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Light cycle for chronic laying

FightsLikeaGirl

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So since Releaves is impossible to buy without mortgaging my house, I'm wondering if anyone out there has had any luck just doing the 72+ hours of daylight trick without the releaves?

I have a pair of green cheeks, and the female (Kiwi) is a chronic egg layer. She produced 18 eggs in 4 months last year, despite a new cage, 2 Lupron shots, being separated from the male (Boo) and being on a diet of pellets and vegetables. (And dummy eggs...don't grt me started on the dummg eggs). The thing that got her to stop was the presence of a redheaded friend whom she hates, who unfortunately isn't around right now to help. She reeeeeally hates natural red heads, but they have to be in the house for multiple days to stress her enough to stop laying and that seems impractical.

I've had them under a full spectrum light for 48 hrs straight now, and while they don't seem bothered by it, I'm wondering if it will do anything to help if they aren't taking the releaves as well. Anyone have any luck with this? The vet wants to try an implant but with how ineffective the Lupron was I'm skeptical.
 

JLcribber

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You might want to try wearing a flaming red wig around the house. Seriously. If it works, it works.
 

FightsLikeaGirl

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You might want to try wearing a flaming red wig around the house. Seriously. If it works, it works.
I have tried this and it only works with natural red heads. Dye jobs don't work and wigs don't work. It's perplexing because how the hell does she know? But the two people she's had violent furious reactions to are natural redheads and the multiple red dye jobs were totally ignored. The red Ariel wig was likewise just pooped on.
 

FightsLikeaGirl

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I tried to convince the guy who was on the receiving end of her wrath to dye his hair to see if she'd still get angry but he wouldn't do it. His lack of scientific curiosity was very disappointing.
 

FightsLikeaGirl

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I'll continue the experiment since it doesn't seem to be doing any harm and I'll report back if I have any luck. I'm also putting them in separate cages again, which I haaaaaate doing but I'm stuck without many options.
 

FightsLikeaGirl

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Well she refused to let Boo feed her this morning (she is eating herself) and she doesn't seem inclined to drop an egg despite having had more than enough days to be ready. She's not in any distress at all and I'm hoping she's reabsorbing the one that's in there and we can all go back to normal after a few more light days.....
 

FightsLikeaGirl

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Spoke too soon...there was an egg waiting for me when I go home. I'm hoping against hope this was just too far gone to be stopped but I have the sneaking suspicion I'm not that lucky. They say it can take up to 7 days of non stop light so I won't give up hope just yet.
 

FightsLikeaGirl

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No luck. She's pretty clearly getting ready to drop another egg today. I'm going to keep them separated for a while, and then I'll probably put them back together while I'm on vacation over the weekend so they don't panic. I'll separate them again when I get back if me being gone doesn't disrupt things enough. I'm also going to put my huge blue balance ball near the cage and see if maybe they hate that thing enough to stop. In the meantime they're on skinny rations and calcium supplements.

This is why I didn't want a hen....I love Kiwi and she's the sweetest bird in the world but I'd give anything to not see another egg.
 

Monica

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Is she laying the eggs in any particular place? Can you share her cage setup? And cage location, too?
 

FightsLikeaGirl

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Always on the cage grate since I took out any other places she might want to try. I'll post a photo tonight but they share a couple of pretty large Kings cages (the kind labeled for CAGs), one in the basement (it is a walkout and they get plenty of light) and one in the dining area (likewise plenty bright). I'm separating them tonight now that I'm back from my vacation. I'll put kiwi in the smaller spare cage I have and keep them both in the basement so they can see each other. She's been sleeping a lot but eating normally and pooping regularly so I think she's just exhausted. She laid 3 eggs but all of them broke on the grate (the shells were plenty thick) so I replaced them with dummy eggs. She seems to go back and forth on whether they're real or not.

I'll probably put her on a 16 hr sleep cycle for a while since they're separated. If nothing else it won't hurt. The vet keeps suggesting the implant but it still seems really stupid to give her more hormones when the shots didn't work very well. $200 for an experiment with iffy results at best seems idiotic.

They are getting mostly uncooked greens with a little bit of golden feast conure blend (1tbsp for both birds) and I free feed roudybish mini, and they're on a 10 hr sleep cycle right now. I had them on 12 hrs and it just made Boo grumpy and didn't seem to help at all. She lays every 4 to 5 days. They get powdered calcium in their pellets, per the vet.
 

FightsLikeaGirl

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Separating her from Boo has finally stopped the laying! She cut off at 3 eggs and has been ignoring the dummy replacements! She's almost back to her normal weight and they haven't been trying to sneak away to do dark deeds anymore.

I'm going to keep them separated a little longer and then I'll let them back in the same cage when I'm really really sure it's all done.

No thanks to my damn vet. They wouldn't even call me back last week when I was worried about Kiwi sleeping too much. Time to try another avian vet in Denver.
 

Laurul Feather Cat

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I used the five day light trick to stop egg laying about ten years ago and it worked beautifully. Once the five days were over, I turned the lights to a rigid 12 hour on, 12 hour off schedule and I had no more eggs until the next breeding season. Plus, the number of eggs were decreased and the number of fertile eggs was exactly 50%, down from 75%. I never used the five day light cure again, as I changed my outlook about eggs and just decided to allow the hens to do what comes naturally and remove the fertiles to prevent hatching. I just make sure they have great nutrition, that they have adequate calcium sources, that they are healthy and leave them alone to do what they wish. I do have two hens who are laying excessively, but they are a same sex pair, sisters Joey and Wendoll. They are healthy, so I leave them alone.

I am sorry to hear you resorted to Lupron. All Lupron does is mess up the usual hormonal cycle, causing more confusion in the bird's brain. I never use lupron and I never will. As long as the hen is healthy and has enough calcium available, excessive laying is harmless (according to my avian vet). Dr Stern also feels excessive laying is a problem of domesticated birds only and stems from the fact domesticated birds receive almost unlimited food; and if the nutrition is quality foods, then the hen's body uses that energy and food to produce many, many more eggs than they would in the wild. She has the same problem with her flock of cockatiels and just monitors the hens' health closely.
 

FightsLikeaGirl

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Kiwi was egg bound twice in a two week period last year when we used lupron. The eggs nearly killed her despite liquid calcium drops and a high calcium diet. She'd laid 6 eggs by that point and was not doing well. Lupron did stop her long enough to get her healthy again, but it wasn't a long term fix and I didn't want to use it again this year since it failed to work well last time. Separating her from my male bird and putting her on a rigid bedtime schedule with a very restricted diet is what seems to have put a stop to it. I'm not willing to risk her getting egg bound again.
 
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