[Monica]

Yes, the bourkes lived with me during this time. It happened early April, of '06. The pair? They are sisters, and were not around any other birds being hormonal (except for say a cockatiel who's always hormonal throughout the entire year mostly). The egg laying stopped when placed in a smaller cage and resumed when put back in the larger cage.... they've been in the smaller cage since. They were in a room that's about 9' x 11', with a window facing west, and one facing south, although they still get quite a bit of light in the evening too.. The "curtains" are opened in the morning (a bit after the sun has come up somewhat) and closed well after the sun has gone down... as it is, the curtains aren't so thick they completely limit light, but they aren't so light that they fill the entire room with light either. The room was painted with the color "ice glacier" or something similar, thus it's a very light blue, and there's one wall that is white (due to drywall), and the closet area is unpainted (thus it's a brown paneling color). With the paint in it, the room as really brightened up, so thus it is NOT a dark or dim room.

Seed only diet? No, these two do eat fresh foods, although they haven't been eating as much as they used to, they still eat fresh foods. There were no covered or nesty type spots other than the food dishes. The cage they were in at the time is a flight cage, measures about 36"L x 18"W x 45"H, so they still got a good amount of exercise as they had room to move about. The older bourke isn't tame either, thus there are some issues with letting her fly about.

Can't really say I know why she was laying... point being was that I wasn't encouraging her to lay and she still did. And also for the fact that they say that TOO MUCH light can cause egg laying, when there are plenty of birds kept in dimly lit homes, or ones where-in the birds are covered.... and they will lay eggs there too. Just trying to open up the idea that there is far more to egg laying out there, and that all factors need to be taken into account.