March 27, 2023
Parakeet eggs
What do you do when a single parakeet lays an egg?
Question:
Answer:
Hi Milt,
She will probably lay more – 4-6 with a day between each egg. If she shows no interest in them, then you can throw them away. If she wants to sit on them, it’s OK to let her. Usually she will sit for a couple of weeks and give up, but some sit for the full incubation period or longer. If it goes past 3 weeks, throw the eggs away. There are some changes you can try to discourage egg lying. It’s very hard on her to form and lay each egg, so since she isn’t a breeder bird, ideally you would want her to not lay eggs at all.
You need to do all of these things to discourage egg laying. Keep in mind that to lay eggs, she needs longer daylight, warmer weather, abundant food, and a quiet, private environment. Your goal is to reverse these conditions.
Limit her 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.
When 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 her head and neck – do not pet her 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
