Q. How do I get my parakeet to stop laying eggs? She's laid 9 since January! There's no boy bird around and we don't plan on getting one.
A. Thank goodness you have the sense to stop this behaviour, rather than encourage it and put a mate in! So many people lack this sort of sense, I've noticed. If she lays over and over and over and over, she'll become a chronic layer, which is very dangerous and may very well take her life one day. Chronic layers tend to lay huge clutches (3-5 eggs is a normal clutch) on a consistent basis.
Anyway, there are some mating factors you need to consider. She's laying because she thinks it's spring/summer, and that's a great mating season. To make it seem like winter/fall, when she wouldn't want to mate:
1) Cover her cage or give her at least 12 hours of darkness and silence a day. If she keeps laying, cover her longer. Sometimes it takes going to the extreme of covering her for 20 to 22 hours a day, but daylight is a big factor. Long daylight hours symbolize warm weather, so long night time hours symbolize poor, cold weather.
2) Monitor her food intake. All birds are different, but you should be able to get a gist of how much she needs to eat per day and feed her accordingly. I'm not sure about budgies, but my lovebirds (a bit bigger than budgies) eat about 1.5 spoons of food per day, so that's all I free-feed them. I'm not starving them because I know that's all they'll eat, and I'll refill their food the very next day.
3) Don't pet her anywhere stimulating. That would be everywhere but the head. If something is stimulating her, especially on the back, wings, tail, under the wings, and belly, she feels as if a mate is initiating the mating process.
4) Keep her occupied and adapt her to change. Change her cage around at least once a week, so that every single perch and every single toy is replaced by another and moved in a different position. She'll keep busy with all the new things, she'll feel mentally challenged by it, and she'll know that babies won't survive in an environment that's constantly changing. You may even want to move her entire cage to another part of the room, or a separate room.
5) Don't allow her nests. If she has any nooks and crannies she burrows into to lay in, remove them. Don't give her any nesting materials. If she shreds the paper on the bottom of her cage and piles it, put something between her and the paper. A grate is very convenient in these times. It's another thing to clean, but I had a lovebird who was determined to nest. I put the grate in for maybe 3 to 5 weeks and she lost interest in shredding nesting material.
Do NOT remove her eggs. They're infertile anyway, so there's no worry of them hatching. Leave them with her for the duration of incubation (21 to 30 days since the last egg was laid) and when she realizes for herself that they aren't hatching, she'll leave them of her own accord. By constantly removing her eggs, you're sending her the message that predators are taking them. Her instincts tell her that in order to further the species effectively, she has to lay more and more to replace those eggs, so she'll do so!
Make sure she's on a good, balanced diet. I suggest pellets, seed, and fresh foods. Pellets are a good alternative if you can't feed a large variety of fresh foods during the day. Harrison's, Roudybush, and Zupreem (without natural colours) are great brands. A nice pelleted diet for a budgie would be 10% seeds, 10% fresh fruits, vegetables, and grains but NO avocado, chocolate, tomato leaves, mushrooms, onions, apple seeds, other fruit pits and seeds, salty, sugary, greasy, caffeinated, or carbonated items, and 80% pellet. Fresh foods that would be great for her right now would be foods that are high in calcium (egg shells require a LOT of calcium that takes away from the hen). Dark, leafy greens are very popular, such as kale, spinach, romaine lettuce, bok choy, broccoli, etc. You should also provide some high quality mineral blocks that she can pick at in case she feels she needs in. Manu blocks are wonderful; they're very natural and highly nutritious, and many people will also suggest cuttlefish bone. Be careful of the solid backing, as birds may be able to choke on it.
Good luck.
Anyway, there are some mating factors you need to consider. She's laying because she thinks it's spring/summer, and that's a great mating season. To make it seem like winter/fall, when she wouldn't want to mate:
1) Cover her cage or give her at least 12 hours of darkness and silence a day. If she keeps laying, cover her longer. Sometimes it takes going to the extreme of covering her for 20 to 22 hours a day, but daylight is a big factor. Long daylight hours symbolize warm weather, so long night time hours symbolize poor, cold weather.
2) Monitor her food intake. All birds are different, but you should be able to get a gist of how much she needs to eat per day and feed her accordingly. I'm not sure about budgies, but my lovebirds (a bit bigger than budgies) eat about 1.5 spoons of food per day, so that's all I free-feed them. I'm not starving them because I know that's all they'll eat, and I'll refill their food the very next day.
3) Don't pet her anywhere stimulating. That would be everywhere but the head. If something is stimulating her, especially on the back, wings, tail, under the wings, and belly, she feels as if a mate is initiating the mating process.
4) Keep her occupied and adapt her to change. Change her cage around at least once a week, so that every single perch and every single toy is replaced by another and moved in a different position. She'll keep busy with all the new things, she'll feel mentally challenged by it, and she'll know that babies won't survive in an environment that's constantly changing. You may even want to move her entire cage to another part of the room, or a separate room.
5) Don't allow her nests. If she has any nooks and crannies she burrows into to lay in, remove them. Don't give her any nesting materials. If she shreds the paper on the bottom of her cage and piles it, put something between her and the paper. A grate is very convenient in these times. It's another thing to clean, but I had a lovebird who was determined to nest. I put the grate in for maybe 3 to 5 weeks and she lost interest in shredding nesting material.
Do NOT remove her eggs. They're infertile anyway, so there's no worry of them hatching. Leave them with her for the duration of incubation (21 to 30 days since the last egg was laid) and when she realizes for herself that they aren't hatching, she'll leave them of her own accord. By constantly removing her eggs, you're sending her the message that predators are taking them. Her instincts tell her that in order to further the species effectively, she has to lay more and more to replace those eggs, so she'll do so!
Make sure she's on a good, balanced diet. I suggest pellets, seed, and fresh foods. Pellets are a good alternative if you can't feed a large variety of fresh foods during the day. Harrison's, Roudybush, and Zupreem (without natural colours) are great brands. A nice pelleted diet for a budgie would be 10% seeds, 10% fresh fruits, vegetables, and grains but NO avocado, chocolate, tomato leaves, mushrooms, onions, apple seeds, other fruit pits and seeds, salty, sugary, greasy, caffeinated, or carbonated items, and 80% pellet. Fresh foods that would be great for her right now would be foods that are high in calcium (egg shells require a LOT of calcium that takes away from the hen). Dark, leafy greens are very popular, such as kale, spinach, romaine lettuce, bok choy, broccoli, etc. You should also provide some high quality mineral blocks that she can pick at in case she feels she needs in. Manu blocks are wonderful; they're very natural and highly nutritious, and many people will also suggest cuttlefish bone. Be careful of the solid backing, as birds may be able to choke on it.
Good luck.
How do you feel about apple inc stocks today?
Q. How do you feel about apple inc stocks today
A. Consider the mechanics of their business and how long it takes to go from Idea to Product..( Cutting Edge Creative Products)...And Jobs was probably working on these products till the day he retired,..I bet he was working from home.
I think it' insulting to write them off so quickly..
There was Apple Television with Integrated Computer and Apple Software,..In the works(something on that line)...
Which once more simplifies the experience so everyone is included in the experience..Grand Maw can Communicate with the gran babies at college, etc, In another State...Video Phone Calls on a Television size (monitor)screen...Or E-mail
I think it' insulting to write them off so quickly..
There was Apple Television with Integrated Computer and Apple Software,..In the works(something on that line)...
Which once more simplifies the experience so everyone is included in the experience..Grand Maw can Communicate with the gran babies at college, etc, In another State...Video Phone Calls on a Television size (monitor)screen...Or E-mail
What is your guinea pig's daily diet other than pellets?
Q. I've seen the sites that outline what vegetables/fruits are good or bad and why...but do people actually feed them that much of a variety and monitor it that carefully? What is your GP's daily fresh food intake, and how many carrots per day are actually okay (some sites say 1-2 per day baby carrots)?
A. My Piggies have free access to hay, (timothy,) at all times. This is very important for Guinea Pigs, as they are "constant eaters", so if they don't have free hay, they'll eat pellets etc. which leads to fat Pigs.
So, along with their pellets and hay, I give them daily dark leafy greens, about 1/4 of a carrot, and some sort of super vitamin rich food, usually a handful of Dandy Lion greens, or 1/4 of an orange. I also alternate other fresh foods like apples, parsley, peppers, kiwis, and various root vegetables for their mid-day snacks.
I don't monitor their fresh food intake that carefully, but besides grass when they're outside in the summer, I don't overdo anything either.
Seems to work well for them, they're all very healthy!
EDIT:
Guinea Pigs are lactose intolerant, and so should never be given any form of dairy, including as suggested by one answerer, cheese.
So, along with their pellets and hay, I give them daily dark leafy greens, about 1/4 of a carrot, and some sort of super vitamin rich food, usually a handful of Dandy Lion greens, or 1/4 of an orange. I also alternate other fresh foods like apples, parsley, peppers, kiwis, and various root vegetables for their mid-day snacks.
I don't monitor their fresh food intake that carefully, but besides grass when they're outside in the summer, I don't overdo anything either.
Seems to work well for them, they're all very healthy!
EDIT:
Guinea Pigs are lactose intolerant, and so should never be given any form of dairy, including as suggested by one answerer, cheese.
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Title Post: How do I get my parakeet to stop laying eggs?
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Rating: 96% based on 987 ratings. 4,3 user reviews.
Author: Unknown
Thanks For Coming To My Blog
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