Stopping hen from laying more eggs after 1st one

[Tsubasa]

The parronts of my cockatiel family is living in their own cage and I was trying to avoid putting newspapers simply for covering the droppings but she has been very active, not eating like usual and the male in attack mode (biting harder than usual). It was very obvious that she was going to lay an egg soon (her behind was bumpy... so that's why I put newspapers last night and she indeed laid an egg..
I didn't want her to go through this again because when she laid a clutch last year, none of them were fertile...
What really frustrated me was the male mounting her even when she's already in that state yesterday. (I have a camera set up so I see what's going on) but I wish there was a guaranteed way of stopping the mating (even within siblings) WITHOUT separating the cages for every single bird.

Right now, I am wondering if it's ok to put an infertile egg (from previous clutch) in addition to the one she already has in order to stop her from laying another one or is it too soon? Also, will removing the current newspaper help? I just want her to stop laying.

 

[ncGreyBirdLady]

You cannot stop her from laying once she has already started-IF You dod not want babies,You must take the male out of her cage.Also make sure she has a proper diet and plenty of cuttlebone to keep her calcium level up.Do not take the eggs away form her-nature will tell her how many to lay and if You take away the ones she has-she will keep laying until she has laid the amount nature has instilled in her.You could take her to an Avian Vet for a Lupron shot once this cycle is over.How old is she?

 

[CStone]

My birds continue to mate during the week that my female lays eggs. If you want to keep them together, they are going to do what comes naturally no matter how you try to stop it. As long as she's not continuously laying an enormous amount of eggs she should be fine. Egg binding is always a threat, but that can happen whether she is in with a male or not. What you can do is prevent the eggs from hatching by boiling them and giving them back, or you can replace them with fake eggs. Using fake eggs can help in getting her to lay less eggs although my female still laid four of her own when she was sitting on 7 fakes, so it won't stop it completely. My pair does this twice a year now and they both go back to their normal selves after a few weeks.

http://dummyeggs.com/

 

[Tsubasa]

Thank you for the replies.
So she will lay eggs no matter what even if I were to put 1 dummy egg right now? What if I put 4 instead so it will be like a clutch?
I was thinking of separating the daddy just for this (I didn't want to because they're sweethearts) but I actually just got back from stopping the siblings mating (gray and lutino)! I don't even know what to do anymore. I've been trying the steps to control the hormones too.

 

[ncGreyBirdLady]

As long as You have a Male and female together-they will mate-they do not know that they are related It looks like You need to get more cages and soon

 

[fidsmom]

The lady at dummyeggs.com said to put them all in at once, basically it fools the hen, into thinking shes laid her whole clutch of eggs, and usually that gets the hen to stop laying.

 

[Doublete]

Males and females of any species will mate if they have no other options to meet their natural needs (species are programmed to reproduce). So split the pairs and cage same sex.

 

[fidsmom]

I have 1 pair together, They don't mate all the time. They only mate 1 time a year,

 

[CStone]

I'm not sure I understand why you're trying to stop it from happening. Even if you separate them into same sex cages, some females will still lay eggs(unfertile). You can try to discourage it by not providing nesting areas or by changing up their light schedule, but some are going to lay no matter what you do to try and discourage it. I just let my birds enjoy themselves and make sure their eggs don't hatch.

As I said before, my female laid 4 of her own eggs even after putting the whole clutch of 7 dummy eggs in with her. I'm sure it differs from bird to bird. There is no guarantee that putting a full clutch in there will stop her from laying more, although it may prevent her from laying as many as she would have without them.

 

[blewin]

We tried giving Buddy extra eggs when she started laying (it's called "flooding"), and it didn't help. In fact, (we believe) it contributed to her becoming a chronic layer, because her next clutches were larger than normal. If the eggs aren't broken, I'd just leave them alone as long as you know they aren't fertile. Let her sit on them until 2 weeks after she completely ignores them, then get rid of them.

1-2 clutches per year is normal for females, and even in nature the eggs aren't always fertile. Your 'fid and her mate are apparently normal, active 'tiels. I agree with CStone, just let them be birds and have fun...