Silly little girl, after all the fuss and trauma we went through two weeks ago, you'd think Saffy would have given up, but no, Saffy has laid an egg. The thing I am most happy about is she passed it really easily. :hap: She laid it on the ground then tried to incubate it. I don't want to remove it cause that would mean even MORE eggs , so I made he a little bit more comfortable and put a concave on the bottom of the cage and put a shelter over it. I dunno what to do with this girl. Sigh

 

Emmett is being a complete idiot, he's going inside the box and rolling the egg around, wondering what it is, either that or he feels very proud. I think they have probably done a very good job of addling it.

Edited August 25, 200717 yr by Sailorwolf

Saffy!!! :(Laughing out loud): At least she passed the egg with no dramas.

That I am absolutely thankful for. She just let out a squeak and laid it, with me in the room.

hopefully she will stop or you may have to try what Robin did with Lupren injections?

You may want to cut down her daylight hours if you can too that may help too.

Sigh, I was hoping to get her spayed, now I just don't know what to do with the egg, she is incubating it and being a very good mum.

 

Moral dilemas.

Edited August 25, 200717 yr by Sailorwolf

I would leave it or replace with a fake egg until she gets tired of it. PM Robin she can give you advice too

Oh NO!!! Well, yes, at least she passed it without troubles. You'd think she'd learn after all she just went through! *L* Some never do though... Good luck!

Glad she passed the egg successfully but I can't quite picture the scenario when you mention "the box"? Don't think you should put a "shelter" over it either, one of my foster lovebirds had a "little wood house" and some other tent type thing when she came which I immediately got rid of and she hasn't laid an egg since. :parrot:

I'll explain: She initially laid the egg on the floor of the cage. So I am really unsure of what to do, I don't want to take the egg away, because she will lay more. But I'm not sure whether I should let her raise a family, because that stopped her for a good 6 months last time. So I thought I would give her a little concave and cover it over, but still, make it so I can see her, just while I get my thoughts sorted. She is currently incubating it at the moment. I am still trying to decide on what to do and am planning on going to talk to my vet about it.

I think she initially got eggbound because she had no where comfortable to lay in the first place, In the big cage, there is absolutely nowhere. So I thought at least now she has somewhere comfortable to lay her eggs.

Just addle the egg, take away all comforts and let her sit on the egg as long as she wants to and she will eventually abandon it; would love to talk some SENSE into them!!!

Haha, always afraid of addling eggs incase a deformed baby comes from it, but like I said I think they have already done a really good job addling it

Just shake it like mad over several days!

*Cries*, but i duon't know whether or not to let her have he babies, it may take her mind off of egg laying

I am glad she has passed this one without drama... you would think she would still be sore down there :(

 

What are the chances of this egg being fertilized?? Do you have any other hens on eggs? If you let her have a clutch perhaps you could foster some of the eggs so motherhood isn't as much of a strain on her...

 

I have also heard of people boiling their eggs just to make sure...

No I have no other hens on eggs. Sigh.

It could be fertilised as her and Emmett are pretty close and I have seen them mating.

Sigh, the mother is almost 6 and the father is underage. (Laughing out loud) Well he is either 8 or 10 months old.

Naughty little thing Saffy is.

Well she has gone and laid her second egg with out any difficulties

sounds good

Six is too for a hen to be laying eggs and raising a family. Six is too old for a "healthy" hen to be doing it and Saffy is not as yet healthy. I would have removed Emmett, from the beginning to allow Saffy to heal. They have just gone back to business as usual and Saffy hasnt had time to heal. Your call, of course, but common sense should prevail here. Saffy should have been retired with no possible males nearby. Emmett is her motivation. I am worried for Saffy.

Edited August 28, 200717 yr by **KAZ**

I agree with Kaz, your call as she said but I don't see how you can let her go through with these eggs fertile or not this is very dangerous to her health after she was just through. She almost died. I am sorry I sound so harsh but I am worried about Saffy (as I know you are too) and with her body being depleted and weakened I hope she doesn't do a 180 and get sick again.

:ausb: I think you should separate Saffy for her general health and possibly even save her life in doing so as we know she has a tendency to get eggbound, the next time could be her last. I did separate my budgies and gave them a different environment when I was having egg troubles but these were truly a bonded pair for quite a bit and defied all reason;perhaps even caging Saffy in a different room would help, you still have a chance to help out Saffy, and when placed elsewhere, should consider a hormone injection. :dbb1:

Edited August 28, 200717 yr by Phoebe

sorry l didn't realize your budgie is 6 years old, like the other's have mentioned 6 is old for a hen to lay a clutch of fertile eggs. it would be too risky for her to go through that at that age :dbb1:

The vet told me that it would be a good idea to put Emmett in with Saffy. I questioned this at the time and she said it may prompt her into breeding, but the company would help her even more. It's not like I wanted her to lay eggs. But I am providing a comfortable spot for her to do so, so that she doesn't get egg bound again. She seems to be coping quite well at the moment. I will be getting lots of vitamin D into her via spinach and will go looking for some calcium supplements. She has been chewing on her calcium block which is good.

I am assuming that a hysterectomy was not performed perhaps due to her high hormone levels at the time. I think I will text the vet and see what he thinks. (yes she has two vets now, if you were confused by me interchanging he and she).

To be honest, I am not encouraging her to breed, she became eggbound in the big cage where there is no where for her to lay.

She is not yet 6 years old, but she is approaching it. I know the risks with age as I went through this last year, when she decided to have babies at the age of 5 again without my say in the matter.

Edited August 28, 200717 yr by Sailorwolf

:ausb: As far as I know, an oophorectomy is reserved for larger birds as it is too risky with the smaller birds. I agree with the members of this forum to separate them which seems reasonable, like why wouldn't they mess around when they are together? Actually, it's just plain old common sense to keep them apart. But do see what your new vet thinks about the situation. :dbb1: Glood luck to Saffy and you to determine the best solution.

Sometimes it is up to US to make choices for our own birds sake. We all know, budgies would breed themselves to death if they could. If they "choose" to lay eggs and try and raise babies, we CAN stop that happening. We are in a position to make choices we know are best for our birds. Babies are cute and we all like to see babies come along, and hopefully we dont get so excited at the prospect that we lose our objectivity. BUT babies....at what cost ? I have been in the same position with one of my budgie hens ( although not as old as Saffy ) .....I forcibly separated her from the cockbird, threw away eggs, and gave her a whole year to get well away from the boys. As fond of our birds as we get, we also need to know when to retire them from breeding and have a good place for them to retire to without temptations.

 

PS Vets do get things wrong.

Edited August 28, 200717 yr by **KAZ**

I talked to my vet this afternoon and he was quite pleased to hear that Saffy had passed the eggs easily and naturally. I asked about a hysterectomy and he said that even though one can be done it isn't unknown for the reproductive tract to grow back. Thus I would still have issues. He said that actually laying the eggs is what is the hard thing is rearing chicks is not that labour intensive. I told him what you guys have said and he said that she is a very healthy bird (contrary to what has happened recently) and even though she is 6, which may seem elderly, in the wild budgies commonly live to 15 years of age. He also agreed with me on the concept that providing her a comfortable place to lay eggs can help prevent eggbinding and not remove the eggs as this can cause birds to become chronic egg layers. When i told him that she has already had babies before and that stopped her for a good 6 months, he said that she is obviously a healthy breeder anyway. I had quite a lengthy discussion with him. And he really knows his stuff. He keeps his own birds too. If Saffy went downhill she would go straight to the vet, but I must say she is looking very perky lately and is quite enjoying motherhood.