My budgie is over a year old and now she started laying eggs, without male contact. I found here the article about egg binding and would like to ask, what should I do to prevent her from laying more eggs without visiting the doctor?

It is quite excessive, it's been 4 eggs in little bit over a week and she is extremely tired now. I do not think it's a diet problem, she's been eating normal bird seeds plus plenty of salad, cucumber etc. She's been sick for the past half a year, she's had every disease bird can have (doctor said) and when she still looked ill, we stopped visiting the doctor as she's been quite distress by every trip over there and is until now different in behavior towards us, despite many attempts and bribery and other taming techniques. That's why we don't want to take her there again.

From the article, it seems only possible way would be administering hormones, am I able to get them myself or is it only through vet? Thanks for any replies guys.

why has this just started now? What has changed in the last week? Is there a mirror or reflective surface in which she can see herself? Have you or someone there changed anything in the last 2-3 weeks?

I wouldn't have a clue why it started now, nothing has changed for quite a long time in her cage. We removed mirror when she was still a baby, now after she laid her first egg we removed her toys in case she was too attached to them and replaced them with some different ones, nothing where she can see herself in though

Interesting... cockatiel's do the same... my hen (was a inside tame bird without a male) layed one every so often... turn's out she needed a mate due to plucking her feather's in frustration.... your hen might be eager for a mate i suppose.

Edited July 13, 200915 yr by mattdog2

I wouldn't want to introduce her to another budgie due to the illnesses she had/has :/

Do you cover her cage at night? If so increase dark hours to 12ish... this can reduce the need to lay. I'd also get a calcium suppliment and add it to her water. They will help replenish what she's has lost.

Edited July 13, 200915 yr by maesie

Do you cover her cage at night? If so increase dark hours to 12ish... this can reduce the need to lay. I'd also get a calcium suppliment and add it to her water. They will help replenish what she's has lost.

 

Yeah I do, I put her to sleep at around 7 pm and she wakes up usually at 10 am, so she has plenty of sleep I guess. Only couple of days ago I bought her bell made of who knows what which should be better replacement for the classic sepia bone (which she usually ignored, only bit it sometimes), I'll try to get that supplement, thanks for advice :laughter:

First mating a budgie just because it is laying eggs is NOT a solution it only ADDS to the over population of unwanted babies and inexperienced breeders. Just My Honest Opinion People breed for various reasons breeding for this reason is not a good reason. It is best never to encourage breeding just for this reason alone.

This is in response to mattdog reply not saying you are going to do that. (no offense mattdog again this is my opinion)

 

Our avian vet said this is very common in budgies and cockatiels and one of the reasons I decided the boy route for a pet budgie. The honest reply is that you may never get her to stop laying once they do it can be a chronic issue but there are ways you can help the hen work through it to ensure if she is going to do this that you can keep her in optimal health during these stages.

 

I do have a friend that went through the injections and the bird did still lay eggs so it may work with some it may not work in all budgies.

 

I would document this and see if she has a pattern like every so many months this starts to happen or maybe this will be a 1x thing. If you do this you may find the triggers.

 

Triggers: longer daylight hours, running water (such as a fish tank or washing machine by her cage), did it rain outside that day, toys that she is getting obessed over, places she can lay, shredding toys in her cage etc.... I am sure there are more.

 

Provide her with: limited daylight hours it will take a couple weeks to throw her off the cycle - meaning keep her covered for 12-14 hrs, and then on a normal basis at least 10-12 hrs, you can tell when they get really flirty with either you or the toys that you should do this even before she starts the laying process, provide her with a lot of cuttlebones, there are Calcium Supplements (you can read about good ones in the breeding section), make sure she is getting a variety of food from seed to fruits to veggies (we have a Food and Nutrition Section in the FAQ's where you can get ideas on how to get her to eat different foods).

I agree with Elly.

 

Budgies are still nearly wild creatures, and putting them in a domestic situation we shouldn't forget that they are haevily influenced by environmental stimuli. Through keeping budgies well, we unfortunately also place them in a situation where their brains tell them it is a great time for breeding: warm, plentiful food and water, good body condition, a territory for nesting. Obviously some of these we shouldn't change. But what can do is try to simulate other times of year so that she doesn't think she should be breeding. Things that indicate it is the right time for breeding: short nights, rainfall, lots of high energy readily available food and water, nesting material, presence of a nest, presence of a male.

 

To help her think it is not breeding season, increase herr hours of dark (this means she actually sleeps, simply covering her in a noisy or bright room does not allow her to sleep). To prevent her from thinking she has a territory that is hers for nesting in, remove any nest she builds. Simulate the constantly changing environment she would experience in the wild while travelling/foraging: move the cage, move all her furniture (including toys and perches) around weekly. While it's great that she is eating well, it is extremely readily available, all she has to do is go down to the bowl and she has all the food she will ever need for the most nutritionally difficult task of her life (laying). Encourage captive foraging, if you look in our Food and Nutrition forum you will see some ideas for what that it is and how to do it - this will keep her busy and tell her that food isn't quite as plentiful. If she has bonded strongly to any of her toys, take it out, or at least rotate the toys as noted previously. Keep her busy by working on taming/training and try to involve more than one person, so she thinks she is in a flock all moving/foraging together, rather than bonded to one human (her mate).

 

As you can see there are lots of things you can try. Hormones are a last resort when all else fails. Please let us know how you go, and keep us informed

Edited July 13, 200915 yr by Chrysocome

Thanks for the ideas guys To all of those changes, I am thinking about trimming her wings once again, she had them trimmed when I bought her but I didn't do it since, think it's a good idea?

And one more thing, do you guys think I should leave the eggs in the cage or just chuck them in the bin whenever she lays some? She is quite aggressive, wouldn't jump on a finger without biting it with all her might, but that was even before she started this egg laying...even though this seems to be up a level with its ferocity :/

It is best to either 1 let her lay on them and finish her cycle because if you take them she may keep laying OR 2 remove those eggs and put in fake eggs (that is what a lot of people do) and then once she is tired of them then remove them.

 

Leave her alone through the process because honestly she doesn't understand that you are trying to help her it is like a female dog with puppies their attitudes change when they feel they need to protect it is nature.

 

When she is going through the cycle leave her alone, change out the eggs, do the different change of covering her etc...and once she is thrown off this cycle she will return to the hen you once knew.

 

When she is done with all this that is when you can get her wings clipped not before. Laying eggs is stressful, worrying about protecting them plus you don't want to be holding her to clip her wings and she has an unlayed egg inside that can break.

 

Keep us updated.

First mating a budgie just because it is laying eggs is NOT a solution it only ADDS to the over population of unwanted babies and inexperienced breeders. Just My Honest Opinion People breed for various reasons breeding for this reason is not a good reason. It is best never to encourage breeding just for this reason alone.

This is in response to mattdog reply not saying you are going to do that. (no offense mattdog again this is my opinion)

 

Our avian vet said this is very common in budgies and cockatiels and one of the reasons I decided the boy route for a pet budgie. The honest reply is that you may never get her to stop laying once they do it can be a chronic issue but there are ways you can help the hen work through it to ensure if she is going to do this that you can keep her in optimal health during these stages.

 

I do have a friend that went through the injections and the bird did still lay eggs so it may work with some it may not work in all budgies.

 

I would document this and see if she has a pattern like every so many months this starts to happen or maybe this will be a 1x thing. If you do this you may find the triggers.

 

Triggers: longer daylight hours, running water (such as a fish tank or washing machine by her cage), did it rain outside that day, toys that she is getting obessed over, places she can lay, shredding toys in her cage etc.... I am sure there are more.

 

Provide her with: limited daylight hours it will take a couple weeks to throw her off the cycle - meaning keep her covered for 12-14 hrs, and then on a normal basis at least 10-12 hrs, you can tell when they get really flirty with either you or the toys that you should do this even before she starts the laying process, provide her with a lot of cuttlebones, there are Calcium Supplements (you can read about good ones in the breeding section), make sure she is getting a variety of food from seed to fruits to veggies (we have a Food and Nutrition Section in the FAQ's where you can get ideas on how to get her to eat different foods).

No offence taken. I only let her breed for that time because i had other tiel's who were breeding at the time also... under different circumstance's it would have been a different outcome.

Well, she laid one more egg, so it is 4 in total, in the cage she's got 2 now. Only today she started to be interested in them and is warming them up, silly girl She is still puffed up, so I guess there is another one coming We've moved around all toys and perch and made the food to be little less available, so we will see... We are also going on holiday and she will have my sister around once a day or two, so maybe such change will help as well :/

We've got two more eggs, the last one only couple of hours ago, there was quite a lot of blood on it, even though those eggs are getting smaller I'd say. The first one was probably nearly twice as big as this last one. I removed newspaper on the bottom of the cage so it would be uncomfortable for her to sit there on those eggs, she doesn't mind so far but maybe it will help a bit. I will change the layout of the cage once again tomorrow morning and then I will see her again in 8 days, not much I can do I guess :/

Not much more you can do just let her finish her egg laying and get tired of them, but keep her covered etc...and the advice above to help her throw her out of her cycle.

So, soon after we left for holiday, she laid her last egg and stopped. Now we need to feed her up, she looks like she lost lots of weight and she is not as strong as before (while biting I mean ) Thank everyone for help, hopefully she'll survive it.

Great news... Give her hard boiled eggs, with the shell, all mixed up fine with veggies. You can also get soft food mixes for breeding birds... that will give her some nutrients. Also, make sure she's getting her calcium levels back up. Please keep us updated.