AAHH I thought she was a he.

[Tx mommy]

Well we bought 2 male lovebirds for my two sons who are great with their babies. About a month after we brought home the second one I started having my doubts about him and when we went back for our weekly visits to the bird store the owner confirmed my suspisions. He was a she. Well they already had seperate cages and since the two didn't get along I figured we were safe. Boy was I wrong. Last night at 8pm our sweet little Lutino laid a HUGE egg. I thought my son put in it there as a joke.
Luckly she belongs to the older son so he understands to not disturb her. She still goes to him and wants hugs and kisses, but now we are panicking. I'm reading everything I can on how to take care of our little lady and later I'm calling the 2 resident breeders at the store. If any one has ideas I need all the help I can get even if its just words of support.
IE: she laid the egg on the cage floor We put in stuff for her to make a nest but can I buy one and put the eggs in it?

[LovelySydney]

I wouldnt buy her a nest, they typically want it to be on their own terms, something they made themselves because then it is their space. I think you have something good going on here though, is she tending at all to the egg or is she acting like she could care less about it?? Im not sure if you have 2 females (its possible) but if the egg WAS fertilized, are you planning on having the egg develop? If not you should boil it or shake it, both humane ways to end development. Since she's already laid the egg you luckily dont have to worry about egg binding. Now its all about getting her on a good diet and getting her energy back. Are the two birds housed together?? What are their ages?

[Tx mommy]

Both Parents are not quite a year old. The father turns a year next month and the mother in a few more months. Right now they are in seperate cages right beside each other. He feeds her through the bars and has been reaching through the cage bottom and tearing up the paper to give her. THAT should have been a hint I guess. The boys take them out after school and give them play time together. I'm still trying to talk myself out of letting it grow IF it is fertile, but I can't kill anything except bugs. Even when we had a baby iguana we had been told wouldn't make it through the month I couldn't let it die. I hand fed it and it survived another year until we went on vacation for a weekend.
So I guess I just answered my own dilema IF its fertile we'll keep it.
She is very pertective of the egg she stays at the end by the food and water and when she gets in teh dishes for the food she tucks it under the food dish so we can't get to it when she's not laying on it. Poor Sticker (The blue father) has been mock attacking everthing in his cage when he's not in the corner comforting her. It's really cute. I'm thinkin gabout leaving her cage open and let him go in with her but have an escape route if she get protective.

[Tx mommy]

Oh and she does have a cuttle bone and we have an egg suppliment we give to both lovies and the conure already. Luckly she is on a great diet already. I'm very lucky the bird store I keep mentioning is amazing and the owner has specialized diets for all the parrots. She will even refuse to sell someone a bird if she doesn't think you can handle it.

[becca623]

Are you sure there is a father? A female can lay infertile eggs without the presence of a male. If they aren't caged together, are you sure they have mated? How do you know the other lovie is a male? You should probably get some egg protein for her. You can pick it up in most pet stores or online. You want to make sure that she doesn't lose too many vital nutrients or begins chronic egg laying. Have you considered buying fake eggs for her? There are ways you can reduce the chances of laying. You can lessen the amount of daylight she receives by covering her up to 14 hours a day. You may want to put a grate between her and the newspaper. I don't know what her diet is but you can lessen the abundance of "wet" foods she receives. Your vet can give her hormone shots to help if she does become a chronic layer. You want to watch for egg binding. It can be common in lovies. Whatever happens, good luck!

[Tx mommy]

He was definatly a male. He came from a hatching they did Dna testing on because someone wanted a specific female for breeding, plus he is significantly smaller than her. She came from a different breeder and that batch wasn't Dna'd they just guessed based on her size compared to the rest of the clutch. I should have had the owner check first but she was out sick and my son fell in love at first sight of her naked butt. She was just the runt and thanks to a lot of good food and lovin she's huge.
After this they are going to have strict seperate outside cage time. Since the boys now know that they aren't 'just wressling' and I don't put it past them to let it happen again.
She is on a grate they just are really good at reaching through the bottom.
She is getting an egg protein and they rarely get "Wet" food. My Mom who watches the boys in the afternoon and has a successful breeding pair of budgies is taking clean nesting material over. We are going to treat it as fertile just in case. I'm probably over killing telling the boys that most likely its infertile, but I want to make sure there is no heartbreak later on if it's a dud. Mostly my son is worried about his Citchie.