Is this normal or do I need advice....?

[Aly~]

Rebel loves to shred cardboard, so I give her Paper Box lids to knock around and shred up. I also give her the paper from the shredder inside her box where I hide all of her little foot toys and some treats. She loves to kick around in the box digging through the shredded paper to find her toys and goodies.

 

Well, for the past week or so, I've noticed that she is more or less sleeping in the box. I thought maybe she was cold and staying warm in the paper shreds, but the temp in the room is between 69 and 71 day and night, no sudden changes in the temp.

 

She's not sick, as soon as I go in the bird room, she fluffs up and dashes up the cage for her almond and morning conversation.

 

So here's the question......

 

I noticed the other day, that when she got up to scamper up the cage, that she takes a minute to look behind her before she greets me up topside. ALL of her little foot toys are in a pile and she's nesting on them!! Should I take them out? Is it normal for her to do this?? She has little golf wiffle balls, baby blocks and large dice that she sits on.

 

Any ideas??

 

Thanks,

 

Aly~

[Greywings]

What is her age? There are many birds who get nesty this time of year, my male Umbie loves to keep a "egg" in a cardboard box to tenderly care for. I have friends whose birds sit on whiffle balls, wooden blocks or just a small soft toy. I think it may satisfy that need to care for something small in the reproductive times of year. Just monitor her diet and droppings if they remain normal then I wouldn't worry.

[danmcq]

Greywings is spot on.

 

I keep a large box with a hole cut in it and shredded paper as well. He loves to go in and play with a plastic easter egg we gave him months ago.

 

It's by instinct how they recognize something and the need to be delicate with or even imagine it is a real egg....even though they have never seen one before.

 

Mother natures in-built instincts are amazing when you think about it. :-)<br><br>Post edited by: danmcq, at: 2009/12/16 16:28

[Aly~]

Thanks a bunch!!

 

I feel much better now. I'll put all of her toys back where I find them at cleaning time.

 

I keep learning new things about these creatures, it's amazing how much there is to learn!!

 

As to her age, I adopted her in August of this year and was told that she was 2.

 

 

Aly~

[Luvparrots]

My the things I learn everyday. All the things I can look forward to experiencing with my Ana Grey!!!

[she]

The only concern I have if she is a hen is egg laying,though she may be a bit young.I am very cautious giving hens things that encourage laying due to egg binding and lack of calcium.

[Aly~]

She,

 

That was my concern also. I'm not gonna pretend to know the single bird egg laying process. But if she thinks she needs eggs, and has her toys to make her feel better than maybe she won't lay her own. My thinking was that if I take her toys away, she'll feel the need for an egg and actually lay one........

 

Can someone have "THE TALK" with me Please?? Why do birds lay eggs when they have no mate??

 

ok, right now I feel like a very stupid bird Mommy and I'm heading to Google.....

 

Aly~

[Dave007]

There's a few grey parrots that do lay eggs when stimulated with certain things but they're in the huge minority. When breeder grey hens actually do get ready to breed ,it takes a lot of foreplay and stimulation from the male before egg laying will start. When over productive hens do that they're usually much older (13, 14 yrs and up. The basic reason that it can happen is over production of calcium. Some overly productive grey hens ( very few)don't need stimulation from a male and will siimply use the bottom of a cage to lay eggs. Most of the time when that happens, a grey will not really show great interest in the eggs and most of the time the amount of eggs is 1 or 2. It can be chalked of as a mistake in nature. If nestboxes or other items are around that a over productive hen can get into, that stimulation may occur and eggs may come. If that happens, the best thing to do is to let the hen sit on the eggs through the whole incubation time which is approx 28 to 32 days depending on whether it's CAG or a TAG. Usually, parrots will abandon the eggs and then it's safe to remove them. Removing them while the hen is still very interested in them will only cause the hen to lay more eggs. Some parrots are very well known to lay eggs without any stimulation at all--cockatiels being one.

Most of the time when an over productive grey hen does lay an egg, it's no big deal and they have strong internal organs that can handle that. Usually, they rarely get egg bound. If a person does own a bird that has a propensity for doing this, any item of stimulation should be removed permanently.

If you're seeing your bird nesting on toys in enclosed areas, it's best to remove that enclosed area and replace it with something more open to a person's view.<br><br>Post edited by: Dave007, at: 2009/12/18 00:42