Sun conure egg/nesting advice?

[mangodango]

Hi there! I was hoping if I could receive some advice regarding my sun! I hope these are not too many questions, this is my first time using the forums. She is due to go to the vet soon, but I'm hoping for some advice until then so I can do my best for her!

My gal Mango, who is my first bird, is about 5 years old and has recently begun egg-laying, and I'm afraid I might possibly have a chronic egg layer on my hands. She's laid about 2 clutches so far with one lone egg in between the two in a short amount of time, with the lone egg being due to having her stay at my sister's for a week. I have tried a few things already to get her to stop, such as rearranging her cage, adding new toys, removing her happy hut (for good!), setting her bed time to around 6:00PM (with the cage covered) and have already bought dummy eggs for future use. She's currently on Zupreem fruit-blend (she's a very picky eater, converted from seeds) and I've supplied her with a cuttlebone for extra calcium which she's thankfully started chewing. I do have some questions about her behavior lately and was wondering if anyone could offer me some insight or personal experience as all this new behavior does make me anxious and I tend to worry about her a lot!

1. Is it normal for her to be sitting on the eggs all day non-stop? She does get up to eat, and when she does, she eats a lot! I was actually fearing the worst when I saw her crop get so big, but thankfully it just seemed to have been her going to town in her food dish. Otherwise, she is obsessed with them and refuses to leave them for too long.
2. I've noticed she's developed a bit of weakness/stumbling when climbing, and will flap her wings like crazy sometimes as if she's spooked. Is it possible this is a result of her muscles being weakened from disuse? Her food bowl is just right above her so it's a short climb and she hasn't been perching much in weeks, so I'm hoping this is something minor and just due to the lack of exercise? She does have a cuttlebone and I know calcium-deficiency can lead to weakness, but is this sufficient or should I be providing her with something else? (For context, her 'nest' is in the bottom corner on the grate.)
3. When she does come out, her body language is a bit puzzling to me. Her tail feathers are constantly fanned out now, and she paces a lot, almost as if she wants something, only to return back to the cage and sit on her eggs.
4. She makes these weird sounds when she's on her eggs, as well as bobs her head. They do sound like happy sounds, almost like a purring-growling, but she'll do it nonstop! I don't mind it personally, haha. Just curious.
5. Should I be replacing the eggs with the dummy ones or should I leave her eggs alone? She already laid her full clutch and has been sitting for about 2-3 weeks I'm guessing? She did start to eat some of her last eggs, so removal was necessary then. She thankfully hasn't repeated it on this clutch, but I do have the fake eggs ready!
6. Regarding clutch size, she has only laid up to 3 eggs only so far and was wondering if this will stay consistent? Or should I have gone for the 5 dummy eggs pack after all?

Sorry for the long post and all the questions! I do understand that all these eggs in a short amount of time can be draining to her body, so I'm definitely looking to break her cycle as soon as possible! Thank you for your time! <3

 

[Zara]

I've supplied her with a cuttlebone for extra calcium which she's thankfully started chewing.

They don´t provide much calcium. I would ask your vet about supplements you can give instead during the laying period.

1. Is it normal for her to be sitting on the eggs all day non-stop? She does get up to eat, and when she does, she eats a lot! I was actually fearing the worst when I saw her crop get so big, but thankfully it just seemed to have been her going to town in her food dish. Otherwise, she is obsessed with them and refuses to leave them for too long.

The problem here is she is gorging so she can sit longer and make fewer trips to the food bowl. If you are home you could try putting less food avaibale, and make her have to do more journeys to the food bowl. If you fill the bowls with lots of food, she will gorge then sit and not move. Not moving can lead to bad blood circulation in the legs and you may see your bird can´t walk well, or falls off perches.
I allow my hens to rest during laying, but after that I make them move during the brooding period to avoid health problems, not over-doing it, but encouraging a flight here and there is good for them.

. I've noticed she's developed a bit of weakness/stumbling when climbing

see above

Her food bowl is just right above her so it's a short climb

I would have the food bowl farther away so the hen has to get up to go to the food. Given your already seeing problems, I would ask your vet what they recommend. Give them a call and speak with them, see what they say.

. Should I be replacing the eggs with the dummy ones or should I leave her eggs alone?

If they are infertile then it doesn´t really matter. Good to have dummy eggs in case one gets broken though. Given the past record of egg eating, I would change them all personally.

6. Regarding clutch size, she has only laid up to 3 eggs only so far and was wondering if this will stay consistent? Or should I have gone for the 5 dummy eggs pack after all?

Always handy to have more than your average clutch. One of my lovebird hens usually lays 6-7, but one time laid 10.

Sorry for the long post and all the questions!

Ask all the questions you wish!

I´ll tag some others who are knowledgable
@webchirp @DoubleTake @finchly

 

[mangodango]

They don´t provide much calcium. I would ask your vet about supplements you can give instead during the laying period.


The problem here is she is gorging so she can sit longer and make fewer trips to the food bowl. If you are home you could try putting less food avaibale, and make her have to do more journeys to the food bowl. If you fill the bowls with lots of food, she will gorge then sit and not move. Not moving can lead to bad blood circulation in the legs and you may see your bird can´t walk well, or falls off perches.
I allow my hens to rest during laying, but after that I make them move during the brooding period to avoid health problems, not over-doing it, but encouraging a flight here and there is good for them.


see above


I would have the food bowl farther away so the hen has to get up to go to the food. Given your already seeing problems, I would ask your vet what they recommend. Give them a call and speak with them, see what they say.


If they are infertile then it doesn´t really matter. Good to have dummy eggs in case one gets broken though. Given the past record of egg eating, I would change them all personally.


Always handy to have more than your average clutch. One of my lovebird hens usually lays 6-7, but one time laid 10.


Ask all the questions you wish!

I´ll tag some others who are knowledgable
@webchirp @DoubleTake @finchly

Thank you so much for the information!! I actually didn't realize she was gorging herself so she could sit longer, so I've moved her bowls to the opposite side of the cage with the food bowl higher up so she actually has to physically climb more for it. As for the food, I do admit I've been filling her bowl with a lot of pellets thinking she needed more of it due to her eggs, so I'll definitely try cutting back a bit.

I was under the impression that I had to leave her alone as not to stress her out, but I'll see about encouraging her out a bit more to get those legs of hers moving! As for the eggs themselves, wow, 10 eggs?? That's crazy! I'll swap them out later and see if she takes to them, since last time I believe it was more near the end actually when she started munching on them, lol. I'll have to order another package of the dummy eggs and will check with my vet about the supplements, thank you!!

 

[Zara]

Definitely schedule an appointment with your vet as soon as you can to have her looked at. The mobility issues could be a deficiency or from sitting too much, and you will need to know the extent of the damage.
I would have left the cage how it was until getting her looked at.

 

[DoubleTake]

For calcium I use morning bird calcium plus. Birds do not absorb calcium without having access to vitamin d3 and magnesium so cuttlebone by itself is negligible. My girl produced 3 eggs everytime she laid. I believe the average 3-4 for a sun.

Just curious, you mentioned that yout removed the hut so what is her "bed" now?

I agree with Zara that you should take her to see a vet if she is weak and stumbling. My girl did not show any signs of stumbling but she had help from her mate.

 

[mangodango]

For calcium I use morning bird calcium plus. Birds do not absorb calcium without having access to vitamin d3 and magnesium so cuttlebone by itself is negligible. My girl produced 3 eggs everytime she laid. I believe the average 3-4 for a sun.

Just curious, you mentioned that yout removed the hut so what is her "bed" now?

I agree with Zara that you should take her to see a vet if she is weak and stumbling. My girl did not show any signs of stumbling but she had help from her mate.

She doesn't have a bed at all currently, I've tried numerous different ones but unfortunately she just chews and destroys them all. I'm worried about her ingesting it and she did use it sometimes for naughty purposes so I figured it'd be best to just get rid of it altogether for both her safety and egg-laying. If there's any other suggestions for one I'd love to look into it!

As for the mobility issues, I've been encouraging her come out a lot more and she actually seems alright after all- her climbing and grip seem normal/strong and she was super excited to be doing tricks, spinning around like crazy unprompted and giving me her 'waves'. I also had her eat a big grape with no issues to her balance, which she was excited to eat. As I'm typing this, she just took one off my desk and scurried off with it in her beak, lol. I think it may just be her claws as they are a little longer now that I've seen them and could of possibly been snagging on the bars/etc, which made it look like she was having a hard time? The first time I saw her struggling was when she was playing around with a toy involving cotton rope, so it may be that she just got snagged on the rope and I jumped to conclusions. Otherwise, she's getting around great and climbs well, and she's having no issues with perching. I'll still be sure to bring this up with her vet though, just to be safe.

I did not know cuttlebone didn't provide much of anything! Her eggs do feel well formed and are hard, at least. Thank you for the recommendation! This will be another thing I'll be sure to ask about before giving it to her.

Thank you both for taking the time to reply! I really appreciate it.

 

[webchirp]

10 is a lot of eggs. I usually pull eggs and replace with a lot of fake right away. That generally keeps egg laying to a minimum but unfortunately not the sitting. Chya the sun really wanted to hatch the last batch of eggs. As far as the food, dear lord she begged constantly. I fed her just to get a break on the noise.

I would be getting hormone shots for her for a month or so and replace all the eggs with fake. Just easier and you won't have to worry about one breaking and drying to the skin and feathers of her chest. Yes we had that mess a few years ago. It's a good thing Chya is very tame with me or cleanup would not have gone well. The vet can give you some drops to add for calcium.