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Dummy eggs for a single female budgie - yes or no?

Kori

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Azuki laid an egg yesterday. (I feel like I failed :sad11: )
She played around with it last night. Looked like she was trying to nudge it under her but then would get annoyed with it. Did the same in the early morning before coming out.
Later she came out, ate her chop and other food as normal. Very very loving and basically stuck with me the whole time.
Since going back to her cage in the afternoon she showed no interest in it.... until just now as I started writing this post lol. Just playing with it. (Edit: as finishing writing this, she is back on her perch)

I'm confused. My plan was to remove the egg once she seemed uninterested. So maybe tomorrow?
But it seems some people use dummy eggs.

So in her situation what do you think?
If no to dummy eggs, is it best I remove this egg before the next one comes? (I assume it's on its way as her rump is big and she is about 2g heavier than usual)
Any other tips? x
 

Shezbug

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I believe you can simply remove budgie eggs at any stage and dummies are not needed for them but @Ripshod will confirm for you the correct procedure to take from here and give you all the tips you need to lessen chances of egg laying and also make sure she stays healthy while laying.
 

Kori

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I believe you can simply remove budgie eggs at any stage and dummies are not needed for them but @Ripshod will confirm for you the correct procedure to take from here and give you all the tips you need to lessen chances of egg laying and also make sure she stays healthy while laying.
Thank you x
I'm giving her a calcium supplement (and she had calcium rich broccoli this morning) but when I was searching the forum I read a comment from @Ripshod that said she should be getting enough from pellets, so that's good to know too.
 

Ripshod

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I'd remove it as soon as she's distracted, basically when she's out of the cage. She won't lay to replace any lost eggs. We have to be very careful giving budgies calcium supplements, their bodies can't handle any excess as well as other parrots. We should avoid it unless there are clear signs that it's needed. It's always better to ensure there's enough calcium in their diet, pellets can be enough unless she's a prolific layer.
 

Kori

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I'd remove it as soon as she's distracted, basically when she's out of the cage. She won't lay to replace any lost eggs. We have to be very careful giving budgies calcium supplements, their bodies can't handle any excess as well as other parrots. We should avoid it unless there are clear signs that it's needed. It's always better to ensure there's enough calcium in their diet, pellets can be enough unless she's a prolific layer.
Thank you. I'll take it out in the morning. I don't think she'll miss it. I had planned to remove it today but I was told that removing it too soon can cause behavioral problems (they said they had this info from an Avian vet). So much conflicting information around....
At any point are dummy eggs helpful for budgies?

She's still up 2-3g so I think she's going to lay another one soon. I think I read they lay every two days? So tomorrow....
 

Ripshod

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Roughly every two days yes.
I agree there's a lot of conflicting info out there, too much. A lot of it is just one person's opinion repeated. I admit I'm only one person, but I spent many years working alongside a long established avian vet, providing post-op and palliative care mainly to budgies.
I would say if she becomes a problem layer then it may be worth trying dummy eggs, but I've never seen them make any difference with budgies myself. A budgie would normally lay a set number of eggs - they can count lol
 

Kori

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She laid a second one just after midday. Around 3pm I let her out again and distracted her with some chop. I removed the egg from the cage but I still have it hidden in some tissue out of sight. I'm not sure if she has realized it is no longer in the cage but she is flying around in kind of a distressed way. Perhaps it is still hormones as she presented herself to me a couple of times earlier. I wish she would calm down though, she needs to be resting after laying an egg!

I'm not sure if the timing was ok, but this morning I rearranged her cage as dramatically as I could, without moving the position of the perches (but they are natural ones and they fork out, so I can twist the direction etc...). I've also ordered a bunch of new toys. Hopefully I can make this cage as "unfriendly" for egg laying as possible...
 

Kori

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She's now back in her cage and seems ok.... Must've been the hormones before.
The forum is lucky to have someone like you @Ripshod, and you're very kind to share your experience with us. You're well respected on this forum, so I'm happy to follow your advice. Thanks x
 
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