Female love bird is in full laying mode...

[SLACkra]

Hello everybody. I'm the ocationally proud owner of Olive, my female love bird. Anyhow lately due to the time of the year (late winter/very early spring, well at least in australia) shes started shredding heaps of paper(no problem with his behavior what so ever) and doing her normal thing. She's gone a bit far this year and converted about 2/3 of the bottom of her cage into a nest! She also laid an egg yesturday, and if memory serves its her first. Anyhow shes become an incrediably territorial shut in. Her behavior had been improving drastically of late due to some changes in how i interact with her (mainly respecting her cage. It's hers and if she doesn't want to come out/want me to come in thats fine).

So how do I rectify this behavior? My main thought was to either just let her do her thing or to hook up my spare 3ft aquarium light (two 30 watt flouros) with a timer to give her a constant photoperiod. Would that possibly stop her from getting all nesty and anti-social once a year?

Regards,

Andrew

[linda040899]

Hi Andrew and welcome to our community!

Olive is in breeding mode and her hormones are definitely in control! There's absolutely nothing you can do to modify or change her current behavior. Even if she has no mate and the eggs she lays are infertile, she will guard them with her very life if necessary.

Patience and protect your body parts are about the best strategy right now. She will sit on her eggs for roughly 25 days after the last egg is laid and then she will realize that nothing is going to hatch so she will abandon them. At that time, clean out the cage, rearrange it and even possibly move it to a different location so she doesn't go right back to nest again. (I've seen this happen!) If you have an extra cage and can change cages, that might even be better!!

[SLACkra]

Thanks for the reply linda. Well I tryed putting her in our spare dog transport crate (tough plastic, metal bars ect, setup with some nice big branches. She can't get out and it's 1.5ish times as big as her current cage) and well she pretty much did as i expected. That is she basically got stressed and checked out possible ways to excape.

So the plan is leave her to lay how many other eggs she wants then after around 25 days move her to the other cage. Would moving her to the other cage now be risky to her health if she say has eggs developing inside her and no place to lay?

Also so thats a no go on the lighting idea to help prevent her from going into nesting mode in the future?

Regards,

Andrew

[linda040899]

Andrew,
A typical clutch of lovebird eggs can be anywhere from 4-8 and it will vary from bird to bird, as well as clutch to clutch. I expect 6-8 and am pleased if I get less. :)

As for lighting, I've always been told to limit the number of daylight hrs to less than 8-10 and that's supposed to help. Does it? Perhaps for a while. I've had the best luck with moving her cage around and rearranging it every couple of months. Even that will only be effective for just so long.

Lovebird hens are just like any other live creature and basic drive is to reproduce.

[personatus]

Dont let her shred anything in the future, that will help prevent it.

[linda040899]

Dont let her shred anything in the future, that will help prevent it.
When my lovie hens get right down to sheer desperation, perches are shredded and they even use seed hulls to construct nests!

[CompassionAk]

When my lovie hens get right down to sheer desperation, perches are shredded and they even use seed hulls to construct nests!
That's what Annie was doing with her seed,talk about determination!

[SLACkra]

Well just had a bit of a break through. Came home from shopping and found her in her sock(i hang old socks from the top of her cage, she loves sleeping in them). so opened up her cage and went to watch some tv (what i normally do to get her to come out... act completely indifferent about it). She flew over and landed on my shoulder then proceeded to climb down to my hand and demanded to be held/cuddled.

However possible motive for all this... so I would take her to my room. Pretty much as soon as I sit down and start writing this message shes straight over to my marine fish tank! Anybody know if its dangerious for her to be drinking saltwater? I regularly dose my marine fish tanks to keep the calcium and alkalinity up so i think maybe she's supplementing her diet... It sure does confuse the fish though.

Regards,

Andrew

[Enko_chan]

Don't let her drink from your aquarium. Aside from excess salinity, Bacteria, fungi, flora and other chemicals you don't want her to consume in there. All my birds know that going near the aquariums is a no-no. When they go someplace they shouldn't be, like the floor or the aquariums or their Dad's music equipment, they get picked up, gently told "no" and placed back where they're supposed to be. This doesn't work for some birds, but mine have always got the hint quite quickly. I also cover all my aquariums with a mesh that keeps the fish from jumping out, and the birds from going in. It costs very little here in the US at Home Depot. I'm sure you can find something similar.

The way your girl just seemed to "snap out of it"... That's how its always been with my hens, they will go into laying mode and then snap out of it and be back to their sweet selves, or however they were before becoming nesty. Though sometimes they'll be sweet for a day, come out and play, and go right back to the way they were. Denying them their favorite nesting materials, moving their cage, taking a short trip to get them out of their safe nesting environs may help before the nest is built and the eggs are being layed, but if they're anything like my hens, they will shred anything they can find. Even so-called unshreddable toys and perches.

If this is her first time laying, it may be possible she will stop before laying an entire clutch, am I right? This happened the first time our late hen Etta layed. She layed one, and abandoned it quickly.

[SLACkra]

Righto I'll keep her away from my aquarium. I was also worried about the excessive NaCl she would be taking up. Not sure there would be any dangerious chemicals in the tank. I use natural sea water and my ammonia, nitrite and nitrate levels are all at zero. I run a protien skimmer on the tank she drinks from and dose the tank with sucrose daily. Also she went back into laying mode a couple hours later and laid another egg last night.

I hope she doesn't lay a full clutch. I think in reallity this is entirely my fault she started shredding so I thought it was a good activity for her so provided her with nessesary materials instead of removing it.

She's also been leaving the eggs alone for quite some time whilst spending time in her sock. such that I was able to pick up one egg and examine it (it was cool) without her even noticing.

So just to clarify I basically have to wait for her to finish with this nesting buisness then clean it all out. I can't clean it all out now leaving the eggs in her cage and I can't move her to a different cage right now?

Regards,

andrew

[FuzzyAga]

People are warned not to drink seawater because it ruins their kidneys and they die. I'm not sure about the exact mechanism of failure but I'm happy to take the experts' word on it!

Could she be seeking calcium? I provide my Juanita with kale, broccoli, cuttlebone, and when she's in a heavy laying mood, calcium that I put in her water. I also give Juanita and her mate, Petey, two-to three-hours of sunlight a day, under partial shade so that they can move in-and-out of the sun, as needed. They can convert sunlight (actually UV-rays) to vitamin D.

...in her sock?! How unique and cute--PICS!! :rofl:

[Chickobee]

What Linda meant when she suggested moving your hen was to do it after she is finished with this laying cycle in order to prevent her (hopefully) from immediately laying a second clutch of eggs. Your hen may continue laying until she has what she considers to be a full clutch of eggs. Removing eggs can cause her to lay another one to replace it.

If she is allowed to keep her eggs and sit on them she will abandon them herself when she figures out the will not hatch or you can remove them at approximately 25 days. Then dispose of the nesting materials and remove the container she was sitting in.

A small cardboard box such as one of the little square kleenex boxes works well as a temporary nestbox and it can be thrown away when you are done with it.

If your hen has already stopped laying and is not sitting on her eggs (e.g.: she is ignoring them) you can remove them all now. Generally a hen will not begin to incubate her eggs until she has two or even three in the nest.

Rearranging everything in her cage, or even moving her to an entirely different cage, is one way to discourage nesting behavior. It does not always work, but sometimes it does.

When I am trying to discourage nesting I frequently rearrange everything in the cages and the move the cages around to new locations in the room.

[SLACkra]

Could she be seeking calcium? I provide my Juanita with kale, broccoli, cuttlebone, and when she's in a heavy laying mood, calcium that I put in her water.

what type of calcium do you add to her water? I'm assuming CaCl? I've offered Olive broccoli and various other vegtables that i've chopped up but she pretty much ignores it completely. Her diet is well i'm not going to sugar coat it appauling atm, consisting primarily of seed. No local stores/shops ect sell specialised parrot pellets that i know of. Would providing her with some layer chook pellets or chick pellets be of any help (high protien, good calcium content ect)?

From what I've been reading I've been a pretty bad owner in regards to diet. Currently my plan is to wait till shes finished nesting/laying then i'll start only providing her a small amount of seed per day with veggies in the hope of making her hungry enough to eat them.

Also I try to give her native flowers (wattle, eucalyptus, bottle brush, gravelia ect) to nibble at. Would that be providing her with just a toy or does it have a nutritional benifit as well?

I'll try to get a picture of her in her sock when i have time. It's really quite amusing when shes in it and you call her name it starts swinging from side to side as she runs up to the opening to see what's up!

Andrew

edited: did a bit of research and Calcium Chloride is FDA approved in human food and is often used as an electrolyte in sports drinks and the such. Apparently has quite a salty taste to it as well which i assume she'll love. Would the inclusion of a slight amount of magnesium sulphate (epson salts) be also wise? I know its fairly safe for birds as its an old fashion remedy to cure diarrhea in chooks apparently. Thinking of making up a weak solution of CaCl with a bit of MgSO4 and offering a small amount to her after i've had a taste ;).

[linda040899]

I use chicken laying pellets with my flock and they've done quite well on them. However, change in diet must be done slowly, as she probably doesn't recognize new food as edible. You can try sitting with her and actually eating some of what you want her to try. Lovebirds are social eaters and if she sees you eating different food, she will most likely want to try it, too! :lol

I, personally, don't add anything to water, as it can cause bacteria to grow there. Not only that, but how much benefit received is dependent on much water is consumed.

[SLACkra]

Thanks for the reply linda, I'll grab a couple kg of layer pellets tomorrow(its 9pm in aus atm). You also make some good points about adding supplements to the water, though CaCl shouldn't promote bacterial growth though i presume the sulphate could. FYI CaCl solution tastes horrible haha but i'm still alive :rofl:

[Chickobee]

Have you tried making Linda's birdie bread? It's in the recipe section and most birds really love it. That could be a great addition to add variety to your bird's diet.

You can get quite creative in adding finely chopped veggies, and bits of fruit & nuts to it. I've also finely grated a bit of cuttlebone into it for more calcium when the birds are breeding. (but don't add too much!)

I the birdie bread and then keep most of it in the freezer in little ziploc bags so I can take out what I need and keep the rest fresh.

[FuzzyAga]

This is the calcium I use. http://www.drsfostersmith.com/general.cfm?gid=718

I buy it from them because it's convenient for me. I don't use it all the time--only when she goes into the 2nd clutch and sometimes the 3rd clutch.

As for the native flowers, I don't know what they are that you've listed! If they're not in Southern California, I don't know what they are. Even if they are in SoCal, I don't know them--except the eucalyptus tree. I did give hibiscus flowers to Juanita because they are edible but she snubbed it. I've also given her the occasional willow branches which she chewed. Have you tried walnuts? Good calcium. Eat it in front of her and after a while, offer her a little piece of the nut meat.

I have eaten some of the pellets when I was introducing it to them, and I think it helps that the human eats it first and then offers it to the lovie, but please avoid feeding the part you bit into. All I can say is, be prepared to eat a lot of fresh, raw kale (or broccoli) in front of her (no making faces!) so that she realizes it's good food. That's what I did with Juanita. At a certain point, I offered her some; eventually, she ate it. It may also take a month or two, depending on how resistant the lovie is. Also, I've noticed that my lovies eat the greens the first thing in the morning and the last thing at night. That's something to keep in mind. Whatever it is you want her to eat, you eat it, too. It could be pretend eating, but you need to set the example.

OK, you've described a cute lovie wriggling about in her sock and popping out at the end! Where are the pics??

[SLACkra]

Well no pictures of her in her sock, but I found these while looking through my harddrive:

http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b56/SLACkra/IMG_0302.jpg
http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b56/SLACkra/IMG_0304-2.jpg
http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b56/SLACkra/IMG_0307.jpg
She then decided that I needed to be groomed :rofl: :
http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b56/SLACkra/IMG_0305-1.jpg

[SLACkra]

Sorry about the images!

Well i've got her on layer crumble now, which she is eating (she has no choice haha), sunflower seeds are now a treat only and i'm using them to train her. Shes still flying over to my larger marine tank but i'm instantly picking her up and saying no. I cleaned out her primary cage today as she has pretty much abandoned her two eggs and moved her into the dog kennel. She did a bit of shredding in the kennel but not the sortof mass next making shredding that shes been doing.

Thanks for all the help and advice guys!

Andrew

[FuzzyAga]

She's calmer now, is she? That's good news. As for your lovie drinking from the fish tank, maybe she would appreciate having more than one water source. Just a thought.

With my two, I have three sources of water for them. Obviously, there's one in their cage, but I also have an old aluminum 8"-cake pan on the top of the second cage, which they use to drink from and take baths in (!), and lastly, there's a small Pyrex cup of water on the kitchen counter. Needless to say, I change the water at least once-a-day; the bath "tub" sometimes two-times-a-day.

This is along the lines of making the search for water an experience similar to foraging for food. By now, they've got this space thoroughly memorized, but still, I think they like the various "watering holes" as they use all of them throughout the day.

I also keep six cuttlebones scattered on a small table near their cage, two of them on a corner of the kitchen counter (I don't use this area for food) and one in their cage. Again, Petey and Juanita visit each of the three sites daily and seem to enjoy eating them. I know they get their calcium.