Solid Plastic Eggs in all sizes.

I got mine from there

They lay every other day, so if she's already laid two and you get dummy eggs tomorrow, she'll likely still lay a full clutch. Luna laid 5 and then stopped. She had a full clutch of fakes given to her after two eggs, so I figure there would have been a few in the bank at that point and I wasn't stopping them from coming. She's very happy with her seven fakes.

Thanks! Seeing as how I wasn't going to beat her to the punch, I ordered some that were slightly cheaper but will take a week or so longer to ship. How's Luna doing? Is she keeping to her nest, or is she still keen on coming out to play?

 

[LunaLovebird]

From what I've researched - yes - though some birds do apparently recognize that the fakes aren't in fact their own and continue laying. Though other people just use the dummy eggs to replace real eggs that are prone to rotting or breaking over the 'incubation' period.



Thanks! Seeing as how I wasn't going to beat her to the punch, I ordered some that were slightly cheaper but will take a week or so longer to ship. How's Luna doing? Is she keeping to her nest, or is she still keen on coming out to play?

My understanding is that they do recognise them as eggs to be sat on and will think of them as theirs. The trick is that they count and know when a clutch is full and when it isn't, and if you spend a lot of time handling the fakes, the smell can put them off.

Luna has been doing great. She spends most of her time sitting on her babies, but since she stopped laying a few days ago she's been more interested in interacting and flapping around. She was even engaging in clingy shoulder bird mode a bit this morning, which she hasn't done in a few weeks. Since giving her the fakes, she has stopped wanting bed time cuddles, but that's okay. Ani has been doing his best to help out too, feeding her and helping her sit on the eggies during the day. They also stopped mating after I gave Luna the fakes, so maybe after Gem finishes her clutch she and Panda will slow down as well.

 

[JaclynBin]

Still no 3rd egg but I'm fairly sure one is in the making.

The birds are just as rambunctious as ever. I've essentially made Panda's life by letting him move in with Gem. I'd been thinking about it for a while - Pan adores her, Gem's not cage territorial, her cage is bigger and they're always together outside of their cages anyways. They've been okay with visiting each other for some time and can deal with their squabbles without harm or need for intervention on my part. Hopefully now they can get all those breeding hormones out of their system for the season and I won't have to worry about Gem all the time.

 

[fluffypoptarts]

They are so cute together!

 

[JaclynBin]

Egg number three came about a week and a half ago - but none since so I've gone and thrown them out. Gem never really took interest to them and isn't showing signs of wanting to lay more so I'm hoping they'll be quickly forgotten.

I switched their cage around quite a bit when I moved them in together so maybe that disengaged egg-mode. (though I hope I don't jinx it!)

They still feed each other quite often, but maybe the novelty of one another's frequent presence has worn off.




(Panda's got to eat like crazy to make up for all the food he gives Gem. I guess I didn't serve him quickly enough )