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NEED HELP FOR MY FEMALE BUDGIE WHO KEEPS LAYING!!!

tithi.p_

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Tithi
Hey budgie owners! I hope you and your birds are doing well! I have 1 female and 1 male budgie. I was never planning on breeding the two (in fact, I thought my female was a male until I caught them doing the deed ). My female has laid many eggs in the past few months, but a LOT of them fell down to the ground and cracked. She also didn't really know how to sit on them so she kinda neglected the egg. Recently on MOTHER'S DAY, she laid an egg and she started sitting on it as if she was suddenly told about her motherly duties by a budgie God. Unfortunately though, that one also fell down to the bottom of the cage and cracked. She laid another egg today morning and she is again sitting on it a lot throughout the day! I'm planning on creating some sort of border so that her egg doesn't keep falling to the ground. I want to ask, if any of you know, for how long does my budgie have to be sitting on her egg throughout the day for it to hatch? Does she literally have to sit on it almost her entire day? Or is it just a few minutes per day or something? Reason i ask is because i keep having to separate my male and female budgie. My male doesn't let her sit on her egg in peace as he always wants to be with her and play with her. She can barely get any alone time. I would REALLY appreciate getting some advice, information, etc. on this topic; anything you know! This is a really new experience for me as well. Thank you so much in advance for your time and help!!
 

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Sparkles99

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Sorry to hear about this. Continual egg laying can deplete calcium. I have no experience with this, but others do. @Ripshod
 

tithi.p_

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Sorry to hear about this. Continual egg laying can deplete calcium. I have no experience with this, but others do. @Ripshod
Thank you for your response! I appreciate it! I am aware that continual egg laying can deplete calcium, but i have no idea how to stop my budgie from doing it. If i take away the platform where she lays hee eggs, she will even just lay them while just sitting on a perch and drop the egg to the cage floor. I'm very scared from reading some other responses, but i have no idea what to do! No matter the circumstance, she will continue laying :(
 

Sparkles99

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Well, you could start by decreasing daylight hours. Put them to bed early. Meanwhile, wait for Ripshod. People are in different time zones on here.
 

tithi.p_

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Well, you could start by decreasing daylight hours. Put them to bed early. Meanwhile, wait for Ripshod. People are in different time zones on here.
Thank you very much for tagging Ripshod! I started decreasing their daytime hours a few days ago, i also put some calcium in their food so that she could gain back her lost calcium. I am going to try rearranging the entire play area very soon to see if that makes a difference! Today in the morning, i noticed a poop dropping from her that was 3 times the size of her regular dropping! Upon doing some research, i found out that this is very common when a female budgie is about to lay an egg. I think another egg may be coming soon :( Thank you incredibly much for your responses!
 

SumitaSinh

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Hi Tithi, are you from India? I am in kolkata. So, please let me know if I can help in any way.
 

tithi.p_

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Hi Tithi, are you from India? I am in kolkata. So, please let me know if I can help in any way.
Thank you very much, Sumita, for your quick response! I am unfortunately actually not in India! I live in Canada, but I am Indian from Gujarat. I appreciate you wanting to help though, thanks so much!!
 

tithi.p_

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@Lori D Pert & @Destiny also have female budgies. Maybe they can help.

Whereabouts in Canada are you? I'm in Ottawa (though I still can't help).
Thank you for seeing my post! I am actually from Calgary, Alberta! That's no problem at all. Thank you very much for tagging these guys; I appreciate it! Hope you have a great rest of your day!
 

Shezbug

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Hopefully Ripshod or Destiny will be along soon to give you some detailed help.

Decreasing of day light hours is a very good start. Totally rearranging their cage and maybe even moving where the cage is situated can be helpful for settling down laying hens too. Remove any areas that are seen or used as nesting places.

Maybe a good idea to list your birds diet and how much exercise (proper flying time) they get so others can help with that aspect of this situation too as diet and exercise are very important
 

Mizzely

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Have you tried dummy eggs? They are just fake eggs that you give females to sit on.

I don't know the exact science behind it, but they "know" how many eggs to lay and how long they need to be incubated to hatch. If she lays an egg and she doesn't get a full clutch, she will lay more to fill the nest. If the eggs "die" prematurely, that will also encourage her to lay more. So by giving her a full clutch, and eggs that can't break nor hatch, you can give her a chance to break that cycle.

I do not know if there is a supplier in Canada but this is the one in the US

 

Ripshod

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Welcome to AA Tithi - sorry for the delay.
Does she eat pellets? If so she shouldn't need any calcium supplements - a break of two months isn't continual laying.
When we say 14 hours of darkness that naturally implies 14 hours of quiet too. She needs to be allowed to sleep.
Budgies won't lay more eggs to replace those that are lost. So when you see an egg take it out and bin it.
Once inseminated she can lay a few eggs without any more interaction from the male, so seperating them will not have an instant effect. However, until you can get her into a regular sleep pattern it may be best to seperate them. This will also tell you whether she wants to breed or if she's a chronic layer.
Remove every opportunity for her to lay an egg. That (seagrass?) platform can go straight away as she's laid there. Also remove anything else she could possibly see as a nest.
In your case I think some supplemental lighting to brighten the cage may help - budgies in the wild won't lay eggs in direct sunlight. You can emulate this with something as simple as a desk lamp with an led bulb on top of the cage. I know the cage is next to the window but it still looks dark in there.
 
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Countrysky

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Does this work for concure Parrots as well. We rescued them and they had been bonded male and female on purpose when they never laid a clutch and the owners found out they could live up to 30 years they didn't want them and turned them over to a foster home cause at age 10 they aren't supposed to be able to lay eggs anymore. Not these surprised us. It broke my heart when I saw her 1st egg cracked open in the water bowl. We had no clue what to expect but I didn't want her to lose another so all I knew to do that night was put a soft towel at the bottom of the cage and some paper for her to make a nest atleast if she laid another it wouldn't break cause I found the egg when everything was closed. If you could look at the title concure parrot lays 1st and 2nd clutch back to back clueless its all explained there
 

Shezbug

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Does this work for concure Parrots as well. We rescued them and they had been bonded male and female on purpose when they never laid a clutch and the owners found out they could live up to 30 years they didn't want them and turned them over to a foster home cause at age 10 they aren't supposed to be able to lay eggs anymore. Not these surprised us. It broke my heart when I saw her 1st egg cracked open in the water bowl. We had no clue what to expect but I didn't want her to lose another so all I knew to do that night was put a soft towel at the bottom of the cage and some paper for her to make a nest atleast if she laid another it wouldn't break cause I found the egg when everything was closed. If you could look at the title concure parrot lays 1st and 2nd clutch back to back clueless its all explained there
As your bird is sitting on eggs (that you wish to hatch I believe) you should not take any of the steps to lessen egg laying mentioned here at this time.
 
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