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How do you feel about doing this when birds are nesting?

arayabd

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Hi all!

I hope everyone's doing well. Recently little Pablo has taken to using her food dish as a nest. I was reading some articles online about discouraging nesting/mating behaviour by taking away nest stimulants and replacing the food dishes with some she can't sit in.

Maybe I am too sensitive, but I thought this was a bit cruel! I'm curious to hear everyone's opinions! Do you think it is cruel to stop our little friends from engaging in the natural, or is it simply a logical thing to do?
 

BirdWorld

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Nesting can create hormonal and sometimes aggressive behaviors. You should make sure they don’t nest in the bowl, especially if you don’t want eggs. You can put a platform perch so they can rest on that.
 

Mizzely

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It depends. Some birds it's okay for them to complete the cycle, so to speak, whereas others take it to unhealthy extremes and need intervention.

My Jardine's male loves being inside boxes, which is a normal, nesty behavior. But if I allow him boxes, he has a hard time staying at a healthy weight because everything he eats he regurgitates all over the nest area. So which is more cruel - taking away the box, or risking his health?
 

Tiel Feathers

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I discourage by moving the bowl or moving her. Now it’s gotten to the point where often I just have to say her name and glare at her and she gets out of her bowl.
 

Zara

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Do you think it is cruel to stop our little friends from engaging in the natural,
1. It won´t ¨stop¨ them, just discourage them.
2. There is nothing natural about a caged bird.

A hen will make a nest and lay with or without the food bowl, but having the food bowl would make her want to nest all the time, which is not good. In the wild, they don´t nest as often due to lack of food, security, weather etc whereas in our homes they feel safe, have a good food supply, nice ¨weather¨ all the time etc so they are more likely to lay right out of the gate.
I have a lovebird who was a nightmare for nesting in bowls, and it was making it hard to help reduce her laying. She was angry all the time, and would hardly come out to fly when she was sitting in the bowl. This is the feeder she has now;
(so far so good);
IMG_20200805_132134.jpg
 
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