My lovebird laid 5 eggs in early December and just laid a new egg mid-February, that seems way too soon. Is this normal? She turned 2 in November. She had never laid eggs before that. She was really mean and aggressive for the last few months. I changed her cage around and put her in a darker spot, not sure what to do…
Hi,
Yes, that is too soon, and if this is a single female and not a breeder, then you need to try to discourage future egg laying. There is a list of changes and you should make all of these changes for the best chance of getting her to stop. If any breeding triggers remain, she won’t stop – this is why just changing the cage & light didn’t make a difference.
The aggression is very normal for a female lovebird when she is nesting. She may remain cage aggressive, but hopefully these changes can get her to stop thinking of her cage as one big nest.
Keep in mind that to lay eggs, they need longer daylight, warmer weather, abundant food, and a quiet, private environment. The goal is to reverse these conditions. In the wild, they get signals from nature to end breeding season, but in captivity, if ideal conditions continue to be provided, a hen will literally lay eggs until it kills her. In the wild they only breed once a year, and typically only raise one clutch per year.
Limit their 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 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
