My female 36 month old cockatiel is laying eggs. She laid three a month ago. I had put three faux eggs in with hers. She stopped laying. Then, I broke one. She started the process all over again. She has laid another three. She will not sit on her eggs. She lays them everywhere, but her lined bowl with the other eggs. What should I do to stop the process?
Hi Melissa,
You need to do everything you can to discourage this or it can become a serious health problem for her. Remove the bowl and fake eggs . She should not have anything she can sit in or use as a nest or it encourage the egg laying. It’s fine if she won’t sit on the eggs. Leave them in the cage and if she is completely ignoring them, then you can throw them away. In the wild, they nest when the weather is warm, food is abundant and if they feel they have a safe nesting place. Making changes to her environment can make her stop laying eggs. Move things around inside the cage and move the cage to a different location in the room. Make sure she only gets 8-10 hours of light daily – cover her cage in the evening if necessary. If she eats fresh foods, reduce how much and how often she gets these to a couple times a week. When you handle her, keep all contact limited to head scratches – petting her on her back, front or around the tail can trigger her hormones. Hopefully by making these changes she will stop laying eggs or at least not lay them as often.
Thank you for asking Lafeber,
Brenda
