Ask Lafeber

Budgie not sitting on egg

my budgie has laid three eggs on the floor she sits on them occasionally what should i do

Hi Sabu,

If this is a single bird, then you can leave the eggs in there for a couple of weeks and she will probably lose interest. Then you can throw them away. There are changes you can make to discourage egg laying. It isn’t good for her to lay too many eggs, and without a male she doesn’t need to be laying eggs at all. If you have a breeding pair, you need to get a nest box and put the eggs in it to encourage them to check it out. They won’t be any good since she isn’t sitting on them all the time, but it might help get them to use a nest box next time.

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. There is no need for a single or non-breeding bird to lay eggs. It drains her system of calcium and protein and is physically exhausting to lay each egg. Then there are many complications that can often cause death, so you always want to try to discourage egg laying.

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 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