Expert: Chrys Meatyard - 7/17/2008

Question
My parakeet Angel keeps laying eggs and then breaking them. I put in a nest, but she won't use it. The first egg she laid in the bath water. The rest on the bottom of the cage. What do I do?

Answer
Hi again, Lani,

The additional information you posted in your nice rating changes things some!  This female is most likely breaking her eggs because of the other female in the same cage.  She is likely breaking them because she fears her offspring will not be safe with the other female in the same cage.  I recommend removing the other female into her own cage. Keep the bonded pair together in the cage by themselves.  

Female keets can be very ruthless when it comes to their eggs, babies, nests, etc.  I have seen female keets actually kill another female who is sitting in her nest, who has eggs, and/or offspring (I've also seen the offspring killed) because of what I think is jealousy.  The odd female is jealous of the other female because she has a mate, etc.  I think if you remove the odd female, your pair would likely successfully raise offspring.

Chrys
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Hi, Lani,

I picked up your question from the question pool this morning.

Take out the nest.  Nests/nesting boxes encourage egg laying.  I'm assuming this bird is a single female laying infertile eggs?  When she lays eggs, no matter where she lays them (except in the bath water), leave them where she has laid them and allow her to abandon them on her own.  If you remove any eggs before she abandons them, she'll continue to lay and lay.  Reduce the amount of available light to 10-12 hours per day (or 8-10 if necessary to stop the egg laying).  In addition, a certified avian veterinarian can give her a hormone shot to stop her laying for about 9 months (length depends on the individual bird).  

Be sure this bird has a cuttlebone to replace any calcium needed.

Birds often break their eggs because they fear their eggs are in danger from something, have developed this activity from watching other birds who do the same (and this is a bad habit they develop), if there are other birds in the same cage, other animals in the home, too many disturbances, etc.

Chrys