[Cindy215]

Monica, I really cant tell enough from your post. Do these Bourke birds live with you now? The daughter too? if the Bourkes didnt live with you the whole time and you were new to birds how can you be sure they were kept in optimum conditions? You know how people are. They might say they went to sleep in dusk and dawn but meanwhile were flipping lights off and on all night. Was it spring anyway? They were in a pair. They're going to lay. I dont think you should take the anecdotal cases into too much as fact. Mostly when people tell stories or describe what they do, they leave something out or dont say things accurately, imo. Apparently it resolved when things were changed around....

I would say what they all have in common is still the standard things, the "wrong hours", aka "wrong lighting", a high protein diet and/or vitamin e (seed only), being in nesty (including being covered) spots, stuck in cages all the time without being let out, and a hormonal imbalance gone out of control. Even if they get let out they'll find something like a corner or nest to nest in. Being in a dim environment throws them into hormonal imbalance. Because the brain sensor is getting nesting type light.

Same with the Tiels they stopped when they came to your house and you changed things.

It tales a long time to fix egg laying especially with Tiels.

If you're trying to make linkage between stress and egg laying, I guess you could call it that. But I don't exactly see it that way. I see it as typical behavior when they live in the wrong conditions. Living in the conditions I outlined is stress unto itself. Yes egg laying in itself is stressful too.

This is why I keep posting about following a natural daylight schedule. I think it's really remarkable that so many birds are kept up so late at night. Totally stressful.

My coworker has a Tiel in that condition and she just wont make the proper changes. The bird is kept in the dining room and nobody goes to bed till 11 pm. Everybody is up by 6 am eating with the lights on in the dining room again. A lousy seven hours sleep. Seed only, and they even gave her a nest when I told them not to. I would consider that stress but not in the same abusive conditions that your birds were kept in. She lays eggs.

But essentially it's from all the "rules" being broken at once, I'd say. Since you proved it mostly in all of them by making husbandry changes revolving around the cages being changed or some version of that.

I've never read or have reason to believe that "just" stress causes egg laying but I can see where birds under stress can still lay eggs.

Because they've been abused or neglected for so long once the egg laying started it just never stopped. And it could have started long before they deteriorated so much or before you got them.

Take other types of stress, for example. Say when you add a bird to a normal functioning house with a healthy non egg laying bird. That existing bird will be stressed. Animals are stressed when they are happy AND upset not just upset. Their bodies go through stress. So you dont have all these healthy birds laying when they are "stressed". Even from a move from one house to another. You see plucking more in those cases.

I think it's a good idea to ponder but I dont believe just stress causes laying. It's the conditons that go with the stressfull life. Also evidenced in that the so called "happiest" bird will still lay when triggered. With lighting, wrong diet, too much stroking, being allowed in dark or dim spots etc.

I dont believe you will see egg laying unless the conditions in my post are there, not necessarily in entirety but at least some. And always the lighting is the number one issue. Which ALSO means, btw that they need to get bright light during the day to be normal. Living in a dim house is like living in a nest 24/7. You'll see a messed up hormonal deal.