... Oh & btw, surprise...

[birdhouse]

I'd just started making the rounds w/the fids & was giving Kura, my Eclectus a little beak rub, when something white in the food dish on the far side of the cage caught my eye. Assuming it was part of a paper thing she'd been destroying earlier, I didn't bother to investigate until she'd had her fill of attention.

 

Eventually I went to pull & clean the dish. That was when I realized whatever was covered in left overs looked odd. I was thinking "What is that? It doesn't look like any of her toys. It's so covered in stuff but it ...looks sort of like an egg. She laid an egg...? Kura laid an egg!!"

 

It actually took an extra second to register that covered in bits of food was a shockingly large, perfect, white egg (emphasis on shocking lol). After living w/her for so long, I don't actually realize how big Kura really is any more. But that egg certainly reminded me. It wasn't that much smaller than a little chicken egg.

 

As soon as I started to pay it any attention, Kura went over & started fussing w/it. So I walked away as casually as I could under the circumstances & tried to give everyone else their time. Of course my head was buzzing w/things I should & shouldn't do, starting w/finding the spare cup ring so I could feed her until I though it was okay to pull the egg.

 

Unfortunately, that started a half hour scavenger hunt because the thing wasn't where I thought I'd put it. By the time I found everything for the extra cup, Kura was pretty focused on getting something to eat & seemed to be over her egg.

 

But just in case, while she was eating, I cleaned everything & returned it for the time being. I figured if she continued to ignore it, great. If she continues to lay, better to have a cup the size of a cereal bowl rather than use the floor, I guess.

 

Even though I knew it was silly, I almost felt guilty when I had to leave for a bit. While I was running errands I kept thinking about how I'd enjoyed the teils when they were breeding. Sitting at the stop lights, a couple of visions of little naked ekkies even floated thru my head.

 

Of course the voice in my head immediately said, "Stop that right now!!!" It's by no means all fun & games breeding birds, & I do know it. I definitely know what it would take to incorporate another big bird into the flock. And ekkies are selective about who they mate. And there's so much to raising parrots, of course. And in the end, I'd have to part w/those precious babies! But even still it was nice to daydream, just for a minute or two.

 

As soon as I came home of course I casually raced over to check on Kura. She came across the cage from her "nest" cup to greet me. Then she went back to the other side ...to finish eating her egg.

 

Yyupp, moment over. Just in case any silly notions were still lingering.

 

On a positive note, I don't have to decide what to do about pulling the egg(s) now. All that's left is to just wait & see whether this was a one-off or what & hope all goes well in the meantime.

[judygram]

Wow, dealing with laying eggs, that's one thing I haven't faced yet and my grey Josey is female and I highly suspect my other two are as well but will deal with it when and if it ever happens but that was her way of dealing with it, eat it and no more worries, hopefully she won't lay another.

[BaileysPapa]

I have a Cockatiel that is a chronic layer. No mate, of course. She sits on them interminably. I have usually removed her real eggs and replace them with plastic dummy eggs. They're supposed to keep her from laying more. Sometimes she just adds hers to the clutch, and I remove them after a while. If I remove all the eggs, about 3 weeks later, we have another clutch. The vet & I are at a loss for what to do. Everything we try is to no avail. The eggs just keep coming. I keep her calcium up with cuttlebones, mineral blocks, boiled eggshells, etc. Two years ago, I lost a beloved Budgie to a prolapsed cloaca from being eggbound. She, too, layed infertile eggs often. Unfortunately, this is a sad aspect of not having birds breed. My vet jokes that my girls love me so, that I stimulate them to lay. Of course, I do know not to touch them inappropriately, and try to minimize contact when they seem hormonal or broody. That's why I was so happy that my Grey is male.

[birdhouse]

^^^ Give or take the trigger "), that's pretty much how I ever started breeding cockatiels in the first place. I had a hen who was laying so many eggs there was no way to keep her healthy. Her egg production just kept increasing no matter what I tried. At the point where she laid 12 eggs, rested for 5 days & laid 10 more, I was scared enough for her to try almost anything. Even if it meant getting her a mate.

 

It worked, though. They were were fiercely bonded, great parents from the start, had a dozen healthy clutches & Theo never dropped another stray egg after Sundance arrived.

 

Kura's been hormonal all along, which is what we finally guessed was the root cause for her seasonal feather destruction. Since I've always been aware it was very possible she could also start laying, I've done everything I could to prevent but prepare for it. She's very healthy & that egg was picture perfect inside & out. But you just never know w/these things. So I will be holding my breath & crossing my fingers for the next couple of days at least.

 

 

Judy, I'm kind of guessing Kura may have eaten her egg because I messed w/it. I had to clean up the food whether she liked it or not & under the circumstances it didn't really matter. I had thought it might cause her to abandon or pitch it. I never expected her to eat it. But that's still my best guess, at the moment.

[katana600]

Now that is a surprise find. It would be quite the challenge to know what to do when one of our girls starts laying eggs. I think you took it all in stride very well. For her to eat the egg, I wonder if maybe there is some instinctual benefit to her to get some nutrient she needs. It does conjure up the spring and newness of life with babies in the house and that part makes me smile too. I can't imagine what an eclectus egg looks like, it must have been huge. Hopefully it was a one time thing.

[Greywings]

Early Easter egg.

[BaileysPapa]

There are hormone shots that can be given to chronic egg layers to stop them. But, with smaller birds, they try to keep that as a last resort. I do have a beautiful male 'tiel, but my female 'tiel is somewhat bonded to my Lovebird. They've been together for a long time, and it would break my lovie's heart to lose his girl to someone else. I've tried separating them, and both become very upset. So, we're not even sure that the female 'tiel would accept a mate. She's not overly friendly to that male. Plus, with 9 birds already, and being a former rescuer, I really do not want to bring more baby birds into this world. As for your bird eating her own egg, it is my understanding that females will often eat unwanted eggs. To replenish the nutrients lost laying that egg. And if they feel that things are not right to properly raise chicks. Such as threats, insufficient food supply, environment issues, etc.

[birdhouse]

Oh yes, avian everything has come a long way in the 30(?) yrs since I brought Theo home from Woolworths. But Theo would have been considered an extreme situation even now & let's just say options were a lot more limited back in the Dark Ages.

 

Cockatiels were still a semi-exotic novelty back then. So all of their babies were privately adopted either by people I knew or trusted reference. I got to "keep in touch" w/most of them & they tended to inherit their father's longevity & a fair number of their daughters for some reason got their mother's fiery temperament.

 

Some of Theo's daughters also tended to laying infertile eggs but on a much smaller scale, thank goodness. One of the owners eventually though he'd like to have a pair & "see where it goes". Long story short, thru no fault of his or how things were handled, the female rejected the male & actually killed him.

 

So I didn't mean to suggest that breeding your girl might be a good idea. Now that you've said she's already bonded, especially. I'd really only meant to share the flashbacks that all the excitement w/Kura dredged up. A little catharsis as it were, because it makes me a bit uneasy to even think deja vu could happen all over again.

 

I like Greywings' idea of an Easter egg so much better. Just one last little bit of excitement before those foolish hormones are finally over with for this year.

[BaileysPapa]

Breeding her has always been a considered option. But, since she is bonded to the Lovebird, we've been afraid of what might happen, or not. Coincidently, this is a true case of unrequited love. The Lovebird is a chronic masturbator, plus tries to feed all of his toys. It seems that even though they can never mate, they stimulate each other so much, it causes these problems. But, we're afraid of what might happen if I separate them. I've tried it with disastrous results. They call to each other constantly, go off their feed, and get very moody or aggressive. Maybe I should change their names to Romeo & Juliet.