Azuki and I can't sleep - help

[Zara]

broke the egg rolling it around at about 7pm. I distracted her and replaced the egg with two dummy ones.

My youngest lovebird girl ¨plays football¨ with eggs, I leave her to it and once it´s broken, it´s gone.
What happens if she breaks the egg and you don´t replace it?

 

[Kori]

My youngest lovebird girl ¨plays football¨ with eggs, I leave her to it and once it´s broken, it´s gone.
What happens if she breaks the egg and you don´t replace it?

Well, she just kept laying. That's why at number 7 I finally decided to try dummy eggs. Getting desperate

 

[Kori]

All the below are just off the top of a caffeine starved morning head.
How large is her cage? (a photo would be good) Too small she could be seeing the whole thing as a nest. Change it all around, make it unfamiliar to her. Do this every week.
How dark is dark? How quiet is quiet?
Reducing contact is good and distraction is a great tool. As mentioned previously training is a great aid, but having plenty to do outside of the cage will take her mind off these things.
UV-B light is not effective. Better to have a bright led light over the cage on a timer, on for the whole daytime period.
Bedrooms are busy at night. Just turning over in bed can disturb a bird's natural sleep cycle. Snoring is scary.
Consider a female friend for her. Just having another bird in the cage will make it an unsuitable as a "nest" and no fertile eggs. However if the cage is too small that may cause problems between any two birds.
Take her to an avian vet, there may be an underlying health problem triggering this. (last resort) Mention lupron while you're there.

Please always feel free to get your caffeine hit before replying!
I'll post some photos soon. Having a bad flare day today. (I believe her cage is just within or just less than the measurements quoted as good for a single, at least what's written from Western countries.)

Thanks for all the tips and information!!

 

[Tanya]

Could you cut a piece of cardboard that fits in the bottom of the cage and wrap the side facing up in an old shirt or towel before putting it down in at night with the fake eggs on top? That way it would be flat and not like a nest but she could roll the dummy eggs around all night without making as much noise. It would mean washing the cloth after it gets poopy, but if that might be a reasonable price to pay for sleep? (I'd double check with more experienced folks to see if the increased softness could be interpreted as nest-like.)

 

[Kori]

Could you cut a piece of cardboard that fits in the bottom of the cage and wrap the side facing up in an old shirt or towel before putting it down in at night with the fake eggs on top? That way it would be flat and not like a nest but she could roll the dummy eggs around all night without making as much noise. It would mean washing the cloth after it gets poopy, but if that might be a reasonable price to pay for sleep? (I'd double check with more experienced folks to see if the increased softness could be interpreted as nest-like.)

Thankfully I was able to make the spare room work, at least for a short while. I listen at the door now and then but it seems the soccer playing has stopped??
I'll keep your idea in mind if it gets noisy again. Thank you xx

 

[Kori]

All the below are just off the top of a caffeine starved morning head.
How large is her cage? (a photo would be good) Too small she could be seeing the whole thing as a nest. Change it all around, make it unfamiliar to her. Do this every week.
How dark is dark? How quiet is quiet?
Reducing contact is good and distraction is a great tool. As mentioned previously training is a great aid, but having plenty to do outside of the cage will take her mind off these things.
UV-B light is not effective. Better to have a bright led light over the cage on a timer, on for the whole daytime period.
Bedrooms are busy at night. Just turning over in bed can disturb a bird's natural sleep cycle. Snoring is scary.
Consider a female friend for her. Just having another bird in the cage will make it an unsuitable as a "nest" and no fertile eggs. However if the cage is too small that may cause problems between any two birds.
Take her to an avian vet, there may be an underlying health problem triggering this. (last resort) Mention lupron while you're there.

Here's some coffee for you!

Well, I'm devastated. She just had number 9. (I'm not losing count am I?) She was 34g this morning and I was so excited - maybe no more eggs! No, in fact it means she is losing weight. I've messaged a friend to see if she can come to me to the new exotic / avian vet I've found. I'm disabled so it helps to have support.

Anyway, the day before yesterday I took your advice and changed around everything in her cage. It reminded me I had this long rope perch I had never used, so put that in. Moved the positions of everything else too.
She is currently sleeping in the spare room. Her cover keeps things very dark, but the curtains in the room are not blackout ones.

She has dummy eggs now as taking them out wasn't working. I've replaced the ones she laid, plus gave her enough for a full clutch of 8. Well, 9 now.

Here is her cage (before the perch change around). I know it will be considered small for people in western countries.... 370x415x545mm
The top play gym and light is not always there. She is out for almost two hours in the morning and two to three hours in the afternoon.


It's Marine Day here in Japan (public holiday) so hubs was here to see her lay her 9th. He seems to be warming to the idea of another friend. *If* we do, I have ideas of getting another cage and stand like this, as you can't guarantee they'll get along can you?

 

[Tanya]

I've heard of some cases where adding lots of extra eggs stops the laying. Like maybe doubling the amount for a total of 20. It gives a very strong feedback to stop making more. And putting them all in a cloth lined bowl can be helpful to so she can sit on them instead of laying in random corners. You might need to put food and water in easy reach since she doesn't have a mate to care for her, then let her incubate until she gets tired of it... But it could be a few weeks. Might as well let her go through the motions so she gets it out of her system?