Nikko laid an egg!

[spookyhurst]

This morning, I got Nikko up and saw something on the bottom of her cage...a great big freakin' egg :ohmy:! I was really hoping this would never happen. It's also my fault. I let her play inside boxes too much. She loves to chew them up, and sometimes climbs into the back corner, puts her head between her legs, and falls asleep.

 

Nikko has been incredibly horny lately, worse than she's ever been. I can't leave her alone with my mom or she falls apart (droopy wings, panting, regurgitating). When I try to pick her up, she engulfs my hand with wings. I actually have to pick her body up with both hands and put her down on the couch.

 

Nikko has also been ravenous lately. She just eats and eats all day. I put snacks in her cage at night, and in the morning the food is all gone. She drinks a lot too.

 

And on Friday, she wasn't well. She didn't wake me up with a cheery "Good morning" like usual. When I finally uncovered her, she was sitting quietly and wouldn't come out of her cage. She also seemed wobbely. I finally got her out of her cage, but she wouldn't eat breakfast. We let her sit on the kitchen counter with her dishes, because she still seemed a bit wobbely. She also remained silent. As the day went on, she perked up, and was much better by dinner. Saturday she was back to her old self and full of "Good mornings".

 

Do you think she needs to see the vet? Or should I wait and see if more eggs come, and then take her? She's due for her annual exam and blood work in March/April anyway.

 

I'll post a picture of the egg later today.

[spookyhurst]

[mjames74]

I'd wait and just give her high calcium veg/fruits/nuts. Broccoli, almonds, egg /w the shell ground up, etc. Laying an egg takes a huge hit on their calcium level.

[judygram]

Wow and this is what I have to look forward to as I have a DNA'd female grey myself, thanks for letting us know what we are in for, those with females. I would definitely remove all play boxes while she is hyped up on her hormones. B)

[LisaM]

I was under the impression that egg-laying is not inevitable and that we can try to do things to prevent it (like not providing areas that would trigger "nesting" behavior)?

 

I know I get nervous even when Kenya is on my dresser and starts throwing all my socks out of the drawer and peering inside like it's something she might like to crawl into and make a nest out of. I close the drawer and move her somewhere else to distract her. She does sometimes get a bit huffy with me and flares out her feathers, etc., when I do that like I'm taking away her rights or something.

 

It will be interesting to hear from those much more knowledgable than I about this subject...!

 

Lisa

[spookyhurst]

Nikko is 7 years old, and we've had her for 3 of those years. She gets 12 hours of sleep, which is supposed to help curb breeding behavior. We also only give head and neck tickles during the winter months, because body pets can be taken as "treading" and stimulates the ovaries. Nikko has always been obsessed with cabinets and drawers, and we have to be very careful not to let her get in one, because it's very difficult to get her to come out. The one caveat I've given her is the boxes. Nikko plays with them year round, and can destroy one in a day. She's a big chewer, but I'm going to have to figure out another hobby for her.

 

The past month she's been crazy hormonal, more than she's ever been. Nikko considers my mom to be her mate. All my mom has to do is look at her, and she starts to regurgitate.

 

Nikko seems fine, with the exception that her vent hurts. She turns around and messes with the feathers after she poops. The vent looks a little swollen too. No bleeding though, except what was on the egg.

 

Luckily, Nikko could care less about the egg. Maybe since it was broken she knew it wasn't any good.

[spookyhurst]

One other thing...Nikko won't eat green leafy veggies. They repulse her. She'll put her tongue on it, and then shake her head and push the food away. Either that, or she'll give me a look that says, "Are you kidding me?" The only time she eats broccoli is in veggie soup (the broccoli taste is disguised I guess).

 

For breakfast, she eats oatmeal with soy milk and flaxseed, 1 almond, and a slice of banana. Mid-morning she has a few sunflower seeds and cheerios. For lunch she has a slice of orange and a piece of cracker with a little peanut butter. For supper, she has an orange vegetable (either squash or carrot), sometimes potato, sometimes green beans or peas, sometimes scrambled egg. Usually, whatever we eat she samples, like lasagna or fish. I give her a little cheese occasionally. Her bedtime snack, and what she eats through the night is Pretty Bird's African Special pellets and a piece of walnut.

 

Is that enough to keep her going? I was thinking of hiding a little bit of greens in her scrambled eggs to see if I can sneak them past her.

[mjames74]

The eggshell of an egg is the highest calciumyou can get. When you give her the egg I'd grind the eggshell down fine and mix it in. With a bowl and the bottom of a spoon you can get it to a powder with some work. I give mine an egg 3 times a week and one of em' with the shell cause I don't know for sure if she eats enough broccoli cause the does throw some to the dogs to watch them eat. Cheap entertainment to her I guess lol.

[LisaM]

I think I'm lucky because my Grey has never done the regurgitate thing or had any hormonal issues as I've been able to tell so far (she's 14) (other than the drawer thing, which we now avoid).

 

As far as diet, do you weigh her? If she isn't losing weight, then it is enough to sustain her. The only greens I can get in mine is if I cook them in with their "mash". Like MJames, I do the eggshell thing as well to supplement more calcium. Mine actually like larger pieces of it to chew on.

 

You might want to keep pellets in her cage during the day also as she probably doesn't eat much at all during the night. Are the pellets artificially colored? If so, you might want to try to get her on another type.

[spookyhurst]

I'll try the eggshells with scrambled eggs tomorrow. Hopefully, the one egg is all she'll lay so she doesn't lose anymore nutrients. Tonight she actually tried a little tiny bit of broccoli. Not enough to do her much good, but it was a start. She ate a nice portion of butternut squash though, as well as some baked fish, hashbrowns, and little piece of cheese.

 

Nikko actually eats throughout the night. I always hear her go down to her dish for a snack and a drink. I think it's because of the cooler weather (and hormones), because she doesn't snack so much when it's hot.

 

The Pretty Bird Pellets are colored. I've tried a variety of pellets, both colored and natural. Unfortunately, Fruity Zupreem and Pretty Bird African Special are what she likes. She ate Harrison's for a little while, then refused it. She also ate the sample of Goldenobles I got (my favorite brand), but refused it when I bought a big container of it :angry:. I've read colored pellets are better than no pellets at all, so I just go with what she'll eat. Someday I'll try again to get her to eat some natural pellets.

 

We have a lot of wild birds, and put food out for them. We figured Nikko's egg shouldn't go to waste, and put it outside. The little yolk was so cute and small! Hard to believe that Nikko started out in a little egg like that. Anyhoo, my mom noticed that a cactus wren came down and gobbled up the egg. At least someone benefited from it :unsure:.

 

EDIT: You are lucky Lisa! Nikko is just madly in love with my mom. Thankfully, the regurgitation and wing dropping only occur during breeding season. She'll settle back down in another month or so.<br><br>Post edited by: spookyhurst, at: 2009/01/20 05:03

[LisaM]

Yes, I believe the colored pellets are better than none at all. I think there's just a higher likelyhood of sensitivities to the colorant. I also heard you should try to find a pellet that doesn't have corn/wheat as it's first couple of ingredients. But if they're eating something, that's good.

 

My Kenya was on the PB AG species specific pellet when I got her. It took a LLLOOOONNNNGGG time to get her to eat anything other than those and seeds. I started by soaking Harrison's in apple juice until it got soft and mushy and then going on from there...

 

I think overall it sounds like you have her on a pretty healthy diet though so hopefully this will be her only one! I think the removal of the boxes will help...particularly during the hormonal/breeding seasons. Maybe she can have them at other times though?

 

Yeah, I have bought a lot of foods to try that end up being wild bird/squirrel food as mine won't touch it...guess that's just another "day in the life" of having parrots in our lives!

[kllaux]

Hi...

 

Just found your forum while doing a search on egg laying greys.

 

My grey, Nikki, is about 25 years old now and started laying eggs in the bottom of her cage about 5 years ago.

 

She had nothing that even resembled a box or private area in her cage. Never laid more than one egg. She'd roll it around for a day or two, then it would break and we'd clean it up.

 

This year, I was out of town for a few weeks and one day when my daughter had her out of the cage, she crawled inside an emtpy shoe box she found. She didn't want to come out and threatened to bite my daughter, so my daughter just put her back in the cage, box and all.

 

That was all Nikki needed to have a complete personality change. She stayed in the box for hours, would not come out of the cage and tried to bite everyone.

 

The day I came home, she was fine with me and came out of the cage willingly. When I put her back in, she went straight to the box and as she entered the hole she had made in the side I heard her emit a very cheery "Hi!" This is what she says to me whenever I enter the room.

 

I went over to the cage and opened the box and there she sat with 2 lovely eggs. Quite proud of herself.

It has been 2 weeks now. Two weeks of cleaning around the box and listening to her talk to her eggs. This morning she was sitting on her perch and ready to come out when I opened her cage. Both eggs are simply gone, (broken and eaten??) and she let me take the box out and throw it away.

 

She seems ok...maybe a little grumpy...Almost makes me wish I had bought a male too.

 

She tries to feed my husband anytime he is near her, and if he takes her on his arm she immediately presents herself to him. Year round. She is always horny.

 

She loves to cuddle and now I am wondering if we handle her too much? I read in one of the posts that body pets can stimulate hormones. Is it possible that our cuddling is what is creating mating desire? I'd hate to stop handling her.

 

I don't think we'll let her have anymore boxes, but she was laying eggs without them anyway.

[LisaM]

Kllaux - I would certainly not stop handling her...just maybe change the way you handle her. It's perfectly fine for her to be standing on your hand/arm/leg and getting head skritches.

 

Someone can talk to what types of contact can stimulate breeding hormones/behavior in Greys. I know in my male Ekkie that we're not supposed to "pet" them down their backs but I don't know if that's species-specific or more broadly applicable.

 

Spooky - How is Nikko doing?