Ask Lafeber

2 female kakariki’s but one keeps laying eggs

Hi!

I have 2 (supposedly) female kakariki’s. Both are supposed to be female. One of them is bigger (May) and she keeps mounting and feeding the smaller one (Aya).

Now Aya has laid an egg but it looks like she has a large hump near her tail and she’s still in the same position she was in when she was in labour(?).

Is this normal? How do I prevent egg laying, they already don’t have any nesting material or dark places thay could be seen as a nest box.

This exact thing happened with the female I had before Aya, who sadly passed away because of an egg.

Hi,

Egg laying can happen with any female pet bird, even without a male. Same sex birds will behave like a pair sometimes, but it sounds like “May” could be a male. I would have the bird DNA sexed, because if it is a male, and you continue to let them interact, you will keep having to deal with egg laying. There are things you can try that can minimize egg laying which I will post below.

As for the hen acting the way she did after the egg, if she didn’t recover within a couple of hours, she might have a complication and needs to be seen by a vet.

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