Hi,
Hormone treatment is a final resort for chronic egg laying. It is very expensive, and honestly, it’s for owners who won’t make the commitment to make some simple changes that can discourage egg laying. When you say you give in, that’s the problem. Just like when a child gets upset because you won’t let them do something that is not safe, the same goes for a pet bird. Are you going to let a child be in charge? Of course not, or the child will get into danger. The same goes for your bird. I’ll give you a list of changes you should make – and you must do all of these – to discourage egg laying. Otherwise she will eventually die from laying too often, unless you can find a vet who administers hormone treatments for birds, and it’s unlikely you will find anyone in your country.
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 do NOT 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
