when should i start expecting an egg?

[bookworm0550]

since evie's hormones are kicking in and all, when do females usually lay their first egg? should I be expecting it soon or no? and when it's time, how will I know? And what can I do to make it comfortable for her? I thought about these questions, but didn't think i'd be asking for another few months.

Do I just let her do her gather her nesting materials or do i not even supply them for her? I'm not talking about breeding her, i'm just talking about when she does lay an egg, I'm sure her Hen Mode will come on and she'll want to nest and so forth. i know some people don't allow their hens paper or huts but should i? I don't want her to become a nesty hen, but I also know that she's gonna lay an egg some time in her life. i just want to be prepared for that day.

i don't want to come home and she's starving cuz she made a nest out of her food bowl or something.

[Blossomfrost]

honestly... i don't know. my only experience was with my lovie, but she made no nest whatsoever. I just came home and there was an egg. This was in March, and she is almost 2. I'm sorry I cant help with anything else, my birdie must just be a weirdie..

[mangotiki]

i don't want to come home and she's starving cuz she made a nest out of her food bowl or something.

:rofl::rofl:
yep, mine shredded wooden perches...never was successful in holding her off too long, but you can try the following:
moving the cage
limiting sunlight hours
redecorating the cage (moving the toys around)
putting the cage on the floor...if safe...
no happy huts, houses or shreddables...

one of my hens just was going to lay anyways. in spite of all of the above, she started hanging out on the floor of the cage, backing up into a corner, chewing everything in site...and then came the torpedo butt. i caved, put in a nest box and let her lay and sit. i was glad i did because i had another pair with fertile eggs at the same time and I ended up needing a foster mom...

other hens might lay an egg or two but with nowhere to sit, will abandon it. if you don't want eggs, try to discourage it; but once you have torpedo butt, may as well make her comfy. thats my :2cents:

[dieflying]

this is a good question. i've been wondering that myself, because if the bird is going to lay an egg whether you want her to or not, wouldn't it make sense to give her somewhere to put the egg so that it doesn't get damaged, resulting in more egg laying?

[Flapjack]

Jack's first clutch was within a couple of days of her 1st birthday. She laid them in her coconut hut, lol.

Everybirdy's different. I read here about someone who was sure she had a male, since she'd had her bird for 7 yrs with no eggs.

I think you're right to ask now, though, considering your recent post about Pan & Evie mjating.

If she does lay, are you going to let any babies hatch? Something to consider ahead of time (your schedule, possible need to handfeed, will you have homes for them, etc.)

If you are going to let her have babies, and she begins to "show" you could get her a nestbox. Otherwise, you may be able to disrupt her now by using some of the ideas posted by Mangotiki.

I don't know how old Evie is, but if it were me (If I had any idea Jack was going to lay at a year old), I'd do everything I could to disuade egg laying for as long as I possibly could. It can be pretty hard on them, and since I'm not going to breed Jack, I'd rather not put her body through it, or have to worry about egg binding.

When it becomes obvious there is an egg, lots of folks go ahead and let them shred paper and make a nest in the corner or in a kleenex box, just so they're comfy and don't lay egg after egg that break on the bottom of the cage.

Good luck with your little girl. By the way- she sure is a cutie!

[bookworm0550]

yeah, i want to put off the egg laying for as long as i can. i just didn't know what to do when the time comes. I think when there is no doubt that she's gonna lay, I'm just gonna let her do her thing (shred, make a nest, etc...) and I'll help her be comfy (cuz laying eggs can not be fun). I haven't figured out what i'm gonna do or how i'm gonna do it, but I think I'll just treat it like she's really laying fertile eggs or something. I mean, I'm sure she'll still need the cuttlebone and good food. (but she's horrible w/ healthy eating unlike the other two. Joey and Pan will eat cuttlebone, but Evie won't touch it)

yeah, i think i read on here that someone's lovie didn't lay an egg until she was 7 or so as well. wow!!!! Talk about a late bloomer. We'll see how long Evie can go.

her and pan haven't been mating, but they've def been doing their mating rituals and mounting. I wanted them to like one another, but never expected this!!! He usually hops on top for like 2 seconds or so and then hops off. If there looks like there's gonna be action, I step in, but to be honest, i don't think they even know what they're doing.

And they're both too young to mate. She's not even a year old and pan's even younger than her (he's not even done w/ his first molt).

[mangotiki]

well, put it off as long as you can; then if she lays anyways, you might be best to put a nest box in for her...she can lay her clutch, sit until she gets sick of it, scatters the eggs and abandons the nest...then take the box away immediately!

here's the thing though; just because you have not seen any mating does not mean it didnt take place...i have a clutch right now from two birds that i didnt even know really liked each other :rofl:..but I decided that if the eggs were fertile, that i would let them hatch and take care of whatever problems arose (have had some experience in this regard). if yours lays, then you need to decide if you want to chance having them hatch...if not, boil or addle them and let her sit it out.

let us know if she starts showing that torpedo butt!!

[bookworm0550]

here's the thing though; just because you have not seen any mating does not mean it didnt take place...i have a clutch right now from two birds that i didnt even know really liked each other :rofl:..but I decided that if the eggs were fertile, that i would let them hatch and take care of whatever problems arose (have had some experience in this regard). if yours lays, then you need to decide if you want to chance having them hatch...if not, boil or addle them and let her sit it out.
!

really? :omg: yikes. thanks for the info. Pan was born in early november, so he's like 5 months. Wouldn't that be a little too young? I guess what i'm asking is: is that too young to be able to produce sperm? it's so weird in my human head to think that a creature could be feeling these adult feelings at 5 months. Though joey was like that at 5 months too. and I know birds are different from humans, but still I can't help but feel a little :confused:

[Mummieeva]

While it is rare it is possible for him to make babies. I would suggest doing moving cages and perches around if possible. Evie herself is a bit young to have babies quite yet. I wish you good luck and hope she holds off for you.



Steph

[momo]

I would assume when you see the egg bum... then the inevitable is going to happen. So would you then give her the nesting material?

I re-arrange elmos cage every week to stop the nesting behavior. Chase her away from when I can see she's wanting to climb into little holes/nest scouting.

[Mummieeva]

If they have torpedo booty I would give nesting materials then. By then it is to late to try stopping them.In Evie's case because you can not be sure if they mated. I would boil the eggs if you could not handle more birdies.


Steph

[LauraO]

If you do not want her to breed and lay eggs, it's good to try and stop her for as long as possible. Letting her just do her thing will result in immediate egg laying. I would not only move the contents of her cage around, but I would actually move her cage and all if possible. Even if you have a smaller cage, I would put her in it here and there and move her around the house for a day or two when she's in her cage. The goal is NOT to freak your lovie hen out, but to make her just uncomfortable enough to put off laying.

The thing with egg laying is it's hard to stop once it happens. If it does happen, you want to boil and return the eggs and make the incubating time a bit uncomfortable as well. Let your hen hatch out one egg and you have a bigger battle on your hands, and it's a losing battle at that. In fact, I WOULD NOT even let her have a nestbox. The more comfortable your hen is during the laying process the MORE she will lay. My hens refuse to stop laying and I've done everything. They now lay and incubate their eggs on the grate of their cage. This may seem mean, but the reality is egg laying is really not good for birds and too many things can happen to their health as a result (all it takes is one eggbound hen experience and you get SCARED). If you do let her lay on the grate just check for the eggs to make sure they don't break. I've had one hen who flew around for a few minutes with an egg stuck to her chest :whistle:.

Like I said, my hens REFUSE TO STOP laying and have been laying nonstop this whole year. I have tried everything. I give them nothing to shred, no houses, no boxes. So they have come to shred the wood on our house, their playgym, anythread or rope they can find, and even the plastic I put on the floor to protect the carpet.

One last thing: Dont' assume any eggs your hen lays are not fertile. Lovies are sneaky and if you have a male and female they will find a way to do the nasty even if you never see it:omg:. Believe me, I've learned this the hard way.

Good luck and just my :2cents:
:)

[mangotiki]

Let your hen hatch out one egg and you have a bigger battle on your hands, and it's a losing battle at that. In fact, I WOULD NOT even let her have a nestbox. The more comfortable your hen is during the laying process the MORE she will lay. My hens refuse to stop laying and I've done everything. They now lay and incubate their eggs on the grate of their cage.


Hey, was wondering...has the "uncomfortable" strategy actually worked for you? because it sounds like your hens are laying on the grate anyways:rofl::rofl:

also wonder if, the more birds you have, the more they want to lay? like some sort of hormonal airborne contagion? :rofl: used to be all my hens would want to lay at the same time, even though I was only encouraging one pair at a time; since i have downsized and discouraged ALL breeding, this is the first clutch in over two years (once I saw the torpedo butt I just gave in)...and I hadn't even seen any interest in nesting...

[LauraO]

Hey, was wondering...has the "uncomfortable" strategy actually worked for you? because it sounds like your hens are laying on the grate anyways:rofl::rofl:

also wonder if, the more birds you have, the more they want to lay? like some sort of hormonal airborne contagion? :rofl: used to be all my hens would want to lay at the same time, even though I was only encouraging one pair at a time; since i have downsized and discouraged ALL breeding, this is the first clutch in over two years (once I saw the torpedo butt I just gave in)...and I hadn't even seen any interest in nesting...

Too funy Traci and a bit true. The hens are still laying eggs but at a much lower rate. Fewer hens are laying and they only lay one or two before giving up instead of 5 to 7:omg:. You are RIGHT! Egg laying is like some contagious disease. One lays, they all want to lay:evil:. I just want it to stop......I gave the advice cause I figure if I would have known how to stop it all earlier I wouldn't have been in this position:whistle:.

[Flapjack]

Hey Traci,
You know, apparently it is true about more birds in the house can trigger nesting.

Jack's first clutch very closely followed the introduction of Chino after quarantine. Both the vet and a woman I know who runs a bird rescue said that very likely could have been the trigger.

The last clutch was just after Nokomis came into the picture.

I have often mentioned that my AV said Jack was born to lay, but the timing of these two sets of eggies may not be a coincidence.

[mangotiki]

The hens are still laying eggs but at a much lower rate. Fewer hens are laying and they only lay one or two before giving up instead of 5 to 7:omg

well certainly stopping after one or two is MUCH better than a whole clutch; thx for posting that bit of info...I will be sure to remember it!