My female cockatiel has been laying eggs even thouwe just got a male earlier this year but he just turned 11 months…I don’t have a nesting box but she continues to lay eggs I wait until she loses interest in them then I take them away from her and throw them outside and they disappear I have even tried dummy eggs she’s just a chronic egg layer do you have any suggestions
Hi Gerry,
Unfortunately adding a male is not the way to get a hen to stop laying – it actually makes her more likely to lay eggs. Just the call or presence of a male can trigger a hen to lay eggs. It takes a lot out of a hen to form and lay each egg, so if she continues to do this, she will end up dying. The male should not be with a female until he is at least 2 years old. Young males are usually more interested in mating than settling down and caring for eggs, so even if she accepted him as a mate, he would likely keep breaking the eggs to get her to mate, and this of course is not going to help her at all. I’m sorry to suggest this, but it would be best if you can find another home for the male, at least for another year. As long as he is around, she will keep laying eggs, and she won’t last much longer at this rate.
As for her, there are changes you can try to get her to stop. If these changes do not stop her very soon, then you should take her to an Avian vet for a hormone implant. I would actually recommend getting the implant for her as soon as possible, then make these changes also. This way she will stop laying because of the implant, and by the time it wears off, maybe the changes you make can keep her from starting to lay again. While the implant is expensive, it does last for some time, and it may be the only way to save her life. There are also injections, but you have to take her back about once a week to keep getting them, so in the long run, the implant is better.
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.
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 only 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.
I hope this work for her,
Brenda
