Hi,
You can discard the egg and any others she may lay. They usually lay one every other day and lay up to 8. Without a nest box, it’s better to throw the eggs away. Chicks rarely survive when hatched on the cage floor or anywhere but an enclosed nest box. And even though you saw the birds mating, the eggs may not even be fertile. If you decide to let them breed, they need a nest box, they must be confined to the cage, the cage must be large, and they need a nutritionally balanced diet like pellets – not a loose seed mix – leafy greens, chopped veggies and an egg food. You have to take the nest box away between every clutch, whether the eggs hatch or not. And you have to find homes for the chicks, because you can’t keep grown chicks with the parents. You can never allow chicks to breed with each other. Breeding is a lot of responsibility, so consider everything before you try this. And you can do everything right and they still might not produce live chicks. There is more that tends to go wrong with breeding birds before anything works out. If you want to discourage egg laying, make the below changes.
Keep in mind that in the wild for breeding, she needs longer daylight, warmer weather, abundant food, and a quiet, private environment. The goal is to reverse these conditions.
Limit their light to 8-10 hours by covering the cage early each evening
Do not give them 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 them 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 they show 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.
When they are let out of the cage, do not let them get in any dark cozy places and don’t give them free roam. When you let them roam around, this mimics searching for a nesting site.
When you handle them, limit any petting to only the head and neck – do not pet a bird 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
