Stop Triton Cockatoo from Laying Eggs

[terri.b]

How do I stop my cockatoo from laying eggs?
I have a 16 year old Triton Cockatoo that I adopted and have had since November 2006. She has been fairly consistantly laying 2 eggs monthly about a week apart. In June I took her to an avian vet and she recommended hormone shots and that we help her lose weight, (she weighs 870 to 900 grams), to only pet her on the head and increase the hours of darkness that she sleeps. She had two hormone shots two weeks apart and stopped laying eggs for almost two months. Now she has laid three eggs in the last two weeks. My vet says to just keep trying to get her to lose weight. Any other suggestions? She really likes to eat and it's hard not to want to feed her what we eat because she calls to us verydramatically while we are eating. I will probably have to put her in another room when we eat so we can get her weight down. She does get low fat rowdy bush pellets and Goldenfeast in her bowl all day, as well as an almond every day. She doesn't fly so it's hard to get her to exercise other than doing some walking around. Is there anything else I can do to stop her from laying eggs.
Thanks.

[tielfan]

I don't know anything about cockatoos but I assume the general advice for preventing egg-laying would apply. You're doing several things right already. Frequently rearranging the contents of the cage can help by making the environment seem a little less stable and therefore less suitable for raising chicks. Periodically changing the cage's location can have the same effect. If she usually lays the eggs in one particular spot, you want to make that spot less available. Don't give her anything that resembles a nest hole (box, bag, happy hut, etc).

Will she flap her wings while sitting on your arm if you move your arm kind of fast? That's one way to get exercise and can be a fun game for both bird and owner.

[Monica]

When she lays an egg, what do you do with the egg?

[terri.b]

I let her play with the egg after she lays it but she usually breaks it open and tries to eat it so I take it away from her then.

Thanks.

[Monica]

You might want to consider getting some fake eggs then...

Fake Eggs, Artificial Eggs, Plastic Bird Eggs stop laying.

[terri.b]

So if I get some ceramic eggs, do I wait until she lays another one and them replace it with a ceramic egg? Do I let her have it in her cage all day, even if she tries nesting on it? She actually sleeps in a smaller cage in a dark closet and that's where she lays the eggs. I may have to start rolling her big cage into a dark quiet bathroom instead at night. Thanks for your advice.

[fluffy_stitch]

you might try giving her some rope perches to climb and play around on for some more exercise.

[tielfan]

Originally Posted by terri.b

So if I get some ceramic eggs, do I wait until she lays another one and them replace it with a ceramic egg? Do I let her have it in her cage all day, even if she tries nesting on it? She actually sleeps in a smaller cage in a dark closet and that's where she lays the eggs. I may have to start rolling her big cage into a dark quiet bathroom instead at night. Thanks for your advice.

The purpose of fake eggs is to give the bird something to sit on in place of the real eggs. Taking real eggs away without replacing them can stimulate a bird to lay more to replace the ones that were lost. Since your bird has been eating the real eggs instead of sitting on them, I don't know how much good the fake ones will do.

Moving the big cage into the bathroom every night could be a nuisance. It might work if you started keeping the sleep cage in the bathroom instead of in the closet. I'm assuming that the bathroom doesn't feel as dark and enclosed as the closet does. If it's actually pitch black in there, you might want to use a night light to make it feel less 'nesty'. Not covering the cage at night might be helpful too, as long as this doesn't actually make your bird feel nervous.

[terri.b]

Thanks, everyone, for your posts. I have rearranged her sleep cage and was covering it with blankets so I took the blankets off. I have been cutting back on her food so she's lost a little weight. I'll hold off on the ceramic eggs because they may not help but if she continues to lay, will try them. I'm also trying to get her more exercise. She had laid three eggs within a week, now a week without laying. I hope that the time span until the next egg, if she does lay another, will be much longer than the past.

[Monica]

Originally Posted by terri.b

So if I get some ceramic eggs, do I wait until she lays another one and them replace it with a ceramic egg? Do I let her have it in her cage all day, even if she tries nesting on it? She actually sleeps in a smaller cage in a dark closet and that's where she lays the eggs. I may have to start rolling her big cage into a dark quiet bathroom instead at night. Thanks for your advice.

The reason for the fake eggs has been explained already... it's to try and prevent them from laying MORE eggs... I suggest you get some now in the case that she DOES decide to lay more later on...

Why does she sleep in the closet? I'm not sure the bathroom would be a good idea either... It may be easier to have her sleep either in a bedroom or in the livingroom... a place that is frequented, thus not so quiet, not so dark, not so nesty like... but in short have her sleep in her cage... not in a spot that could be used as a nest (i.e. a dark small area as in her sleeping cage).