Peewee Laid An Egg, Need Some Advice.

[DeputyMax]

Peewee is my year and a half old cockatiel.
She is my only bird, but since I'm retired she's with me almost 24 hours a day.
This morning as I was cleaning out her cage I found and egg on the grate on the bottom of her cage.
When I opened the door of her cage she came out like normal and went climbing all over the outside and acted as though nothing was different.
She doesn't have anyplace to make a nest so I guess she just left it on the grate.
The egg was cracked and right now I have it in a napkin.
I don't know if I should put it back or just dispose of it and keep my eye on her.
She isn't showing any signs of wanting to go back into the cage to look for the egg, she's been out of her cage for about 2 hours now acting as she always does.
Should I expect more eggs or could this just be a one time deal?
The one thing that I worry about is egg binding. A long time ago my wife had a finch that died from a bound egg and I'm super scared of that happening to Peewee.
Any advice you could give me about how to handle this or what to expect would be appreciated.

 

[Zara]

Hi David,

I would leave the egg where it is for a few days while you gauge whether she is interested in brooding or not. I have one lovebird hen who has no interest and I can remove the egg, but the others need eggs or they will re-lay. So leave it there for the time being.
Eggs are laid every 24-48 hours, so you will likely have another tomorrow or the day after.

Once the clutch is complete (no eggs laid for over 48 hours), and she has no signs of interest in the eggs, you can remove them. If you are unsure, leave them put for a few days extra. Better to leave them in too long than take them out prematurely and she lays more to replace them.

Be sure to give her some calcium rich foods, and access to unfiltered sunlight (or a vitamin D3 supplement) so that her body is able to absorb that calcium.

The one thing that I worry about is egg binding.

Try not to be too intimidated by it. Know the signs, and monitor your girl closely. Be ready to act, but don´t be afraid
Here is a great article;

https://nilesanimalhospital.com/files/2012/05/Complications-of-Egg-Laying-Activity.pdf

 

[DeputyMax]

Be sure to give her some calcium rich foods, and access to unfiltered sunlight (or a vitamin D3 supplement) so that her body is able to absorb that calcium.

Right now she is eating a 50/50 mix of seeds and Rowdybush crumbles.
Also, I take her out in the backyard with me for 2 to 6 hours a day, every day, depending on how much I have to do, so I'm pretty sure she gets enough sunlight. I even built a special little cart with heavy duty casters for the bottom of her flight cage so I can easily wheel it out and about in the yard. I keep her cage at least half covered on top so she can move between the sunlight and the shade as she likes.

 

[DeputyMax]

Now I have another question.
Peewee laid another egg, this time on the grate of her smaller second cage which I leave open next to her flight cage so she can climb all over it during the day.. I didn't find it until I went to put her in her larger cage for the night where she normally sleeps.
I guess I'll leave her in the small cage tonight because she doesn't want to come to me to be put in the larger cage. I'm only afraid that being in a different place at night will cause her a lot of stress.
Am I doing right by leaving her in the small cage with the egg or should I put her in the large cage where she normally sleeps?
I'm at a loss on where to put her for the night.

 

[Tiel Feathers]

I think if she wants to be in the small cage because of the eggs it’s okay to leave her. At the same time, be careful she doesn’t start thinking of the small cage as a nest. Sometimes I move my birds eggs from their sleep cages to their big day cage and back again. It’s okay to rearranging things and switch things up in order to discourage laying.

 

[DeputyMax]

Sorry to keep asking questions on this, but now I have another situation I don't know how to deal with.
Yesterday I had to leave for most of the day and since Peewee seemed to show no interest in staying with her egg, which was in her smaller extra cage, I put her in her large flight cage.
When I came home I found she had laid another egg in the large flight cage, so now I have one in her smaller extra cage and one in her larger flight cage.
My question is do I leave them where they are or I put them together.
She doesn't seem interested in sitting on either, but I don't want her to keep laying eggs in each spot.
Thanks in advance for any help you can give me.

 

[Tiel Feathers]

I would put them in one cage.
I’ve also moved eggs from my birds daytime cage to night cage and back again. Sometimes they don’t show any interest in their eggs, and that’s good, but she might after more are laid.

 

[DeputyMax]

A little update and another question.
Since my last post Peewee has laid 2 more eggs but they were about a week or a week and a half between each one, the last being about a half hour ago.
I left the others in her small cage but she doesn't seem to show much interest in them.
There are now 4 eggs in the cage but since she's laying them a week or so apart I don't know if I should remove them or leave them there. I don't want to encourage her to keep laying.
Also, is it normal for a cockatiel to lay eggs spaced so far apart? I'd heard they usually lay in increments of 24 or 48 hours.
Thanks again for your help.

 

[Shezbug]

@Zara will hopefully give you some advice when she is on later on

 

[Zara]

Also, is it normal for a cockatiel to lay eggs spaced so far apart? I'd heard they usually lay in increments of 24 or 48 hours.

So what has happened here is she has started a new clutch.

I would cut off access to the smaller cage, only let her be in the larger cage. Let her lay her eggs and brood them, then remove after 19 days (or before if she abandons them). Be sure to rearrange the cage once she´s off the eggs next time, move the perches and bowls around, if you can rotate the cage or move it, even just a metre will help.

For now, monitor her closely for signs of calcium deficiency. (I have had this happen to one of my lovebirds before and she was fine, but worth keeping an eye on!)