Chronic Egg Laying in Parrots
by Shelly Lane
Chronic egg laying isn’t a major issue with most parrot species, but it can happen and is something every parrot owner should at least be aware of. By making a few small adjustments in the environment, owners can greatly reduce the chance of this issue ever occurring.
A question that seems to come up a lot on forums and in my emails is how a single parrot can lay eggs. I think many bird owners are surprised to learn that their sweet little Kiwi or Snuggles can lay eggs without having mated with a male parrot, but this is indeed the case.
This is more common in some species of parrots than others. For example, cockatiels seem particularly prone to chronic egg laying. It is less common with Quaker Parrots, but every year I am contacted by several Quaker owners who report that their 5 or 10 year old bird just laid an egg for the first time.
These bird owners are concerned, and rightly so. For one thing, egg laying can sometimes leads to calcium deficiency and egg binding, where the bird is unable to pass the egg because the shell is too soft. Both can be very dangerous situations for the hen and can lead to death in some cases. This is why breeders give their birds supplemental calcium while they are producing eggs.
The other thing that happens during egg laying is that hens will often experience an undesirable personality change as instinct kicks in, and they become overly protective of their eggs. Fortunately, the “old” personality comes back when the egg laying cycle is over.
To understand how to help prevent chronic egg laying in parrots, it helps to understand what gets the process started in the first place. There are conditions that help bring a hen into “breeding condition” so that she begins producing eggs. These include the length of day, rainfall, and the availability of certain foods. Breeders often work very hard to get these conditions just right to help their birds begin producing eggs. When a bird goes into breeding condition, hormones are released that start the cycle of producing and laying eggs.
So when breeders want their birds to start laying, they gradually increase the number of hours that the birds have light, increase the availability of fresh foods and increase the amount of rainfall (or baths). I’ve found that if a pet owner does just the opposite, it usually stops the egg laying cycle or prevents it from starting altogether.
For owners who want to be proactive and decrease the chances of their parrots ever laying eggs, I recommend no more than 10-12 hours of light each day. In most cases, this will be sufficient to prevent egg production.
To disrupt egg laying that has already started, I would suggest immediately cutting back to no more than 8-10 hours of light. In addition, I would temporarily stop giving baths and cut back on fresh foods. I would also immediately begin adding a calcium supplement to the bird’s diet. Once the egg laying has stopped, regular bathing and fresh foods can resume, and you can slowly increase the amount of light to 10-12 hours a day.
Every once in a while, a hen will continue to lay egg after egg even when the above steps are taken. If this happens with your bird, you should discuss the situation with a good avian vet. It’s possible that the vet will suggest a hormone shot to get the egg laying stopped.
One question that always comes up is whether to leave the eggs in the cage or not. Everyone has their own opinion on this, but I would probably take them out and follow the advice given above to try to stop the egg laying cycle. Some feel that removing the eggs upsets the bird, but I have never noticed that to be the case when I’ve removed eggs in the past. However, you should listen to both sides and do what you feel makes the most sense for your parrot, just like anything else.
my quaker lade a egg yesterday and is not warming it up i need help.am happy because after 4 years they lade egg.am scared they wont hatch it. help me!
My Quaker has laid 3 eggs in the last two weeks. We have a big cage and she let them fall from the top! One broke and the other two I put in her nesting box, she is not paying any attention to them, should I do something to help her take care of them, or something to help them survive?
Hi My bird has also started to lay eggs.. But if there was no fertilization from a male then all you have is eggs.
if u have a male bird in the same cage as the hen then u might want to incubate them yourself or try to get her interested in them. But if u just have a female they wont grow and the best thing to do is take them out of the cage especially if she isent interested in them. it is just a cycle and u can go to your avian vet to get a hormone shot to stop the egg laying if it becomes a problem oryou dont want her to lay eggs.
A few months ago I bought a male & a female from a college student. They are in the same cage, and she told me that they will not lay eggs if there is no nest. Well, she laid two! I am a first time bird owner, what do I do?
i have a 4yrs old eclectus name ruby. i already took her to the vet to get one egg out,now i think she is going to lay another one is there something i can do to help her pass this one looks like she’s haveing a litttle problem. i hate to spend another 400.00 on a vet if there’s something i can do my self this is her first time laying.
My quaker Idgie has turned into a demon attack bird. Sure do miss my Good Idgie Girl. I have spoken with her vet and a person that works with birds. She will never be that loving little girl again. She bites everytime you try to go near her and her cage. If I had known about this part of the bird I would not have gotten her. This sexual maturity thing is for the garbage, not birds. No one tells you about the attitude change that will happen in birds. They turn into demons that want nothing but to bite and bring blood.
That college student just wanted to get rid of the birds. I called my vet and spoke with him, and then called the animal rescue league in my area. The person the the rescue league was very helpful. I am finding out that I have lost the bird that I have loved so much for the past 3+ years. Hope that you can find help.
How do you know that your bird has a egg stuck in her? I have a quarker that is 6 years old and she has been going through wanting to mate with things on her cage. She is very close to me and thinks I am her Mom. I hand rased her. She really do do a little crazy and started to bite me the other day. I have work with her and she is doing better. She have neever done this before. I was told to give her a cuttle bone but she does not like them. Is there something I can give her? I haope she does not lay a egg. Thank you for your help
[...] her need to breed. I’m putting a link in to an article on chronic egg-laying for you to visit. Chronic Egg Laying in Parrots | QuakerParrots.com Good luck with your new baby, Stephanie __________________ Chubacca ((Bacca)) Yellow naped [...]
Hi my parrot layed an egg today!! She has no mate! Is she going to be okay? Or is there something I need to do?
Our quaker parrot Kiwi just layed an egg last night, but she has no male! Is there a bird in it? What do I do so that the egg hatches with a baby inside? She thinks that there is a baby in the egg. Is there?
Firstly, some of the grammar here is atrocious lol.
1.If your female bird (hen) is not in direct contact with a male bird of the same or sub species, the eggs cannot be fertilised, egg will never hatch, therefore, no offspring.
2.All female bird species will attempt to produce young at some stage if instinct and the right conditions say so.
3.If a birds cycle is subject to natural lighting conditions then its reproductive cycle will reflect this i.e notice all the birds mating, building nests, laying eggs, hatching young in our spring/early summer.
the birds recognise the longer days = warmth = food and extra feeding time..instinct tells them that now is the time to produce offspring and give them a fighting chance of survival.
Captive birds attempt to follow a cycle, although, we humans make it difficult for them. Captive birds are subject to the conditions which the owner sets .ie. lighting, food, nesting material etc.
4.Birds need UV light, UV does not travel thru windows. An Arcadia bird lamp set on a timer to come on hour after sunrise and off hour before sunset will do the trick. Lamp requires a reflector to direct UV and should be placed above cage or over a favourite perching point. If you can do one thing to help your bird then it has to be try and reproduce the outside light and give it UV. If you have a hen that constantly tries to breed then by using the Uv lamp and timer you can trick the bird into thinking that the conditions aint right for breeding ( delay adjustment on timer to spring time).
5.Deny the hen proper nesting materials, paper, plants, anything really if shes broody and take away snug tent or hobby hut( the dark enclosed area makes her feel safe and promotes egg laying)
6.Most captive birds have calcium and vitamin b-d deficiency, Uv lamp helps with vitamin issue but you need to somehow make sure your bird has calcium intake ither thru suppliment, cuttlefish or simply scrape to bits of cuttlefish to produce power and sprinkle over their normal food or little bit in water.Hens need calcium all the time not just at breeding time.
7. If your hen is looking down and ruffled and generally miserable then perhaps she cant pass her egg. Avian vet can rectify this but a helpful hint is to gently squeeze a little quality olive oil into the entance to her vent, it doesnt harm the bird and sometimes thats all that is needed.
8.Vary the size and texture of perches and clean well every week or sonner.
6.People forget that we are talking birds here (most only a few generations away from wild birds)dont humanise them.If a bird bites it may well just be thats it instinct and part of their character, some birds are screechers while others say nothing.Whatever they are remember that most birds are creatures of the flock, they love being with others and do not live solitary life, if you only have one bird then interact with it, spend a bit time playing and teasing with it. The worst thing ever is to see a docile exotic bird stuck in a small cage slowly going crazy.
ENJOY YOUR BIRD
Hi
I have a 12 year old quaker.I hand feed her from a baby. Shes never had another bird around her.My question is. Is it normal for a 12 year old bird to lay its first egg at her age? Should I be worried for her. I know the egg won’t hatch. I just don’t understand why after 12 years she lays an egg. And to think all these years I thought it was a male bird…Thank you.
Hi Karen, Well it is nice to know that I am not alone in this. My Quaker that is now around 12 just laid an egg at the vets. I knew that something was wrong but thought that Ozzie was a male. Surprise!!!!! She was egg bound and now I am worried that it will happen again. She keeps hanging out on the bottom of her cage instead of up on the perches and has a nasty attitude. I’m not sure what to do about this if anything. Shari
my quaker has an egg and it’s stuck, im very scared and i dont know what to do please help she means the world to me if you have anything that i can do please contact me my e-mail is amxharux@aol.com please i’d be very greatful.
azsia
So we (my mom and i) have two green quaker parrots, one male one female, but they don’t get along very well so there in seperit cages. But she laid two eggs
one cracked though) three days ago, and nether one of them is paying attention to them.
What should we do?
~Rita
Ritz
I just took in a female qp that was said by her owner to have the undesirable habits as yor qp. I took her her to get her wings clipped. I told them that she was a mean one. I asked how long would idt take to get her back to lovable self. They told me maybe never. When I brought her home I kept her door open and spent alot of time sitting by her cage. Whithin 3 1/2 days she was on my shoulder. Don’t give up.
Lee Ellen
Mom of:
Icky, Tubby and Ducan
and Griffey the Bichon Frise (dog)
My bird layed an egg.. But if there was no fertilization from a male then all you have is an egg?
My story is very similiar to the ones above. My Quaker is 9 years old and layed an egg last year for the first time. I did some research on how to prevent this and followed all directions once spring hit this year but to no avail. My Little girl has repeatedly laid eggs this year. I would remove one and the next couple days another would pop up. So far she has had 7 eggs, a bit many I thought. I have let her keep the last egg hoping it would prevent more laying which it has but now I am unsure what to do. Will she eventually stop incubating it or should I look for a fledgling to put in with her and maybe coax her to believe its hers? Can anybody help?
My quaker is only 3 years old. I got her when she was only 1 year old. I was told she was a boy. This spring she layed an egg. I was in shock! My little man was a girl! She laid 1 egg every 2 days(maybe 20 eggs). I just kept putting a liquid calcium supplement in her water. She has recently stopped laying eggs. Hopefully she wont repeat this behavior next spring. She is back to normal except the fact she is now my little girl!
I’ve had my quaker for a long time, and she’s been a sweetheart since day one. No attitude problems at all.
have 2 birds in one cage one male cockatiel and a female senagal parrot will she have eggs if she is bred???
Indimus laid an egg after all these yrs. She is very protective of it….She had it on the bottom of her cage and doesn`t want anyone messing w/her…..I think I should take the egg out right away, before she becomes more aggressive and the egg goes bad…..
What do you think???????????
Thanks,Andy
Do not take the eggs away as they lay them. It encourages them to lay more. If you leave them in the cage they will only lay 3 or 4 eggs and then start to incubate them. If you take each egg as it is laied they will continue to lay until they have as many as they want to incubate or until they have laid all they can which is much harder on them If you leave the eggs and let them sit on them for a while they will decide they are not going to hatch and abandon the eggs them selves. They will sit on the eggs and in 2 weeks or so they start to chirp to the eggs and eventually when they do not hear any noise coming from the egg realize they are not going to hatch and give it up on their own. This is the way nature made them and it is natural behavior. I have a 13 year old bird and we go through this every year. She turns back to her old self when she decides to give up the eggs. Her cage is open all the time and she decides when to come out. That is not for everyone but she has all the freedom that I can give her.
I have had Harley for five years. I thought he was a male. Last night he layed two eggs!!! lol
I have had my Quaker for about 2 years now. It was a rescued bird, but extremely friendly until recently. On Sun night/Mon morning, she laid 2 eggss. One was shattered and the other layed at the bottom of the cage. She was not sitting on or near it, so I removed it. She has begun to warm up to me again, but since it has been a few days, will she lay more eggs? Something spooked her tonight and she tried flying, and she was extremely worn out! I am worried that there may be another egg…
I also thought she was a he…everything I read on mannerisms pointed to boy…oh well!
I am the Proud Mom of a Quaker Parrot, who is beleived to be about 10 now.
She has been with me 3 yrs. this Spring.
She was known before me to have laid one egg.. but not one the whole time
I had her…. (until…)..
So, about 7 months ago, we adopted a Male Eclectus Parrot. They have
slowly become distant friends.
And, she has laid 11 eggs in the past two and a half months.
She just keeps laying an laying them.
I take them away because I feel like she could get attached
and then get sad….
I know he cant fertilize them.
Is she sad when I take away her eggs? She doesnt lay on them.. two have just
fallen… They would never be babies,
but she doesnt care much for them.
She doesnt nest them, or pay attention
to them…
Im so confused.
mannerisms cannot determine the sex of the bird… It really depends on the attention they got growing up.
I have a female quaker parrot. She has layed a total of about 7 eggs. She has broken them, and I took one away thinking she was done. I was wrong. Anyway, she is laying on 3 eggs. She has been laying steadily for approx. 4 weeks. She hasn’t stopped sitting on them. Should I take the eggs away or wait?
Thanks
Me again. My quaker parrot stopped sitting on her eggs so I took them away. She wasn’t interested at all. Now, 3 weeks later she layed another one today. What gives?
K
ok here is my situation, I own two birds, they’ve been lying eggs since two years ago and the first time, I bought them a box and I put some soft material inside, I put some of her eggs in the box and later on they started to warm them up, but after several months I don’t see any baby birds born, so what I lastly decided is to take their cage away but sometimes they seem to look for it, this week she laid 2 eggs and they were crazy before that, I guess they were trying to say that they needed their cage.
My simple question is: what period of time should be given to these birds to fully have baby birds?
how long does it take for the eggs to hatch
how do u get the eggs to hatch?will a male quaker have any thing to do with them if the male doest know the female bird?
My quaker parrot laid an egg. I magine my surprise !The thing is we all thought Iago was a boy and at 10 or 11 years old we were surprised by an egg this morning.Now my bird has always been known as a evil nasty tempered bird.He does not,oh excuse me She has never liked other people only me.I was wondering if I should take the egg away since SHE has no partner and no chance of it being fertilized or just let it go.
…get past the biting and blood. Grab that little Bird and yank her to you and hold her against you she we cling and let you pet her. All they want is some Love and Attention and Whistles. Just force the petting if you have to. Quakers are hyper by nature and protect their ‘nest’/cage. Get a grip and force the petting and Love.., they will close their eyes and really relax,.., then you will notice them getting away from the cage and begging for those petting sessions. No Bird is a monster….just give em the Love you want to give them.., Birds are smarter than you believe…I have an Amazon, Two Cockateils, A Quaker and a Love Bird.., The Love Bird and Amazon Preen each others feathers. The Love Bird and Quaker play in each others cages and they never fight.Birds are Loving creatures and Bond quickly. If you detach and give them up.., they will regress, depress and possibly commit suicide by self destructive gnawing and chewing…Birds have emotions…don’t hurt them…G-D Bless us all….
Our 14 year old laid eggs this week for the first time (after being raised as a boy!). In addition to light conditions and diet, the vet also told us not to cuddle her, as it simulates a mates behavior. We are used to holding her close to our chests if she gets agitated – but cannot do that any longer.
In addition, the bird shakes. Every 5-10 seconds or so, her head shakes followed by a flapping of her wings, very briefly. Is this considered a mating behavior?
When I was advised to give my parrotlet a cuttlebone I responded that she did not like it and would not go near it. It was suggested that before placing the seed cup in her cage to scrape the cuttlebone with my fingernail over the seeds….this has worked great for Cielo and me!!!!
yesterday i returned home to find that my quaker pete had layed an egg. to my surprise!!!! I now have learned that pete is a girl, egad! anyway now i can understand the mood change and the attacking and why peetra (as i now call her) was pecking for stones on the floor. I had noticed her sexual actions with her toys and i paid no attention then i noticed the stone picking (I bought her sand) figuring something was missing from her diet and she appeared to be having seizures as so i thought she was trying to pass something, well low and behold tonight she layed her second egg and i’m sure she will try to attack me again when i take this one out also. I hope she will soon return to normal but does anyone know how many eggs to expect? thanx
Hi my parrot layed an egg today in her cage!! She has no mate! Is she going to be okay? Or is there something I need to do?
Wat i need to do.she is not sitting on that egg.How that egg will be fertilize?
dont worry bindu the same thing happen to my parrot and if it is its first egg it is not going to be protective. There are also other reasons for them laying eggs. Think of chickens. the eggs we eat are not fertilized either. And that happens to all birds. Just take the egg out of her cage and than do whatever you want with it. Your bird is fine. Sometimes it is caused by having too much light during the day. Hope this helped.
my bird is five years old and just layed her first egg this came as a shock to me because when first bought it the pet stored owner told me it was a male.
Nikki layed another egg except now she is protective of it.
I started having the same problem,yesteday i went to give my quaker parrot food & water.When i went in to his room he was at the bottom of the cage,i thought something was wrong with him.When he got up there was an egg under him,i was shocked.I bought him in florida 11yrs ago,all this time i thought he was a boy.But it turns out he is a she,earlier today my husband came out of the birds room & said she laid another egg.So now she is laying on 2 eggs,i was told she would just give up on laying on them when they don’t hatch.I guess i just wait & see….
Oh my gosh! Nikki layed a THIRD egg in under one week and I am getting scared!!!
soooo,
for many years now i believed i had a male quaker parrot;but much to my surprise he/she laid an egg for the first time yesterday.I am a vetrinary technician.and have several birds at home.but this is definetly new.
I wrote in April about my quaker who is 11yrs old laying 2 eggs,well 2days later she layed another one that made a total of 3 eggs in a week.Well its June & she laid 3 more eggs again,I’m starting to get worried about her. Is this something that is normal or not, can someone give me some advice on this.. thanks
I had Wall-E for 3 years and this morning, I surprisingly seen an egg in his cage. I always thought and I was told that Wall-E is a male bird until this morning. I have never wanted any female pet. Should I be sad or should I be happy that my Wall-E is a female? I hand fed him or she now since he was a baby and I always treated him as a boy… sniff sniff! God help me!