Macaw's First Egg

[RoyRogers]

I'm just wondering about a few things tonight. My eight year old Greenwing Macaw, Ruby, laid her first egg tonight. We thought she was a she, now we know! Everything seems okay, we thought something was up with her and we take things very carefully around the birds, all twelve of them. All kinds for twenty five years now. She was acting a little strange the last two weeks or so and I am very aware of any changes in their actions all the time. She followed me all around the house, I'm sure she is quite bonded to me, as the male in her life. She was making some unusual sounds, nothing to worry about and she was really klinging to me, I thought something was up. I don't want to make a big deal about this and don't want to encourage further egg laying. What is the best way to take her mind off of this new experience? I was holding her when she dropped the egg and I have set it in the bottom of her cage. She doesn't seem too interested right now, only going down to look two or three times otherwise just preening herself like usual. We have had some problems with her plucking some feathers for the last two years and I hope this new found maturity might make some changes for the better. She gets lots of attention and good food.

Any comments would be very welcome, and interesting. What is your experience with simular situations?

The logo picture is Dillon, he is always happy and ready to go anywhere.

[cockatiel92]

okay if the egg is infertile which i bet it is. do not remove it. leave it in the cage or where she layed it. she will continue to sit on it for maybe 2 weeks. then she will loose intrest in the egg and stop laying. shell loose intrest in it because she will sense there is no life in it. after maybe 2 time of laying the eggs like this she will get the point that the eggs are infertile and that will stop laying them unless theres a male. birds are rlly smart.

[Sashagirl]

With me I had a similar experience with Buzz my 14 year old B&G Macaw that I rescued 4 years ago.I knew she was a female.I'm not new to parrots by far but the egglaying in the larger ones was new to me.I was never
told of any previous egglaying from the abusive home she came from.So it really caught me off guard when I walked in my birdroom and found an egg in her cage.Though I have other Macaws I knew it was hers because the others were still in their cage.Upon further inspection I discovered that the egg was broken so I removed it and there were no further eggs.But the standard for the larger parrots I believe it is to leave the egg with the hen for about 30-45 days or until they loss interest and then it is okay to take the egg away.I wish you well.

Marcia

[phonelady61]

Sashagirl is right ,listen to her and yes I have had macaws too. good luck.

[Sparky]

This was Kiwi's third year laying eggs (she's going to be 11 next month). Definitely DO NOT remove the egg, that will encourage the bird to lay more, and as you know egg-laying takes up a lot of resources health-wise. You might want to make sure your bird has access to calcium-rich foods right now...I don't know if macaws can be given a cuttlebone? Kiwi only uses hers when she's laying eggs, but it's in there all the time (before I gave it to her she'd try to eat the walls!). Once the bird stops laying eggs (she may lay a few) leave them in there a while, a few weeks works for Kiwi; if I take them out earlier she starts laying all over again. :P When you do take them out don't throw them away, hang onto them until you're *sure* your bird isn't laying any more. When Kiwi is laying she lays one every other day (sometimes ever three days), but I don't know how quickly macaws produce eggs. Kiwi always lays three eggs then stops, then wants them in the cage about three weeks after that. I'm sure macaws may well be different though.

Kiwi's personality does change some when she's "setting" (she does not actually "sit" on the eggs but she wants them near her). She wants to be returned to her cage more often, spending much less time out with us than normal. That's the worst part about the egg episodes, I miss Kiwi! :P Although she becomes quieter and doesn't scream at me to uncover her in the morning so I get to "sleep in," lol. Anyways I know a conure is not a macaw but if you have more questions about this I have three years' experience. ;)