Ask Lafeber

Eclectus laying eggs outside box

Hi. I have a pair of eclectus parrot. They set in the nest box but the female lay eggs outside the nest box and thus they break.

Hi Karim,

Unfortunately there isn’t much you can do about this. However, you still need to rest the pair between each clutch, even though the eggs were broken. It takes protein and calcium from her system to form each egg, and then she goes through the physical strain of laying the eggs. A parrot like this isn’t intended to keep laying eggs over and over. In the wild, she would only lay eggs once a year during breeding season. In captivity, you can get away with two clutches a year as long as you rest the pair for about 6 months in between each clutch. You should remove or block off the nest box and rest them for 6 months before letting them try again.

As for why she is doing this, it’s hard to know why. She isn’t scared of the box since she goes into it. Are you sure she is laying them outside of the box, and not in the box where one or both then throw the eggs out? Could the birds be too young? They should be at least 7 years old. Younger birds make mistakes or just aren’t ready to settle down and breed. A young male might destroy the eggs to get her to mate again. Maybe after a rest they will do better. But if they are old enough and continue to do this, then it’s best to stop trying to breed the pair. Some birds simply do not make good breeders.

Thank you for asking Lafeber,

Brenda