Blind Budgie Won't Stop Laying Eggs!

[RandomWiktor]

My blind female budgie, Tiresias, won't stop laying eggs, and it's really worrying me.

Some background: she is about three years old, blind, and has been producing 1-2 eggs about twice a month for 2-3 months now. She used to live with a female cockatiel who had been her companion for the past three years, but she became violent towards her cagemate when she started laying eggs and they had to be seperated after the cockatiel was pretty seriously injured. She now lives alone and does not have anything soft that might she might consider a mate (like one of those snuggle-buddy things). She shreds the paper at the bottom of the cage but it is changed daily so she doesn't build actual nests, and has no nestbox. The photoperiod is the same all year 'round, but I would think it wouldn't matter to a blind animal anyways...?

I'm really worried about egg binding or deficiencies. Any ideas on what could be causing this and how I can stop it? I have five other female budgies and they've never once laid an egg.

 

[Daisy's Mom]

Oh poor little thing .. I have no advice but I'm sure someone will come along shortly...

 

[jamie]

Do you remove the eggs or do you leave them? Since she's alone, they are not fertile so I would try leaving them in the cage to see if she will lose interest in them. Sometimes a hen will lay eggs and start sitting on them. Once she realizes they are not going to hatch, she will abandon them. Sometimes this will get them out of breeding mode.

You can also talk to a vet about a lupron injection. This is a drug that is sometimes used with chronic egg-layers.

What are you feeding her? Make sure she has a good source of calcium in her diet- dark leafy greens, broccoli, kale, etc... a pelleted diet will be good also, if she will eat them. Calcium supplements and even a cuttle bone will be ok, if nothing else works.

 

[Anne & Gang]

you definitely need to leave the eggs in with her until she appears to abandon...I would also suggest that you limit soft warm foods...have you taken her to a vet? she may need to get lupron..the usual suggestions of limiting her day light hours will not work in her case and of course moving toys etc around is out...I wish you the best.

 

[RandomWiktor]

She does have a cuttlebone which she is thankfully enthusiastic about, and eats a mixture of pelleted, fresh, and a little higher potency seed (ie. flax, hemp, etc). The majority of the fresh food is dark leafy green veggies. Should I also give supplemental calcium dustings or is the cuttlebone and diet probably enough?

Here's the thing with the eggs: she doesn't attempt to sit on them, defend them, etc. She lays them on the cage floor then seems to completely ignore them. She's been cage-aggressive since I got her, long before the egg laying, so I don't *think* she's defending them, but it's hard to tell for certain. At any rate she doesn't show any brooding behavior of any sort which is why this has me scratching my head.

Thanks for the tip about the shot; I wasn't aware that it existed. I'll have to call my vet and see if they do that.

 

[JLcribber]

Also make sure she gets lots of sunshine or at the minimum has full spectrum lighting. That will help her to have fully formed hard shelled eggs while she is laying. It's important that she gets absorbable calcium but it's just as important that she also gets proper ratios of phosphorus, vitamin D etc to make sure her body is able to use them the way they are intended. So any supplement you give her needs to be balanced in "all" the proper nutrients. "Prime" soft food powder is one of the better supplements when it comes to being complete.

Prime Documentation (Soft food powder)

 

[RandomWiktor]

Oooh thanks for the suggestion, I'll definitely look into that!

 

[suncoast]

You need to leave them in there for a minimum of 30 days, no matter if she sits on them or not.

Ginger