Ask Lafeber

Egg Laying w/o Male Influcence

I have had my female budgie for over five years, It wasn’t until the third year that she began producing eggs. An egg once a month, than it appeared that she was laying eggs on the holidays. Christmas Eve, New Years Eve, Easter, etc. Talk about timing. 🙂 When she is about to lay an egg, she attempts to capture my attention. Jumping from perch to perch, ringing her punching bag enclosed bell, and ending up at the bottom of the cage. It concerns me because once the process has completed. She is out of breath, the upper portion of her wings are separated from her body. I assume that she is overheated. I attempt to comfort her. I stay by her side, and after five minutes, everything is back to normal. It just pains me to see her go through this process. Who said a female budgies life is fair. It has been suggested painting the eggs and selling them at Easter time. UGH!
We do not treat our Budgie as a decoration or a fixture. As a matter of fact, her cage is located between me (on the sofa) and my partner (Easy Chair). In the process developed a bond, a pack, regrettably turned her into a perch potato. I also take out outside in the early morning, and we have fun because the hummingbirds fly to us, study us, and than fly away.
My only concern, eggbound. I have seen pictures and videos and it scares the heck out of me.

Hi,

It’s definitely affecting her health each time she lays an egg. It takes a lot out of the hen to form and lay each egg. There are some changes you can make, that may help discourage egg laying. It’s recommended that you make all of these changes for best results.

Keep in mind that in the wild for breeding, they need 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 show 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.

When 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 her 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