Nesting at 6 months?

[Teri]

How early can a hen begin to nest? Cooper is 6 months old with no mate. Last week she (suspected she not confirmed) began to spend large amounts of time in her cuddle hut. She would hardly come out for me. A friend who had a hen cockatiel said she thought she was nesting so i took the cozy away. Now she's smooshing herself between the corner of her cage and her food dish and sitting in her food dish more often. Is she nesting? I'm concerned if she lays eggs at this young age she might become egg bound. She's not shown ne other signs of hormonal changes like the airplane dance, however she has been regergitating alot in her cuddle hut. She's also molting could this be the reason for her odd behavior? lol could someone please shed some light on what my odd lil bird is up to? :x

[linda040899]

Hi Teri,
It's possible for a hen to go into laying mode at age 6 months but I, personally, have never seen it. I've seen pairs become parents at age 8 months (not my pairs!) and all chicks survived. However, it's not good or healthy for the parents (both of them). Since you are not sure of Cooper's gender, you may want to DNA sex just to see if this is a problem you will have to worry about. Most hens don't regurgitate the way you are describing so I've got to question gender.

[Teri]

lol Well Cooper just likes to keep us all guessing! I think despite my poor college student status I'll have to bite the bullet and have him/her DNA sexed. Not knowing is just too much stress. Specially with an odd lil bird like mine who likes to give mixed signals about gender! hehehe At least things are never dull with Coope around!

[linda040899]

Teri,
I believe Avian Biotech ( http://www.avianbiotech.com ) charges $19.95 for blood sexing. You can order kits online. Payment is remitted along with the sample. Just be sure to clean the nail you are going to shortcut before you take the sample or you may not get accurate results.

[LauraO]

Teri: Could Cooper be sick? You may want to watch for signs of illness such as puffiness, lethargy, not eating, and watery poops.

I've had great results putting cozies in the cage only at night and removing them in the morning. This way gives my lovies something to snuggle in at night, but not something to hang out in all day long.

[Teri]

I don't think that Coope is sick. She's eating normally, not puffing for extended periods of time and seems to be maintaining her usually level of activity. No drainage from her eyes or nostrils. Her poops are watery sometimes but it is usually after fruits and veggies. I have heard her sneeze a few times in the past few days. I'll keep my eye on her. Unfortunately from what I read birds are good at hiding sickness so I hope I'm not missing any thing.

[DebSpace]

Hi, Teri, I did the feather plucking from the chest area myself on each of my birds and sent the samples directly to Avian Biotech. Complete instructions are on their website. The hardest part wasn't holding my birds or the actual plucking (5-8 feathers), it was seeing my birds flinch. I hated that, :( but like all things, sometimes it is just necessary. I made sure to scritch them, give them a treat and and be extra sweet to them afterwards. I don't like having a hair pulled and that is what I compared it to. Just be sure to have disinfected tweezers, clean hands and open your ziplock bag before you start.:)

[butterfly1061]

Teri,

My Olivia started her nestiness at the age of 7 months. I have since been "throwing" her off and she has not laid an egg. I know she will eventually, but I keep on trying. She is 20 months old. Olivia also would dig in her food dish so I switched her daily food to a small treat cup - it's the size of half and egg shell. She can't get into it to dig or sit. I don't give her ANYTHING to shred. She has a couple of toys with wood pieces, but she hasn't figured out she can shred those if she wanted. She does sit on the bottom of the cage making her nesty noises occasionally. I had to take out her cotton rope perches as she tried to chew those up, so I replaced them with small wooden ones. She's been good considering. I just watch her body language or I can lose a finger, hand, lip, ear...:rofl: Good Luck!

[Teri]

I sent for a kit from avianbiotech as suggested. Am ready to know one way or another if cooper is a princess or prince!