hey so i own three parakeets and two are a known breeding pair. my one female just laid two eggs. she has laid one or two before, but has shown no interest. These she is sitting on. Does that mean theyre fertile, and will there be more? Also, im not so sure im up for having more parakeets. Would it stress her to remove the eggs? Also, she has no nest box or nest material but has been laying in a certain corner of her cage. she has plenty of calcium but (1/2)
(2/2) “is always fluffed up and is having trouble passing droppings. Please help, i want what’s best for my baby”
Hi! Egg-laying is always stressful, both for the hen and her owner! Unfortunately, once it starts, you do have to let it take its course, as it’s difficult to stop once it’s in progress.
Her sitting on the eggs doesn’t necessarily mean that they’re fertile, but it’s definitely a possibility. There will probably be more, as two eggs is a pretty small clutch. Please don’t remove the eggs unless you have fake ones to replace them with–budgie (parakeet) hens are what are known as “indeterminate layers”, which means that if you take their eggs, they will continue to lay until they have a full clutch, which can deplete their vitamin and mineral stores and be very bad for their health. If you’re concerned that these are fertile and aren’t ready for more birds, there are a few things you can do:
Get some fake eggs. I bought mine at Bird Supply of New Hampshire. I bought about a dozen, just in case, so if one of my hens lays a HUGE clutch (my tiel hen laid NINE last spring) I’ll still have enough fake eggs to replace the real ones. If you go this route, just swap out the real eggs for the fake ones and throw the real ones away.
Shake the eggs really hard. This “scrambles” the embryo in its shell and stops it from developing into a chick. Give the eggs back to your budgie to sit on.
Put the eggs in the freezer for a few hours. The cold will kill the developing embryo. Once you take them out, give them back to your budgie to sit on.
Your hen will continue to sit on her eggs until she figures out for herself that they aren’t going to hatch and loses interest in them. This is fine–just let her. Some difficulty passing droppings is normal for a hen with an egg, as the droppings have to bypass the egg to get out, but she should still be producing them. Keep an eye on her for
muscle weakness or “drooping” of a leg or wing
inability to pass droppings
eggs that are dented, soft-shelled, or incompletely formed
abnormal discharge from the cloaca
abnormal appearance of the cloaca
as these things can indicate a serious complication (egg-binding, prolapse, calcium deficiency, etc.) and will require immediate veterinary assistance.
Laying hens do tend to be fluffed because they’re trying to keep their eggs warm, and they spend a lot of time sleeping and not being very active. What kind of calcium are you providing her with? If it’s a mineral block or cuttlebone, make sure she’s using it–often hens will self-regulate their calcium intake, but not always. I like to keep a bottle of avian liquid calcium on hand to use to supplement my hens’ food if they start seeming like they’re going to lay; not only does it help increase their calcium intake, it can also be helpful in cases of egg binding caused by calcium deficiency. I would keep an eye on her and if she starts seeming sicker or you see any of the symptoms I listed above, take her to a vet.
In the future, there are some things you can try to decrease the chances that your hen will lay (although these certainly aren’t foolproof–”life finds a way”, for sure!):
Rearrange the toys and perches in the cage once a week. This will make your birds think that the environment isn’t stable enough for breeding purposes.
Move the whole cage to a different room or a different area in the same room, or rearrange the furniture in the room.
Make sure your birds get 12-14 hours of darkness a night to mimic longer winter nights. They don’t have to sleep, just be in the dark.
Decrease the availability of warm, wet foods.
If there’s a spot your hen likes to nest (and it sounds like there is), hang a toy in it or otherwise block access to it so she doesn’t get “ideas”. It can also help to try to increase the amount of light that part of the cage gets–in the wild, budgies nest in hollow trees, so any small, dark, relatively enclosed area looks like a great place to start a family to them.
I hope this helps! I know it’s stressful when your hen is doing something not only potentially medically dangerous, but something that makes her seem not like her usual self–I missed my tiel a lot when she was busy with her eggs. Keep an eye on her and please feel free to ask me any more questions if you have more concerns! Good luck!
