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Question:

January 11, 2023

Eggs and loud squawking


I have a 6 yr old female Caique who lays eggs and squawks very loud, very often. I hear placing fake eggs in her cage will discourage the egg laying. Will it also discourage the perching on bottom of cage and loud squawking all day and night long? She laid an egg 2 days ago and I removed it yesterday and this morning she is sitting on the bottom of cage squawking as she did during labor and afterwards. Im exhausted! Please advise.


Answer:

Hi,

I don’t know how often she is laying, but at some point her health and life will be at risk. The fake eggs seldome make a difference. And what you need to do is focus on discouraging her from nesting entirely. She may need a hormone implant or shots from a Vet, but there are some changes you can try first to discourage nesting and egg laying. You need to disrupt her safe nesting area, limit her light and feed less at a time. Limit her light to 8-10 hours by covering her cage early each evening. Do not let her have anything she can use as a nest or get inside of – no bird huts or tents, no boxes, blankets, etc. When she is out of the cage, don’t let her roam around looking for a place to nest. Keep her out of small places. When she sits on the cage floor, block off the area with toys. If you feed fresh foods, stop offerng them for a couple of weeks, and then only offer small amounts  few times a week. Move the age to a new location weekly until she settles down, and then regularly as needed. Rearrange toys and perches in the cage. Do not give her anything to shred like paper or cardboard. When you handle her, only pet her head – do not pet her on the body. All of these things will avoid hormone triggers and make her less likely to feel like she can settle down and nest. But if none of this works, it’s time for hormone treatments – the implant seems to work best.

Thank you for asking Lafeber,

Brenda

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