Reverse psychology

[Rebel]

Im going to try reverse psychology on my chronic egg laying cockatiel. Ive tried EVERYTHING and i cant get her to stop laying eggs. Im talking mass amounts of eggs. I dont know how long she can keep it up. She has laid eggs on the living room floor, on my leg , from perches, in her food dish , during the day , during the night etc. etc. She just lays them and doesnt bother with them at all. Yesterday i started covering half of her cage during the day so that she would lay on the eggs and hopefully quit laying. I know its been said to not provide them with dark areas in the cage or provide nesting material because its makes them want to lay eggs. As far as i can see i have no other choice but to try reverse psychology. Yesterday and today she in fact sat on her eggs for most of the day. Hopefully she will continue to sit on them and and quit laying. ill see what happens.

 

[Deleted member 57370]

Wishing you success! Keep us posted!

I'm having a massive egg laying year myself,ughh wich has led to both girls getting into health trouble, thankfully fully recovered.

This year was the first year they shared a cage , no more split them up again. This year was the first year I let them keep eggs ,which just led to constant sitting on them by Phoebe. Now I have decided to go back to pulling them as soon as laid ..which is different than determinate layers .

Anyway , I feel you !

 

[Rebel]

She has been laying eggs since January. Not always every other day. Sometimes she'll go 3 days , sometimes 4 , sometimes a week in between. Lately its back to every other day. I just dont know how she does it. She worries me sick. Today she laid an egg as she was sitting on the others but im assuming it was already in the works before i started my grand plan. Definitely will keep posted.

 

[Toy]

It seems like the more daylight we allow my U2 the more she wants to lay eggs. The more we keep her cage partly covered the less seems seems to want to nest build. No idea why this seems to work, but it does for her.

We can't allow her any toys that resemble an egg, a ball, etc or she wants to sit on them.

Also if your bird is laying a lot you should supplement calcium in either powder or liquid form, so she doesn't get depleted and/or prolapse.

 

[Rebel]

It seems like the more daylight we allow my U2 the more she wants to lay eggs. The more we keep her cage partly covered the less seems seems to want to nest build. No idea why this seems to work, but it does for her.

We can't allow her any toys that resemble an egg, a ball, etc or she wants to sit on them.

Also if your bird is laying a lot you should supplement calcium in either powder or liquid form, so she doesn't get depleted and/or prolapse.

Less daylight is the thing to do but its not always possible with work and life in general. Currently she and all the others get 12 hours of sleep time.(darkness)
As far as calcium goes, she has mineral blocks she constantly chews on. I give her a variety of leafy greens (which she loves) and also but not every day i give her Calcium Plus in her drinking water. I dont give her calcium plus every day because too much of a good thing is bad. Maybe i should give it every day , im on the fence. I would hate trying to do good and it end up being bad.

 

[marsie]

a bit ago i had a budgie lay a few eggs,, i rearranged the cage and she stopped shortly after. have you tried that? best of luck though!!

 

[Free bird]

Im going to try reverse psychology on my chronic egg laying cockatiel. Ive tried EVERYTHING and i cant get her to stop laying eggs. Im talking mass amounts of eggs. I dont know how long she can keep it up. She has laid eggs on the living room floor, on my leg , from perches, in her food dish , during the day , during the night etc. etc. She just lays them and doesnt bother with them at all. Yesterday i started covering half of her cage during the day so that she would lay on the eggs and hopefully quit laying. I know its been said to not provide them with dark areas in the cage or provide nesting material because its makes them want to lay eggs. As far as i can see i have no other choice but to try reverse psychology. Yesterday and today she in fact sat on her eggs for most of the day. Hopefully she will continue to sit on them and and quit laying. ill see what happens.

The cereal egg layer. Hmm.
I hope your strategy works.
I had a female tiel that would lay a bit and she would become a different bird, so defensive she would attack me if I got near her precious eggs.

 

[Zara]

One of my lovebird girls will lay an egg, sit on it, then the next egg she lays elsewhere, then another somewhere else.
My solution was I bought her a larger SS bowl that just hooks on, and I give her paper which she shreds and she makes a nest in the bowl and will sit in it. It works well for us. If I don't give her the nest, she will lay constantly in different places.
It is hooked low down in the cage under the food bowl in the corner she usually lays eggs in.

Remember to only allow three weeks sitting and then give her the boot, remove the nest and all the eggs, bedding, everything. Remove all shreddable stuff and rearrange the cage. If you can rotate or move the cage too will likely help.

 

[Rebel]

a bit ago i had a budgie lay a few eggs,, i rearranged the cage and she stopped shortly after. have you tried that? best of luck though!!

I have rearranged. I have put her in an entirely different cage with different perches etc. I have rotated her cage.I put her cage in different spots every day. Thanks for the input.

 

[Rebel]

The cereal egg layer. Hmm.
I hope your strategy works.
I had a female tiel that would lay a bit and she would become a different bird, so defensive she would attack me if I got near her precious eggs.

She will jump at me to try and scare me away but thats about it. She would never attack. Its not in her to do that.

 

[Rebel]

Remember to only allow three weeks sitting and then give her the boot, remove the nest and all the eggs, bedding, everything. Remove all shreddable stuff and rearrange the cage. If you can rotate or move the cage too will likely help.

If i could get her to quit laying for 3 weeks at this point, it would be a miracle. Thanks for the tips. Cross your fingers for me.

 

[sunnysmom]

This is a good read. There's a suggestion to do light flooding if increasing darkness doesn't work.

Little Feathered Buddies hormone control

www.littlefeatheredbuddies.com

 

[Deleted member 57370]

She has been laying eggs since January. Not always every other day. Sometimes she'll go 3 days , sometimes 4 , sometimes a week in between. Lately its back to every other day. I just dont know how she does it. She worries me sick. Today she laid an egg as she was sitting on the others but im assuming it was already in the works before i started my grand plan. Definitely will keep posted.

Id have to look , I feel mine started in March ?

That's a lot . Do you do calcium supplements? If so what brand ? Mine eat a pretty great diet of veggies, pellets and seeds. But as much eggs as I had laid , depleted Phoebe. My veterinarian advised me that females can run into depletion starting around six eggs , even if on an excellent diet . That she really recommends supporting with calcium supplement.

 

[Deleted member 57370]

This is a good read. There's a suggestion to do light flooding if increasing darkness doesn't work.

Little Feathered Buddies hormone control

www.littlefeatheredbuddies.com

My vet wanted me to do more light , I just failed at execution of this ..ugh I need higher quality timers

 

[Rebel]

Id have to look , I feel mine started in March ?

That's a lot . Do you do calcium supplements? If so what brand ? Mine eat a pretty great diet of veggies, pellets and seeds. But as much eggs as I had laid , depleted Phoebe. My veterinarian advised me that females can run into depletion starting around six eggs , even if on an excellent diet . That she really recommends supporting with calcium supplement.

She eats lots of dark leafy greens. I mix sesame seeds in her seed mix.She has calcium blocks that she eats like theyre going out of style and i also give her this.

Calcium Plus Liquid - Bird Supplement & Vitamins

CALCIUM PLUS LIQUID is a concentrated, pre-dissolved, highly bio-available form of calcium, vitamin D3, and magnesium formulated for maximum intestinal absorption. Calcium deficiency in birds can cause seizures, poor bone density, egg binding, feather plucking, splayed legs, nervousness, poor...

morningbirdproducts.com

So far shes been sitting on her eggs since ive been covering half her cage during the day. When i was trying to discourage her before by having no cover at all on her cage, she would never even think about laying on them. Maybe im making progress. I hope so.

If youre interested, this is the mineral block. They must help. Shes been eating them a long time. Even before the calcium plus.

Amazon.com

I also have this powder. I haven't tried it yet.

 

[Rebel]

This is a good read. There's a suggestion to do light flooding if increasing darkness doesn't work.

Little Feathered Buddies hormone control

www.littlefeatheredbuddies.com

Thanks for sharing this.

 

[Deleted member 57370]

She eats lots of dark leafy greens. I mix sesame seeds in her seed mix.She has calcium blocks that she eats like theyre going out of style and i also give her this.

Calcium Plus Liquid - Bird Supplement & Vitamins

CALCIUM PLUS LIQUID is a concentrated, pre-dissolved, highly bio-available form of calcium, vitamin D3, and magnesium formulated for maximum intestinal absorption. Calcium deficiency in birds can cause seizures, poor bone density, egg binding, feather plucking, splayed legs, nervousness, poor...

morningbirdproducts.com

So far shes been sitting on her eggs since ive been covering half her cage during the day. When i was trying to discourage her before by having no cover at all on her cage, she would never even think about laying on them. Maybe im making progress. I hope so.

If youre interested, this is the mineral block. They must help. Shes been eating them a long time. Even before the calcium plus.

Amazon.com

I also have this powder. I haven't tried it yet.
View attachment 448811

I have calcium perches , and various mineral blocks ,they eat greens and pellets . I'm really just trying to figure out the best calcium supplement , and if I should go liquid or powder ..my vet just pretty much all of them are good and didn't give me a brand , thi I think she said she likes powder one but I m not sure. She said boiled egg shells are great to offer ,and I do , but they don't reliable est them .

I'm so glad you were already on top of this for your girl. Hopefully brooding will help her complete her hormone feed back cycle.

 

[Rebel]

I have calcium perches , and various mineral blocks ,they eat greens and pellets . I'm really just trying to figure out the best calcium supplement , and if I should go liquid or powder ..my vet just pretty much all of them are good and didn't give me a brand , thi I think she said she likes powder one but I m not sure. She said boiled egg shells are great to offer ,and I do , but they don't reliable est them .

I'm so glad you were already on top of this for your girl. Hopefully brooding will help her complete her hormone feed back cycle.

From what i understand all the liquid ones are pretty much the same. Not a bad thing. The powder i have is just calcium carbonate (aka Tums). No vitamin D3 or magnesium. I didn’t realize that when i bought it.
The liquid you can put in their water, mixed in food or directly to the crop. In an emergency situation the liquid is best to have on hand in my opinion. If they need calcium asap, powder is pretty much useless.

Boiled egg shells ground up or smashed up?

 

[Zara]

Boiled egg shells ground up or smashed up?

Always ground into powder to avoid damaging the crop.

The first supplement you listed looks fine, so it should be ok without the need for the powder.

I hope this works and your girl stops laying! Let us know how you get on..

 

[Rebel]

Always ground into powder to avoid damaging the crop.

I thought so but i wasnt sure. Ive heard that birds will eat theyre own eggs. I know chicken eggs are a lot thicker though.