Hi,
Her behavior is actually very normal for a lovebird that is laying eggs. The females especially are extremely territorial, and often they remain cage aggressive even when they do not have eggs. If this happens, it’s a matter of getting her out of sight of her cage to be able to handle her.
As for the egg laying, she is young to be laying already. She’s at a higher risk of becoming egg bound so if she shows signs of straining, feathers fluffed up and her tail pumping up and down, you need to get her to a vet immediately. Egg binding can kill a bird if not resolved in time. She will most likely lay at least 4 eggs, with a day between each egg. The problem besides the aggression is that some single hens become chronic egg layers, and this can eventually kill her if she lays eggs too often. I’ll give you a list of things to change with her environment that will hopefully discourage egg laying in the future. You can let her sit on these eggs, but don’t give her a nest, bowl or anything to make her comfortable as this can encourage nesting.
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. This disrupts her idea of having a stable place to lay eggs and raise chicks.
If you feed a lot of fresh foods, stop offering any for a couple of weeks, and then only offer them in small amounts about 2 or 3 times a week. You can resume normal feeding later when the birds aren’t being hormonal.
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 only her head and neck – do not pet her on the body. Only a bonded mate is allowed to groom the body. We can’t be a mate, so touching the body is off limits.
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
