My cockatiel has started laying eggs, and I have taken the approach to take away the egg when she has laid it so she won’t spend a good part of the day just sitting on the egg. She has so far laid 3 eggs, on an every other day basis. If I do this will she stop laying eggs after 2 or 3 weeks? I’m trying to do this rather than take her to the vet for hormonal injections.
Hi Mark,
Is this the same hen, or has your other female started to lay? Removing the eggs works with some hens, but with others, they just keep laying because they want a clutch to sit on. A normal clutch is 4-6 eggs. When a hen gets past 6, she is usually double clutching. This is not desirable with a single hen or breeders because of the extra strain from laying eggs, and with a breeder, the age difference between the first and last to hatch. So you should consider anything over 6 eggs to be too many. Of course, with a single bird, any eggs are too many. Dr. Lamb did discuss the physical toll this takes on hens during her last talk. To put her egg laying in perspective, if this was a wild bird, she would lay one clutch, raise it and in some cases, she might have time for a second clutch before the end of breeding season, but generally it’s just one clutch of 4-6 eggs per year. In captivity, because we can provide nutritional support, two clutches per year is considered safe, providing the hen is rested for 6 months between each clutch. So at most, cockatiels are designed to lay about 12 eggs per year, in two clutches of 6 each. This with a 4 month rest in between each in the wild, IF breeding season lasts long enough, and with a 6 month rest in captivity. This means no, letting her lay for 2-3 weeks isn’t what you want to look at – the amount of eggs is what matters.
If the changes we discussed before are not working, then I would recommend the hormone implant first, or the shots second. Dr. Lamb leans towards the implant because it is one time and lasts longer. But I would really strive to make the changes, and stick to it, and this should really keep the egg laying at a minimum or not at all. I’ll post the changes below, in order to help other owners who read these replies.
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.
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 her head and neck – do not pet her on the body.
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
