Ask Lafeber

Egg laying

What should I do when my sun conure lays unfertilized eggs?

Hi Crickett,

If this is just a seasonal thing, I would not worry about it. If she is laying eggs all the time, then you need to try to discourage her. Generally it is best to let her keep the eggs and she will get tired of them in 2-3 weeks. Once she rejects or breaks the eggs, throw them away and make some changes. Most importantly, she should not have anything she can use as a nest. Birds do not sleep in nests – nests are for raising chicks. So if she has a nest or a bird tent or a bowl she nests in, take that away. Make sure she does not have anything she can shred and use for nesting material. Move her cage to another place in the room. Try moving things around in her cage. When you handle her, it is best to keep any petting limited to head and neck scratches. When you pet her body it can trigger her hormones. Only a mate would groom her on her body. Definitely avoid her chest, back and around the base of her tail. If you feed a lot of fresh foods, stop offering those when she starts trying to nest. Limit the fresh food to a few times a week the rest of the time. A lot of fresh foods can also be a hormone trigger. And you can also try limiting her daylight hours, because longer days stimulate egg laying. Cover her cage at night and limit her light exposure to 8-10 hours a day. Hopefully these things will keep her from being a chronic egg layer.

Thank you for asking Lafeber,

Brenda