Stop the tiel to lay eggs

[Niao]

Hi,

I have a pair of cockatiels. The male one is 12 years old and the female one is almost 2 years old. They are getting along with each other well but I have never seen they mate. In February, the female tiel had her first egg. I prepared a nest box for them and she laid 9 eggs. Although they tried to take care of the eggs , none of them were fertile eggs. I removed the nest box in 5 weeks after the first egg laid. In April, I found an egg on the bottom of the cage again. I gave them nest box again. 7 eggs and no baby. This time I just left the eggs there and hoped they would give up by themselves. They seem never gave up and I found more eggs after 6 weeks later. That drove me crazy because I know it will be bad to the hen. Then she had 9 eggs this time (today I found the 9th one). I am sure that during last two nights the hen didn't go into the nest box but they still took turns to sit on eggs in the daytime. I don't know what I should do to stop the hen to laid more eggs. Should I remove the nest box and eggs now or waiting for a longer time? The hen seems has no enthusiast to sit on eggs but why she is still laying more eggs. I've tried to cover the cage with black cage cover and they were freaked out. I am really worry about my hen's health, she had 25 eggs this year. Thank you.

[maxollie]

Is there any chance you might have two females instead of a male and female?? That could be a possibility. If that is not the case, then it strongly appears you have a chronic egg layer. You are definitely correct about this problem being detrimental to your hen's health, because laying eggs over and over, especially if she is laying 9 eggs at a time, definitely needs to be addressed. I would suggest you contact an Avian Vet (a vet who is trained in taking care of birds medical needs), and take both of your birds in for a check-up. Your vet could most likely do a DNA test to see if you have two female tiels, and also would be able to address the chronic egg laying problem. Further, the nest box only encourages them (or her) to lay eggs, so I would definitely remove it. My tiel hen lays her eggs on the cage floor because I won't put a nest box in her cage.

I have a chronic egg layer myself, although she only lays about 4 eggs every six weeks or so. She is very young. I supplement her diet with Harrison Pellets, mixed in her seed, as well as give her lots and lots of fresh green veggies like red leaf lettuce, parsley (about 3 times a week) and celery and celery leaves. You could also feed limited amounts of fresh broccoli. Some folks also feed fresh kale to their birds, which has lots of calcium in it. And I also provide her with lots of cuttle bone, and she eats whole wheat bread too. I don't have any male tiel in my home. She started laying eggs last fall shortly after I got her. So female tiels can lay eggs with no male tiel in the home. Personally, if I were you, I'd be contacting an Avian vet and see what he might recommend.

[Niao]

Thanks, Maxollie. I am sure my 12 years old tiel is a cock. I have it for 12 years and I've seen him "doing that" against the perch many times. One day I saw he tried to climb on the hen but didn't know how to do it. I had another female tiel before and only laid one clutch of eggs (no baby too) in her life. I always thought that one was a male bird too until she laid eggs when she was 9 years old. For some reason I have never seen my male tiel mate to any partner successfully. It will be so fun to see baby birds hatching and growing but I have no interest to have them to breed. Tomorrow I'll try to remove the nest box, cover the cage for 12 hours, rearrange cage's interior, and to see what will happen. If nothing is helpful, I'll take them to the vet.

[Niao]

The action I have done so far. Took away the nest box. Changed position of perch, food tray and water bottle. Covered the cage for 13+ hours. Separate the male bird from the hen. The last egg was laid on Monday. She seems stop now but it was very frustrating for me and the birds. I have to keep one of the birds in a smaller cage and need to move the cage around to different rooms between day and night. It makes my eyes and throat itchy too. I have to take antihistamine to reduce my allergy symptom every day. The birds ate less and showing anxiety because they are trying to find each other. They cannot see but can hear each other. Today I took the hen (Cinnamon) to the vet. She said Cinnamon is healthy by now but I am doing the right thing to take actions. She wants me to convert Cinnamon's diet to Harrison's pellet. She also suggested Lupron injection but I want to save it until the other actions are failed.

I have few questions. How long will Lupron wear off? After the shot, can I get everything back to normal or I still have to separate the birds? The vet said she will not recommend liquid calcium before having a blood test. I have read sprouts are good supplement for birds and more acceptable for seeds lovers. Does any one feed sprouts to bird every day? Otherwise, I usually made egg food (whole eggs mix with seeds) and stored in freezer, and gave them occasionally. Dose egg food stimulate egg laying?