Expert: Chrys Meatyard - 11/14/2006

Question
Hi again, thanks for your replies, no eggs as yet, her behaviour has become worse, she refuses to come to me at all now,she does come out of cage on her own, but will not interact with me at all. if she is about to lay egg, how long does the period last? do i ignore her?, attempt to interact with her? leave cage door shut? shall i remove the nestbox, as i'm confused, as your first reply ..you told me to do this, but your second reply was to let her lay them? If she is about to lay, does this make them unconfident to fly as she moves her her cage with her beak on railings, she no longer flies from perch to perch. Kind regards again

Answer
Hi again, Donna.  I'm sorry if I've confused you.

Your first contact with me was last Thursday, 9 Nov.  It's only been 5 days.  It's still possible she could be about to lay eggs.  It could take up to 2 weeks before you see an egg.  Then again, you might not see any eggs.  This is why I suggested removing the nesting box.  She can still lay eggs on the cage bottom if the nesting box is removed.  Since these eggs will be infertile (no male bird present), there's no need to keep a nesting box up.  A nesting box only encourages egg laying, and I don't think you want this.  If she lays eggs with or without a nesting box up, leave the eggs where they are laid until she abandons them on her own (leave them either in the nesting box if this is where she lays them or on the cage bottom if the nesting box is removed).  Birds do not need a nesting box unless you intend to breed them, i.e., they don't need a nesting box to sleep in.

Your lovebird is exhibiting normal behavior for a female lovebird about ready to lay eggs.  I'm not saying for sure she will lay any eggs, but the behavior you describe is typical of a female lovebird about to lay.  And since she used to be a friendly bird if I recall correctly from the information you've previously provided, and there are no other apparent reasons for her behavior change, I'm assuming this is what is going on.  You can only wait this period of time out.  There can be other reasons for this change in behavior, such as an incident happening between you and her where she no longer trusts you, a drastic change in the family or home situation, etc., etc.  However, based on my experience with lovebirds and breeding parrents in general over 17+ years, the behavior your lovie is exhibiting is typical of one about to lay eggs.  

You don't have to ignore your bird.  Just be aware that during this period of time, she may not want to have anything to do with you.  If she does interact with you, great.  If she doesn't, you know the reason why.  You don't have to leave the cage door shut unless your lovie is attacking you or something.  I had a female lovebird once on eggs who flew clear across the room just to attack me when I was feeding my parrots.  I had left the cage door open (she was in the nesting box on eggs) to go to the other side of the room to get some pellets and this lovie landed on my chest and started biting the crap out of me!  She didn't appreciate me intruding inside her cage where her eggs were (filling the pellet dish).  Her mate just sat there on a perch!

If your lovie is preparing to lay, she may not fly as much as she used to.  However, this behavior can be related to other things, such as perches not being secure, toenails too long, lack of confidence if she recently fell off a perch, being overweight is a possibility (too heavy to fly well), etc.       

Chrys