Lovely found

[fritz123]

Hello all
I am new here and have injoyed reading all the threads. But still have a few questions.
My husband found a very small lovebird in our backyard, or i should say the bird found him. I am sure he was young because in was all green and just a little peach but not much. We have had him about 6 or 7 months.
Last month a found an egg on the floor of the cage so at least now i know it is a she. We ended up up with 3 eggs. I cleaned the cage in about 5 days and took the eggs out. This last week she has 3 more. I did put plain white paper in the cage so she made nesting material.
My question is will the eggs rot if i leave them in the cage? I looked for answers on the site and they suggested to shake the eggs or boil them and put them back. What is the best? She just sits on them and rolls them around , it sounds like i should let her have them for awhile. I sure don't what her to lay eggs everymonth. Any other suggestions would be appreciated.
Like I said this is my first lovebird and i can see why people love them. I never had a biting problem until she started laying the eggs.
I was woudering if i should get a small box and make a nest for her and put the 3 eggs in and just let her enjoy?
Thank you for your time

[graushill]

Hi Fritz and welcome :).

I will try to answer some of your questions. There are basically two methods for dealing with a single lovie hen that suddenly lays eggs. One is to take away the eggs that have been laid and then try to distract her (changing the inside of the cage by moving her toys around or buying different toys, taking her to a new room, etc.) to keep her from laying new eggs. The second method is to let her keep the eggs and go through the normal nesting period, which since the eggs are not fertile, will end without any eggs being hatched, and then let her abandon the nest on her own. You don't have to worry about the eggs rotting; a normal nesting period is about 23 days after the last egg in the clutch is laid and during that time the eggs will hold okay. They are so tiny that in my experience they are much more likely to dry out than to rot anyway. Since your hen is single you don't have to worry about having to boil or shake the eggs since you do that to avoid chicks being hatched in case the eggs are fertile. As for what method to use, many people have experienced that taking the eggs away simply encourages the hen to keep on laying eggs to replace the ones that have been taken away, which in the end is not good for her health. I think it's better to use the second method and just let nature take its course, but that's just my opinion :).

As for giving her a nest, since your hen is single you don't have to buy a nestbox, but you can give her a small carton box (unscented tissue boxes work okay) and then give her some nesting material to make her nesting experience more comfortable. In the breeding section of the board, I think in the nesting section, there are some suggestions about nestboxes (I think the thread is called "nestboxes for beginners") and nesting materials. Plus there's a wealth of information there for new lovie grandmommies like yourself :). The moderators and other board members are all very experienced and kind people and you can ask all the questions you want and count on getting very good answers.

I hope this helps a little in the meantime. Good luck with your hen!

Gloria

[fritz123]

Thank you so very much. Yes your information is very helpful i will try that.

[Janie]

All good advice from Gloria! :)

I have nothing to add but wanted to say "welcome" and I hope you'll continue to post and definitely some photos of your little "found" bundle of joy. We have a few lovies on this forum that found their owners! :D

[BarbieH]

Hi Fritz, welcome. :)

I have used the second method (letting the hen abandon her eggs instead of me throwing them out), and it has been successful in this household. Your hen seems to really want to sit on a clutch of eggs, so I would let her do it. As Gloria said, she probably will just keep laying eggs to replace the ones that are thrown out, and that's not good.

Make sure you give her some nondairy calcium (brocolli and kale) to eat, keep a cuttlebone in the cage, and give her a little chicken egg cooked without fat (either hardboiled or dry scrambled). The egg has vitamin D, which she needs in order to utilize the calcium.

By the way, what is your bird's name? :)

Best wishes,

[Asue]

Welcome! Everyone here's very helpful... I don't have anything much to say.
IMO, letting her have a nest and eggs to protect may make her a bit more prone to biting. I've never had female lovies before. Is it just my luck?:p
I hope you enjoy your new lovebird!

[Mandolin]

Welcome to the board!!! :D I have heard from many members that having your baby lay eggs is a tough time. They do tend to get bitey and protective of their eggies, but she will come out of it in time. All the best, and i can't wait to hear more about your found little bundle. Good luck with everything. :cool:

[BarbieH]

IMO, letting her have a nest and eggs to protect may make her a bit more prone to biting.

This is quite true, at least for the short term. You definitely can learn a lot of respect for a lovebird's beak when a hen is sitting on eggs!

However, by protecting the hen on her nest, I've found that you also make a great deal of progress in the trust department. I've always had a better relationship with my hen after she comes off the nest, than I did before she started. She really started looking at me as a protector. That's my :2cents:.