help'' never had a female parrot before, laying

[sablesept]

the vet said she is trying to lay an egg.. the xray showed a good size egg,she goes in her nest box i set up yesterday.. she moans alot, she is active, eats and drinks ok.. she had a complete physical at the vets, no stool problems on the stool slide...said she had a little yeast but was in normal range.. waiting on blood work.. question, she had been hiding and moaning for a couple days before i took her to the vet... is this normal, how long does it take to lay that egg.. she moans more when i am around, when i leave the room she is more quiet...i just bought her 1 month ago.. i have a african grey male also...but to my knowledge they have not been close to each other.. i only let them out of their cage when i am home...

[New Ekkie Mom]

I am sure someone with more knowledge will be along soon to answer your question more fully, but the one thing I would be concerned with would be her becoming egg-bound. I don't know how long it takes for a hen to lay an egg, so I don't know at what point you should become worried, but I wouldn't think it should take several days. Do you know how old she is? Do you know if she has laid eggs before? You may want to check with your vet just to be safe. I hope someone who has experience with this can give you better advice.

[sodakat]

It sounds to me more like she is cooing, rather than moaning. This is a normal female Eclectus sound when getting close to laying. As long as she is acting normally (eating, drinking, moving around) you don't need to worry. If she starts keeping her feathers fluffed all the time or hunkers down with her head down a lot, then it's time to contact your vet again and see if s/he recommends heat/humidity. I would just let her be for now. If she becomes lethargic, call your vet immediately. If she becomes egg bound your vet will not remove the egg, but will likely drain it and let her "lay" the shell eventually.

Also, not sure what you meant when you said you don't let her and your grey out together, but just as an fyi: they can't breed.

[kbordeau]

My female did this also. I put her in an aquarium with a heated top, a bowl of warm water for a bath, & a perch. It took a while but she passed it. I also watched her around the clock so she didnt over heat. You can also use veg. oil on her vent. Plenty of moist food (egg with shell, rice, beans, & fruit).

[sablesept]

she layed her egg friday at 11am, blood work came back , white cells kinda high,and i am going to vet to get antibiotics this morning.. everything else is fine so far.. how long do they sit on eggs..she is 14 years old, previous owner said she has done this before and there were no male birds around..i hand fed her last night when i got home and i took her out of her nest this morning so she would poop,the poop has bubbles in it..??? but for just for 1 minute, then she went back in nest... she did not want to eat this morning.. hopefully the antibitoics will help...i have not a clue as to what to do about this egg, never had a female parrot before.. any advise will help...

[sodakat]

Originally Posted by sablesept

blood work came back , white cells kinda high,and i am going to vet to get antibiotics this morning..

Wait. Eclectus are notorious for high white count. BE SURE your vet knows this before you start antibiotics. If your vet is not familiar with Eclectus, please ask that they research this. It can seem really, really high to a vet not familiar with this oddity. Let me check our last blood work. (getting paperwork...) Okay, "normal" is supposed to be between 10-14 and last time my male's was 25. They did gram stain and all was well, as I expected. Something about the vet visit can trigger the high count.

Originally Posted by sablesept

...i have not a clue as to what to do about this egg, never had a female parrot before.. any advise will help...

Let her sit the full 28 days if she wants. She may break and or eat the egg before that. Otherwise, remove the egg after about a month. She won't starve herself. Just offer her normal food/water.

I'm so glad all is well!

[sablesept]

vet said he owned an eclectus.. but i will call and ask monday what the white cell count was.. the vet said there was some yeast in her stool culture, kinda high end of range.. there are bubbles in her urine.. started doing that 3 days ago...i bring her out of her nest every morning for just a couple minutes, to poop and stretch and flap her wings, other then that she stays on her nest... do they usually have just one egg???/

[Monica]

You mention that she was hiding before you gave her a nestbox. Where was she hiding?

[New Ekkie Mom]

I think 2 eggs is typical, usually a couple days apart.

[sablesept]

she was hiding under my covered rocker...