My budgie is around 4 - 5 months old. We have hand reared it since it was 4 weeks and it is the most amazing bird. Its vocabulary is incredible and it thinks it is human. We proudly named him Frank and he is let out of the cage 4-5 times a day for some time with us and to play with the kids. We have it positioned in a spot where he is around the family and noise and we find that helps with its talking. We assumed it was a boy until around a week ago when he layed an egg!! So now we know that he is infact a she. She is laying her eggs on the floor (she has laid 4 in the period of the week). The pet shop told us to remove the eggs instantly and she will get over it, however, she does continue to lay and she is very snitchy and bites alot which is unlike her. Yesterday she laid her 4th egg and we have left it in the cage with her in the hope she will abandon it. She wants to bite the children, but loves me and if I do not speak to her when I go past she screeches at me. How do we stop her laying? When is it an appropriate age to breed her? She seems to not talk when she is in cycle, will she return to talking again? Is her behaviour normal? Do we remove the eggs or let her abandon them in her own time? :budgiedance:

Wow she must love someone in the family allot (and I think I may be you) 4-5 months is still a young bird in regards to breeding. They need to be at least a year old (15-18 months is a good age for hens)

 

To stop her from laying, shorten her daylight hours, also rearrange her cage some times a change in their environment upsets them enough to stop. Look around the cage area for something she might be seeing as a nesting site as well. such as a dark area or a hollow item and either remove it or cover it.

 

and Welcome to the site, i hope you enjoy it and get some helpful answers.

I just wanted to add that it's important to let her keep her eggs until she gets bored of them, otherwise she'll just keep laying to replace the ones you take.

Hi , welcome to the forums .

Egg laying needs to be nipped in the bud and I wonder if the hen is actually older then they told you. This can lead to calcium deficiency, egg bound etc...

 

Here are some ways and some are already mentioned above.

 

reduce the light to 10 hours or less per day.

If she is mating with a toy, food dish, part of the cage, etc. and the item is removable, remove it.

If possible change her environment. That is -- move the cage to a different location, rearrange all the perches, dishes, etc. Change all the toys. OR temporarily house her in a spare cage.

Cut back on the availability of bathing water.

Do not let the bird access dark, enclosed spaces

Do not let your bird shred paper this is part of making a nest

Make sure calcium (mineral blocks or cuttlebone) is available so her calcium deposits do not become depleted.

 

If you already have eggs it is better to let the hen sit on them rather than removing them. It is instinctive for a bird to replace the eggs that were "destroyed by predators" until she has a full clutch. She may go on and on laying until she depletes her calcium and ruins her health. Or you can remove the eggs with fake eggs.

You have been given GREAT advice so follow through with it!! Sometimes, (but not normally), budgies will persist and persist with laying eggs but I hope that your girl will stop this behaviour. :greenb:

You have been given GREAT advice so follow through with it!! Sometimes, (but not normally), budgies will persist and persist with laying eggs but I hope that your girl will stop this behaviour. :greenb:

 

 

Thankyou for everyones great advice. I have already started with making some changes. As for her age, we know that she is only very young as we have been with her since she hatched. We love her ever so much and know that when the time is right will make a wonderful mother!!

 

Even whilst all of this has been going on, she still loves to be out of her cage and watching me while I wash the dishes as she has a fascination with the bubbles - in fact she has once done the duck dive into the water, so now we have to make sure that when she is out there is no water in the sink.

 

Thanks all