Hormonal caiques

[Caiquetiel]

I've had 2 caiques since 2008. They are 15 yrs old. When we shut down for the pandemic, I hung out with them more often and they got hormonal and the female had 3 eggs in May 2020. I did not let them hatch due to a family emergency. I read how I'm not allowed to pet anything but their heads, don't let them on couch with me under blankets, 12 hour sleep cycle (which I did not do prior to 2020.) I let my birds out of their cage when I'm home and they are well behaved and stay on their cage, but the last 2 weeks, the female keeps climbing off her cage to to under furniture because I have a grate in the bottom of their cage so she can't lay eggs there. The boy has been chasing me down also, so I've been keeping them locked up mostly for 2 weeks now because they are going psycho again as they did before she laid eggs in 2020. The female is usually around 180 grams, and I watch her weight weekly, and now she's up to 200 grams this am. In 2020, she was up to 228 grams before she laid eggs.

Since they are both acting nuts, should I get a nesting box and let them lay eggs or can I prevent her from making eggs? I'm not sure if I'm past the turning point and now I have to let her lay eggs or if I still have time to prevent her from laying. I've barely played with them since 2020 so I can prevent her from laying eggs, but not sure why they are so insistent on having them now in winter.

Thanks in advance

 

[Irishj9]

In my view you should let them follow their normal lifecycle as much as possible, its less stressful for everyone. The process of preparing a nestbox (the males job) and the whole sitting on eggs takes up a great deal of their time and allows them to express their hormones.

There is really no way you can prevent her laying if she is determined to do so. The process is driven by her hormones which are controlled by diet and the amount of daylight hours available etc.

The way to make my caiques REALLY mad is to keep refusing them something that they REALLY want. The solution is usually distraction but you cannot distract a creature from their breeding instinct.

As Ive reiterated many times, the threat of a caique baby invasion is a complete illusion. if by some miracke you do have a chick or two, put a pic on here and let the members form an orderley Q

 

[Caiquetiel]

I'm worried about cutting the female's life shorter than the male. I raised cockatiels in the 90s and the females died around 12-14, the males lived 20-24 yrs. They get 11 hrs of dark time and it's freezing in my house (68 degrees). Not sure why they are trying to find a nest. My caiques are the same, they want what they want. Thanks for responding

 

[Avis]

I don't know much about the parrot breeding cycle, but I am a bird watcher. I'm seeing on youtube and in my own backyard birds everywhere are starting to sing and build nests.

I'm not a breeder, so I can't say with certainty that I'll be any use to you, but I've wanted to breed birds since I was little. I'm not sure if I'll ever do it, but even if I don't, I've researched a lot of stuff about it so I might be able to help.

I'm going to keep looking this up to see how I can help.
In the meantime, try reading this. If the link works lol. First time linking anything so we'll see if it works. It might not answer all your questions, but it is helpful. I think it's worth a read.
Too young to breed? – Lafeber® Pet Birds

 

[Avis]

Any updates on your sweeties?

I couldn't find anything about female breeding birds dying young, but I know that they require a lot of nutrients to raise chicks. Extra calcium, protein, etc. so if they don't have cuttlebone/mineral block that might have something to do with it? That also contributes to egg-binding. Do you know the signs of egg-binding?

I'm sure you've done all you can and I'm sorry about your cockatiels. I'm not adding all this amateur knowledge because I think you're dumb, just because I don't want anything overlooked, especially since you might be trying again with the caiques. I hope all goes well for you.