Hi, my 2 pet conures have laid 2 eggs (one has dropped and cracked) and the other is fine. We didn’t intend on breeding and was unsure on the sex of one as it was given to us as a rescue. I’m wondering what we do with the egg to help it survive with the mother. Thank you
Hi,
It’s not very likely that the egg is fertile if it came as a surprise to you. You would have noticed the birds forming a pair bond, spending their time together, grooming each other and feeding each other. You would have also seen them mating a lot. But mainly, the birds would have become aggressive and stopped being pets if they are bonded as a breeding pair. If these birds are still tame, I would not encourage breeding because you will lose them as pets. Also not knowing their genetics, they may not produce healthy chicks. Then you would have lost them as pets for nothing. If these are Green Cheek Conures, or any color mutation of the GCC, they very likely have genetic issues. Unfortunately in the rush to produce more and more colors, many GCC are badly inbred and the species is now known for having a lot of health problems in the captive bred birds. You can discard this and any additional eggs she might lay and make some changes to discourage more egg laying.
If you do choose to let them breed, this clutch of eggs still is unlikely to result in chicks. You need to get a conure size nesting box, which you attached to the cage as high as possible. You can no longer handle or interact with the pair. They need to be in a quiet, private location and you should only be around them to feed them. You can’t have a connection with them as pets or they will not form a close mate bond, and this can result in fighting between them. You should be feeding them a nutritionally balanced diet such as pellets, leafy greens, veggies fruit and an egg food. This can be commercial dry egg food or you can cook an egg with the shell washed, crushed and cooked with the egg. If they are only on a seed mix, they can’t product healthy chicks and the female’s health will be at risk. Forming and laying eggs is very hard on the female and she needs extra nutrients to replace the calcium and protein she loses. Even if you do everything right, they may not. First clutches almost always fail, and some parents never learn how to incubate the eggs or feed chicks. A lot more tends to go wrong when trying to breed birds than right. You also need to remove the nest box after each clutch of eggs, whether they hatch or not, and rest the pair for 6 months before letting them try again.
To try to discourage egg laying:
Keep in mind that to lay eggs, she needs longer daylight, warmer weather, abundant food, and a quiet, private environment. The 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 let them roam around, this mimics searching for a nesting site.
When you handle her, limit any petting to only the head and neck – do not pet a bird 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
