Frequent egg laying

[Sara011]

Hello,

Let me first introduce our bird: Sara is a 4 year old lovebird without a partner. We got her when she was 6 months old from the owner who neglected her. She was pretty feisty and aggressive. She would eat nothing but seeds. We managed to tame her to a certain point but we never succeeded in changing her diet - we tried introducing fruits and vegetables and pellets many times very patiently but to no avail - she seemed to be ready to die of starvation but wouldn't take anything but seeds.

Our other problem is frequent egg laying behavior. Initially, she would lay one or two eggs every few months or so. Typically, she would sit on eggs only for a day or two and would quickly lose interest in it. We would then remove the eggs and everything will be back to normal. However, this egg laying behavior started to be more and more frequent in the last couple of years. We are now at the point where she lays 2-3 eggs every 5-6 weeks. Just last week she laid 4 eggs in 4 days! Unlike in the beginning, she is now very protective of her eggs and would sit on them for days.

We are concerned that this behavior will eventually have negative effects on her health. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks a lot,
Sasha

[Mummieeva]

Welcome to the board. Are you always letting her sit on them til she loses interest? If not removing them to soon can cause her to just keep laying. I would suggest moving her cage . Even just a few feet over if space is limited. Also moving things around inside her cage could help. Does she have a nest box or a happy hut? If so those need to be taken away also and only given to sleep(or if not given at all) at night then removed in the morning. Anything she can shred like papers and such should be taken too. They can trigger her to think of laying.

[Sara011]

Thanks for the suggestions. We are doing all we could think of to discourage her from laying eggs. There is no nest box or anything like that in her cage. There is no papers in her cage either but whenever she is out of the cage she searches for books or magazines she could shred. We keep hiding the books but this is not always possible.

We were wondering if getting her a partner would do any good to balance her hormones :)

[Mummieeva]

Getting her a mate might help. But it might also not do anything. Hen are hard to know what they will do. If you do end up getting another bird you will need to make sure it is male(I would make them put it is writing) and same age or older then her. You will need to quarintine the male for 30-90 days from her. Meaning another room and cage from her. Then slowly let them get to know each other after quarintine. I would try moving things around first to see how it goes before getting a second bird. Good luck.

[michael]

Thanks for the suggestions. We are doing all we could think of to discourage her from laying eggs. There is no nest box or anything like that in her cage. There is no papers in her cage either but whenever she is out of the cage she searches for books or magazines she could shred. We keep hiding the books but this is not always possible.

Also note, if your lovebird has an over abundance of food, especially that which is high in protein (such as with pellets), this could put her into breeding mode. .. What type of diet does your lovebird have? .. One other thing, is the amount of daylight hours. Less daylight, less chance of breeding. .. Its also possible your lovebird may have not finished laying her total clutch (lovies usually lay eggs every other day). Generally, a hen will not begin to sit/incubate her eggs until the last egg is layed. .. As Steph suggested, I would try moving things around before adding another bird. Having a mate, afterall, may be all the more reason to want to breed.