Concerns about egg laying

[JennS]

Vannah is 28 and layed her first egg on Thursday morning (4/22). She 'layed' it while standing on her perch and it fell onto a piece of cardboard at the bottom of her cage. I wasn't there when it happened, but it had what we call a morning poo and some blood with it. I dont know if that came later or at the same time as the egg.

Her behavior changed only slightly a few days before the egg came. She went back to normal pretty quickly too.

My worry is the blood. She hasn't continued to bleed. After I found the egg, I checked her for injury and she seemed to be fine. She has had very small amounts of blood in her feces, so small I couldn't tell until I got a kleenex to clean one up. Her feces are also very loose. Yesterday (4/24) she was sitting with me and had small amounts of clear fluid leaking from her vent. 

I just don't want to miss anything and lose her. Does anyone have experience with egg laying that could shed some light on how she is doing? 

[JennS]

There is another egg tonight. Still standing on her perch again. She went down to the egg this time after about 15 or 20 minutes. I put the original one back in there too. She didn't pay any attention to it the first day so I didn't think she would need it. Now she's sitting on the fleece I put in one corner with both of the eggs. 

Not sure what to expect from here. 

[Greytness]

Oh no. Well, if she's interested in incubating them, then she may become less likely to lay another one from what I've heard.

[JennS]

Well we are on top egg number 3. The dummy eggs came Wednesday and we put those under her. She seemed to want to incubate them, but in the last 2 days she leaves them for a while to sit with me. She seems very healthy, I just worry now about if she will stop. 

[Timbersmom]

I have no experience with egg laying, so have hesitated to say anything. I wish someone with more experience with eggs would come along. I remember reading in previous posts that laying depletes calcium, so if Vannah was mine I'd probably call my avian vet and ask about calcium supplementation and anything else I needed to be doing. You are doing exactly the right thing with letting her decide when she's done with the eggs from what I've read here. Good luck and God bless!

[neoow]

I'm afraid I have no experience with egg laying either, which I'm thankful for! Whilst I refer to Alfie as a 'he' I actually don't know if he is male or female, but I haven't had any surprise eggs in the 18 years I've had him.
I echo the comments above about calcium though- you may need to adjust her diet to add more calcium. If I remember correctly some people will offer hard boiled eggs to help with this?

If you haven't done already, it might be worth doing a search on the forums. I'm sure I've seen this topic come up before. You may find some advice in the archives if nobody else responds to this thread.

[neoow]

Just found a couple of threads that may contain some useful info:

New member with egg laying African grey. - Welcome & Introduction Room - Grey Forums

and

About Egg Laying - Health Room - Grey Forums

[JennS]

Thank you for looking for the threads and linking them here!

Vannah hasn't laid a new one since last Thursday.  It is a total of 3 now and each time it is easier on her and there is less blood on the egg.  I have kept them all just in case the dummy eggs don't work, but I think they are.  She has started coming out of her cage more often, though rarely wants to stray far.  Yesterday she came looking for loves with me. She wanted to be held and snuggled, but at the same time was nipping at me a little.  After a little bit I made her go back to her cage because she was almost aggressive about it.  With her behavior changes in the last 4 days, I think the laying is over and she is just tending the 5 dummies on her fleece.

What I have been doing:

1. Flaking cuttlebone into her food (she won't use one whole)

2.Made some bird bread with extra calcium in it.

3. My husband makes her eggs when he makes his breakfast (no salt or add ins of course)

4. Now that it is warmer through the day, we open the blinds in the room for more natural light cycling.

5. No more big boxes to play in and chew on.  We gave her one to chew up a while back (she LOVES cardboard and fleece) and it was a bit to big.  She crawled in it and started chewing it up from the inside out. I thought it was cute, but in hind-sight I think she was nesting.

We are learning together I suppose. Here are a couple of pics.

**After writing this, I went and looked at the links, and apparently there are somethings I did that may not have been best practice. I exchanged her eggs for dummies.  It says not to disturb them at all, that she may have more if the real ones are removed. She seems to have accepted them though.  The other thing is that I put the fleece in there and the other thread said not to change where they sit.  I change the fleece out to keep things clean though.  She watches me very carefully, but allows me to do it.

Edited May 4, 2021 by JennS
New information

[Timbersmom]

She's looking well and it sounds like she is acting "normal" from previous posts I've read about egg laying. Hopefully she'll lose interest in a few days and this will be behind you.

[Greytness]

I think you're doing everything fine. Dummy eggs take the place of the real eggs and instinctively she will tend to them the same.

She's such a pretty girl!

[JennS]

It was 30 days from the first egg last Saturday, and the last egg it will be 30 days this Saturday (5/29).  Interesting behavior changes and mood swings going on.  Monday morning (5/24) she rolled all 4 eggs onto the grate. She had rolled one out a few days prior, and we took it out of the cage.  Since 4 were on the grate and it had been a couple days, we took one out again (now there are 3).  She carried one back onto the fleece and has been caring for it. she was picking at the others so I put them back. She rolled one off the fleece, and put another one between the folds of the fleece, and the third one she is still tending.

She was allowing us to pick her up briefly and then going back to her cage. Now over the last 3 days or so she is getting very protective and nipping at both of us.  

I don't mind just letting her be and get this all through her system, I am just hoping that we aren't doing something that is harmful to our relationship with her.

Has anyone else had their girls hide their eggs? Should I get her a pair of long ears to wear?