building a nest

[sdgilley]

I gave Peepo a pinata to play with, and she's spent days tearing it apart quite happily. Today I noticed her carrying a load of shreddings tucked in her rump feathers to her food dish (she's always loved to sit inside it). She is building a nest inside her food dish. It's a round stainless steel cup that fits into a holder.

I don't want to encourage her to build a nest, as she'll be laying eggs in there if I do. Should I remove all the pinata or will I traumatize her at this point? So far, she doesn't feel bulgy - but I have no experience with hens, only what I've read here. I feel like a total goof.

Thanks for any advice!

ADDED: I took her pinata out and gave her some fresh food while I played with her. I also put a wooden toy in place of the pinata for her to play with instead. I hope this helps discourage egg laying. :roll:

[LauraO]

I would pull out the pinata and move the food dish and maybe even change the food dish. I would not give Peepo another pinata for a while or ever. It is probably too early to traumatize her. I always move perches, huts, papers or whatever the minute I see anything that may lead to egg laying. The lovies don't seem to mind and it keeps them from laying.

[sdgilley]

Thanks Laura,
I moved some things around and took away the pinata. She was so intent on playing with me, she didn't seem to mind. Luckily it isn't something she's used to having, it was a treat.

I think you're right about moving the food dish. It's in a back corner and probably is attractive to sit in due to it's location.

[BarbieH]

I agree with Laura. Removing nesting materials this early won't traumatize a bird ... frustrate some, yes. Traumatize, no.

When Peepo's nesting really kicks in, she will start demolishing the wooden toy. If you take that away, she will make a nest out of seed hulls. At that point her little eggie train will have left the station. :)

[bellarains]

Suzanne,

When Lacey starts trying to nest in the food dish, I swap it out for a water dish, and relocate the food dish. Kinda the same thing, but it seems that putting the water where her might have been nest really puts her off a bit. Maybe it the wet butt???? :lol

[LoveBugs]

HAHAHAH PP tries to build a nest in the armpit of my build-a-bear! :eek:

She carried twigs from her millet, flax seeds and canary grass and formed it into a pathetic nest! lol. It was cute...Unfortunately I ended up taking away her bear. :rofl:

[Janie]

Suzanne, I sure don't have a drop of advice to offer but I'm sitting here reading.....smiling! :D We'll all be here, right by your side, as Peepo goes through all her stages. I read all of this "hen" stuff in total amazement! :)

[sdgilley]

At that point her little eggie train will have left the station. :lol :omg:

Thanks for the advice. She's been shredding sunflower seeds and mushing her feather butt down in her dish for a while. It wasn't until I saw what a nice job she was doing lining the seed cup with pinata strippin's that I realized I needed to do something to distract her from her mission.

Lori, I'll try the food/water swap! :) I keep her dishes on the side of her cage that I push over to the boys' cage during the day, so they can eat together. If move around the rest of her stuff, hopefully I can slow things down before her "train" leaves the station! :rofl: I guess it is inevitable, but I'd like to put it off as much as possible. I did feel a little pang of guilt when I dumped her "nest" and replaced it with fresh seeds.

Janie, I wouldn't have a drop of advice either, but I guess I'm gonna learn now! :lol I'm already filling my head with new questions (and there is a lot of room in there).

[shylevon]

I don't give my hens any chewables 'in' the cage. They can chew out of the cage during play time, and you just know they are gonna tuck tuck the chewin's and take them back to build a nest. As soon as play time is over, Mean Momma takes away all the tuckings that they have carried back to the cage. So far, it has worked pretty good at preventing eggies, but I know it won't work forever.

I would just offer the pinata during out of cage play time.

[BarbieH]

Suzanne, as a last-ditch effort you can rearrange the cage and put it in another room, a place where she might not feel as safe. Not that you should put her in an unsafe place, but a location that *she* would perceive as unsafe (i.e., no walls right near the cage, no corner placement).

Good luck! :D

[sdgilley]

Thanks all, she's stopped worrying about nesting for now. I swapped her food & water dish and made some changes in her cage (no pinata in there, just hanging wooden toys). Peepo didn't seem to mind, I gave her extra attention (on top of all she gets already! :lol ) and she likes to be the star.

[shylevon]

Not that you should put her in an unsafe place, but a location that *she* would perceive as unsafe.

Or, you could stuff a big lovie eating snake in the pinata. That'll scare her out of laying eggs, or even making a nest, for quite some time to come.

[Sparkette65]

Dont they all!!?? (like to be a STAR that is....) :rofl: :rofl:

good luck keeping her distracted!
Lori

[sdgilley]

Or, you could stuff a big lovie eating snake in the pinata. That'll scare her out of laying eggs, or even making a nest, for quite some time to come.

I have a feeling she'd just eat the snake. After all, it is ALL about HER! :lol

[Buy A Paper Doll]

When Peepo's nesting really kicks in, she will start demolishing the wooden toy.

Aw, h***. After Mel killed both of her pinatas, she turned one of her wood toys to little tiny splinters. Age = 8 months. Isn't she WAY too young for this kind of thing? She has no clue what she's doing - she can't shred and tuck to save her life, and if she puts the dead pinata pieces anywhere it's the water dish, not the food dish. I don't let her have a cozy cave during the day - and besides my crazy little birds sleep on TOP of their cozy, not in it.

Someone PLEASE tell me this is just your standard lovebird shredding activity and not any kind of egg-related activity. She's only 8 months old. I can't take her toys away from her!

[LauraO]

As hard as I tried to stop her CuddleBunny successfully laid five eggs, four fertile, at 9 months. She was WAY WAY TOOOOOO YOUNG and I sweated through the whole things, hoping she wouldn't get eggbound. I fostered the eggs out to Babygirl because Cuddles was way to immature to even associate tucking and shredding with nest building and I didn't even want to think about the disaster that could happen if she had live mouths to feed.

[sdgilley]

well, I think different hens start at different times. Peepo can shred and tuck the prettiest, longest shreds and made in just a few minutes a very pretty nest in her dish. BUT she was easily distracted with extra LOVE from me, moving around stuff and such. That doesn't mean it will stick. She's 12 months old! 8 months is young, but not too young for that behavior.

Jennifer, I'd take Shy's advice if I were you and leave the pinata's outside of her cage. Wooden toys inside, well, that's not as encouraging for nesting. You can't take away all their fun, especially if they aren't out as much as inside. Peepo gets some good time out, usually inside my shirt or on my shoulder. She does get about 30 min a day socializing with Luka (and Peter when he's in the mood - NOT often). Like Lori suggested, I moved the water and food dishes since Peepo was partial to sitting inside her seed cup. That's worked so far .

I guess the trick is knowing (I'm hoping to learn this) when it's inevitable and when I'm pushing the lovie envelope! :lol

[Jezz]

The nesting behaviour starts quite young. One of the babies i bred was only 5 months old when she started to build a nest :eek: She wasn't shredding or tucking though :rofl: she hadn't worked it out yet

[BarbieH]

I guess the trick is knowing (I'm hoping to learn this) when it's inevitable and when I'm pushing the lovie envelope!
You'll know it's inevitable when:

... Your hen starts shredding the cage liner and her poops turn gray from it.
... When you take her out, your hen starts shredding your clothes and anything else she can get her beak on, to the exclusion of all other play.
... You see her trying to tuck birdie bread into her rump.
... She spends a lot of time in a lower corner of the cage and she's not sick.
... You wake up one morning and your hen proudly shows you her egg. :eek:

[Janie]

Barb.....:rofl:

[sdgilley]

Thanks Barb! :omg:

The lower corner of the cage is the one thing that would bother me (like she'll care!). My birds don't spend anytime on the bottom of the cage, except when Peepo occassionally finds a lining paper she can grab through the grate. One morning I found Peter sitting on the bottom (when I first got him) and it freaked me out because I was afraid he was sick. It turns out he fell off the wooden perch. Two years later, he's got a happy hut and all sorts of perches - and hasn't fallen since.

Peepo tries to shred anything in my hands (but not my clothes yet), and she hasn't tucked bird bread, just green leafy veggies. :rofl: I guess if she's not going to have a mate to feed her on the nest, she ought to pack a lunch!

[mangotiki]

Pop starting defending the bottom corner of her cage like a psycho maniac. Under the grate I noticed a bunch of chewed up wood....she was chewing up the sides to the wood playyard when out side of the cage and carrying it back. Keeping her in the cage did not solve the problem, she started plucking feathers.

So I did the cage swap, the other pairs settled down nicely while Pop and Mango did the swishy. Then the torpedo butt, then my surrender and in went the box...and out came the egg. 5 of them actually, and still a fluffed up hen with torpedo butt, I am wondering if another egg is on the way. Looks like they are not fertile though. I am going to have to try separating those two to see if htat works...

Traci

[LoveBugs]

Ahhh!!! I just thought chewing wood into toothpick was something they did for fun! I never associated it with nesting!

No wonder why my little fluff ball went into a mode that for a few weeks made into splinters anything that was wood, then went from just plain chewing it to dunking it in water, and from making spit ball from paper to little strips!!!

Good thing I was being annoyed at her for constantly being mean to everyone so I tried to distract her meanness by redoing her familiar zones daily! I may have just distracted her from going into full nesting mode!!!

My little baby is growing up!!! She's about 8 months now! (sniff sniff)

I love reading everyone's questions and post... I get to learn indirectly from others!!!

:happy:

[sdgilley]

Taylor,

:)
I love reading everyone's questions and post... I get to learn indirectly from others!! :)

we all do! I've learned much by reading other's posts on things I never thought of before!

[Sparkette65]

Traci,
dont count totally on the eggs not being fertile,,,,Mysti's eggs took at least the full 10 days to show fertile signs,,,and then I thought they started to develop and then stopped as there was the blood ring with the red spot in the middle,,,,pictures on line show this as the egg going cold and the fertile egg being dead....well...low and behold, I could see a heart beat a couple of days later, and now I can see three babies moving around in the eggs, she laid her last egg, #4 on the 3rd of aug...and I am not ruleing it out as being infertile, as it is only 6 days old...and it seems to take a longer time for her eggs to show fertile, Tikibirds eggs showed fertile on day 5!
Good luck with your flock
Lori