Anything else?

[butterfly1061]

Well, Olivia has become one nasty, nesty hen. I have rearranged her cage - new perches & toys. She favors a corner in the bottom of her cage, so I put a big toy there to distract her from just sitting in it (the corner). I've taken away every shredable thing she can get her beak on in the last couple months. I know it's only time before she gets full blown nesty, which I think is very soon. Anything else I can do? Next weekend is the birdfair and I plan on buying a nestbox just in case.

[bellarains]

Jackie,

Sounds like you've done about all you can except move the cage to a new location. Oh, and one other thing I've heard is to cut down on the food availability. That's something I have not tried, and of course since Bela is in the same cage, it kind of scared me to do that. I didn't want him to go without food. His little butt needs all he can get;)

Happy nesting:)

[butterfly1061]

Funny you mention the food thing Lori, cause Olivia has already kicked/scratched out most of her seed from the dish. I'll just have to wait and see what happens. Thanks :)

[linda040899]

In the wild, the rainy season triggers breeding, as that means food will be plentiful for growing chicks. You wouldn't want to offer a starvation diet, just one with not quite as much food. Believe it or not, most pet birds are grossly overfed. If my lovebirds were to eat everything in their dishes, the amount of seed mixture that fits in a blue Exact Handfeeding scoup is enough for one day. Do I feed more than that? You bet!

[Buy A Paper Doll]

Oh Lord, Miss Olivia is gonna lay egg eggs.

Melly does that, too, when she's nesty, kicks all of her food out of the dish to make room for her big fat feather butt, then sits in there with the funniest look on her face.

I ended up having to get a small ceramic crock for her food, too small for her featherbutt to fit in it, and heavy enough to not be thrown across the cage in a hormone-induced fit of rage, and put the seed in there.

If that doesn't work then you may have to resort to a seed stick or nutriberries or something that can't fall through the grate so that the little devil doesn't starve herself while you're at work.

Good luck!

[Mandolin]

Well Jackie, sounds like you are in the same boat as me. Whenever Kameko starts to get all nesty i go through the exact procedure that you have done in an effort to ease the hormones, but as of right now, Kameko is happily sitting on 4 eggs dispite my efforts :rolleyes:. I have had absolutely no luck with the cage rearranging thing. Kameko just seems to be so comfortable in my room (where her cage is) there seems like no amount of cage rearranging that will make her the least bit uncomfortable. I also have not tried the movement of the cage to another area so you might want to try that. The vet told me that a seed diet will trigger egg laying behaviour as they always think it is time to lay eggs because they only eat seeds in the wild when it is egg laying season (i would assume seeds are available in rainy season like Linda said). Best of luck :D

[Z28Taxman]

In the wild, the rainy season triggers breeding, as that means food will be plentiful for growing chicks.

For Peachies in their native Angola that would be February-April. Here they'd freeze to death. :eek:

[kimsbirds]

FWIW...I've had some success with food limitation in a couple of my hennie pennies. I don't limit the quantity they eat, but I do limit the amount I offer in their dishes 3x per day! I sprinkle enough just to cover the bottom of their dish and thankfully, they view this as a non-abundant food source, so they're less likely to begin laying or feeling nesty. I found a big dish full of food all the time just encouraged that scattering/kicking thing so many of you mention.

Just thought I'd add that :)
K

[butterfly1061]

Thanks everyone. I did rearrange her cage again today and she seemed a bit confused. She does seem to get that nesty look on her face when she's near or hears Daisy. I'd hate to move her out of the birdroom completely as I fear when I put her back in she'd get all nesty again. I do have another dish I could put her seed mix in, but I don't know about her kicking any out - I'd just have to watch her. Anyway, I'll keep an eye on her. I think she was a born breeder. Maybe she should've stayed at Jeanette's, but Daisy just loooooves her Olivia. :rolleyes:

[butterfly1061]

Well, I had an eventful morning :rolleyes: I put Olivia's seed mix in the smaller dish I had and she found a way to SIT in it all morning :x So I took it out and put the seed mix in a SMALLER treat cup. There's no way she can get her featherbutt in that dish :p This is going to be a LONG adventure >o

[LauraO]

Well, I had an eventful morning :rolleyes: I put Olivia's seed mix in the smaller dish I had and she found a way to SIT in it all morning :x So I took it out and put the seed mix in a SMALLER treat cup. There's no way she can get her featherbutt in that dish :p This is going to be a LONG adventure >o

I'm afraid you're gonna come home and find poor little Olivia with her butt stuck in that tiny ole food dish you left her :rofl:

[butterfly1061]

I'm afraid you're gonna come home and find poor little Olivia with her butt stuck in that tiny ole food dish you left her :rofl:

:rofl: Laura, that's what I'm afraid of. I need to teach Daisy to dial 911 or my cell # :rofl: