My cocktail laid a couple of eggs already and is laying on them. We do not want chicks Unfortunately we didn’t know but we put a small cardboard Box in there to make her comfortable . You want to remove the eggs Wondering how to stop the whole process of her laying eggs At this point
Hi Tim,
You need to take the box and the eggs out. Either wait til you see her go to eat, or get a towel to distract her and grab the box. She will try to defend the egg, but if you have a male, and she is sitting on the eggs in a box, they just might hatch. And chicks in a cardboard box often don’t do well because the box doesn’t stay warm enough, and likely isn’t large enough. I’ll also give you a list of changes to make, to discourage more egg laying.
You need to do all of these things to discourage egg laying. Keep in mind that to lay eggs, she needs longer daylight, warmer weather, abundant food, and a quiet, private environment. Your goal is to reverse these conditions.
Limit her light to 8-10 hours by covering the cage early each evening
Do not give her anything to use as a nest – no bird huts or tents, no box, bowl, etc. If she decides to sit in a food bowl, remove it and replace with smaller cups.
Do not give her anything to shred such as paper or cardboard.
Rearrange the toys in the cage frequently.
Move the cage to a different place in the room. Move the cage about once a week, or whenever she shows signs of nesting – settling on the cage floor for example.
If she is let out of the cage, do not let her get in any dark cozy places and don’t give her free roam.
When you handle her, limit any petting to her head and neck – do not pet her on the body.
If there is no metal floor grate, then do not use any bedding or paper in the cage tray – leave it bare and clean it daily.
Thank you for asking Lafeber,
Brenda
