Expert: Chrys Meatyard - 9/2/2007

Question
My lovebird is about a year old and she laid an egg for the first time yesterday. Obviously there is nothing inside the egg and it wont hatch, but what should i do about it?
I've started feeding her an egg food which im told will help keep her calcium levels up. Is there anything else i should give her?
She doesn't have a nesting box but she does have a piece of fleece that she loves to cuddle up to and hide behind, should i remove this? she laid the egg on the floor and covered it with shredded paper. She's guarded it but I've not seen her sit on it. How long should i leave it in the cage until i remove it?

And i know i cant stop her from laying more eggs in the future but what should i do if this happens again?

Thanks!

Answer
Hi, Laura,

Just leave this egg and any others she might lay right where she lays them and let her abandon them in her own time.  Then you can remove and destroy the eggs.  If you remove them as they are laid, she'll just keep laying and laying and laying.  You don't need to add a nesting box.  The fleece she likes is likely acting like a nesting site, but if she likes this too much, removing it can be stressful for her.  If she's not paying much attention to it right now, now would be a good time to remove it (if she's paying more attention to the egg).  

Egg food is good, but provide a cuttlebone.  Cuttlebone supplies supplemental calcium.  To help discourage egg laying, keep her light source to 8-10 hours per day.  Try to get the fleece out of the cage and replace it with something else, but I know this might be difficult if she stresses too much.  If she starts laying too much, an avian vet can give her a hormone injection to stop her laying for about 9 months.  She may lay again, and you'd do the same thing as above (let her lay and abandon them before you remove them).  You can also remove any eggs laid and replace them with dummy eggs.

Chrys