crazy girl

[cbalvino]

Have a 4 yr old parrotlet,who has laid an egg or two before,sit on them then forget them,she would usually scoot under the newspaper in her cage but nothing too alarming,the past 6 wks she started laying,ended up with 9 or so eggs! and was basically living under the papers,went crazy when I tried to change the papers,food or water,I covered her increasing her nite time till about 15 hours a day,today I thought this has to stop!! so I took her out,tossed the eggs totally cleaned the cage put some new toys,removed the newspaper and left just the grate,hope I did the right thing?? but couldn't stand how long she stayed under there with her infertile eggs!! every day she was so distraught over them.also discovered she has started to pluck her chest area! so wish me luck,I hope this is over for awhile she NEEDS to rest

[Monica]

You should have kept the eggs and let her have them since it shows that she wants to sit on them... or better yet, see if you can buy 10+ fake eggs for her to sit on until she gets bored of them. It was the right thing to do if it was her first time, but since it's apparent that she's determined to lay and sit on eggs, she needs "them" to satisfy her urge.

[cbalvino]

Hey Monica,she is doing well without,eating playing singing(such as it is,she's not to great of a singer)I had tried "fakes" before the little bugger knows the difference!with no papers she has nothing to nest under,although I din't know they liked to be"under" something to nest,I am happy to have her back with all of us!

[Monica]

Well, it sounds like she's doing better! Next time though you probably ought to leave the eggs for at least 3-4 weeks.

[cbalvino]

I left them for 6 wks,but everyday or so she had MORE!She is much much better thanks,one thing after another with this group!

[Cindy215]

Originally Posted by cbalvino

Have a 4 yr old parrotlet,who has laid an egg or two before,sit on them then forget them,she would usually scoot under the newspaper in her cage but nothing too alarming,the past 6 wks she started laying,ended up with 9 or so eggs! and was basically living under the papers,went crazy when I tried to change the papers,food or water,I covered her increasing her nite time till about 15 hours a day

She's having a metabolic imbalance (hormonal) from not following a strict natural daylight schedule. There are a few things that you need to do all together.

Just covering her longer randomly isn't going to do anything. In fact a cover doesnt allow for a good night sleep. And it's not good to breath under a cover.

Following a strict natural daylight schedule includes dusk and dawn. She has a sensor in the brain that works from light.

I realize you may work and not be able to do this exactly so you'll have to simulate it with your lighting on a dimmer as last resort. But I'm writing this as if you are home so it's clear.

What you want to do is right away...give her dusk tonight. This means no artificial lights from the time it is dusk where you live. It's not breeding season in North America and this means somewhere around 4 pm. She will need to be fed before that time. Just like in nature she would be eating from about 2-3.

So turn off the lights and let the outside dusk take over.

In her case especially I would also turn off the tv, computer, no lights flashing or music on. At this time she needs to be in a quiet room for the whole night not in the living area being disurbed by humans. Move her into a quiet bedroom or wherever it is you decide is her sleeping room. Let the dusk turn to night and leave her there to go to sleep.

(In the 15 - 30 minutes of the dusk you'll notice her grinding her beak preparing for sleep)

Then in the morning the dawn will come and she will wake up naturally like the outside birds somewhere between 6-7 am. She will need to eat within 30 minutes of waking so have her healthy breakfast ready and put it in there or get her out to eat with you at the table or however you do it.

Meanwhile, her cage needs to have all reminders of a nest gone, like you did. Nothing to hide under. Switch the food and water locations, rotate toys.

Same when she comes out and plays and flies around. No cuddling in your shirt, behind pillows or even under the kickplate thing in the kitchen.

Move her cage around to different pleasant spots like the bright light coming in the living area. Rotate the toys and keep her active and busy particularly flying and out of that cage. Give her enrichment and alot of foods to eat and play with or whatever she likes to do except sit and nest.

Dont kiss or stroke her beak, feet, back or tail.

This will take a couple weeks for her metabolism to get straightened out.

Then you want to follow this protocol with her for the rest of her life. With Parrotlets I tend to believe they need a longer night even in the summer when other birds can get away with following a strict natural daylight schedule that is shorter, Parrotlets tend to get cranky and nervous with less and do better with a bit more. Like 11 hours or 12 depending on their age and other factors.

If she is not a pellet eating bird make sure she's getting the correct calcium ask your vet. Ask your vet even if she is a pellet eating bird because I dont feed pellets and don't know if a vet will say it's enough.

If no pellets, I would use Calciboost and believe your vet would say at least 3 if not 5 times a week during this period of laying. Then twice for life. ***This is important***.

IT would also be good to provide full spectrum lighting during the day when it would normally be sunny out. Turned off at least an hour before dusk. Florescent bulbs and you cant use a dimmer on them.

If you can't do the dusk and dawn thing then you need to simulate it with a dimmer that you can get from Walmart even, you screw it in a metal lamp and turn it lower and lower till it's dark. They have two one you tap but that one only does low med and high, I like the one you turn. Over a 30 minute period or 15 minutes minimum.

I'll post a seperate thread with 10 ways to prevent breeding/egg laying by Hilliary S Stern DVM in case people want to see documentation.

Hope this info helps you.

[cbalvino]

thanks for your reply VERY HELPFUL!! she is much much better and I have moved all her stuff around,as I do with them all as once a month all toys get sanitized and everybody gets new stuff,they,(50) are in there own room with sky lights and day bulbs for less sunny days and early eve,I am glad I just cleared it out she is herself again,I wonder if the tiels hatching 4 influenced her to continue to lay?

[Cindy215]

You're welcome. Oh yes, I know a guy who had a single p'lett in a breeder cage on top of another breeder cage with a mating pair in there.

He could somehow peek into the bottom cage and either saw or heard them mating. He was a bit excited during the act. The guy ignored it (mean!, I yelled at him for doing that)...guess what the next morning the poor single guy had plucked himself almost naked. Poor thing.

About the lights, sunlight filtered through glass doesnt count... the beneficial rays are filtered out. that they need to metabolize their vitamins, calcium and make D3.

I would hang florescent fixtures. With full spectrum tubes (never reptile bulbs)

Must be two bulbs together, CRI greater than 92, Kelvin 5500.I'd hang them between 2-4 feet from the cages. It's kind of a pain to find the bulbs and get the fixture with the proper switches but necessary. This is according to Patrick Thrush who was the last study I read. There may be more current ones. Here's a site ,also discusses calcium:

http://users.mikrotec.com/~pthrush/lighting/index2.html

I have these bulbs but Phillips makes some too with a 93 CRI I think. You only have to replace them once a year and I do it at daylight savings time. For the winter.

http://www.gaiam.com/retail/product/11-0134_MSTR

[Cindy215]

I forgot to say if she happens to lay again, leave them there until she loses interest or she'll lay to replace more. With a male around you want to freeze each egg one per day for 24 hours and mark with an x and return at room temperature. Or replace with eggs from fakebirdeggs.com

But dont use any lighting now after dusk, no "evening lighting".