My 6 yr old female lost her mate and has mated again + has egg/no egg issues

[JazzyJ244]

URGENT PLEASE HELP. I have 16 budgies. 9 males and 7 females. Males and females are in separate cages with the exception of my older female Skye who was bonded with my male Woody They were in a cage together most of those years. They had 2 clutches (7 and 4). He was the sweetest guy totally attentive to her. I had seen them mating a number of times over the past year with no eggs which was perfect. He passed on Dec 4th and she was so depressed that I was afraid I would lose her. I let the females out for 5 hrs every day so I tried letting her out at the same time for about 10 days and it didn't seem to work out. So I then let the males out with her and she accepted one after a few days. He is almost identical to the mate she lost. Now they started mating and she was going behind the blinds and she was getting frantic trying to make a nest breaking the paper on the bottom of the cage. I assumed then that it was the male who was the cause of them not having any new clutch. Foolishly I put a nest box on the cage and she started to dig deeper into the wood to make the concave deeper. Still no egg. So now I decided to put a good quality artificial one in thinking she would reject it after awhile and stop but as of now, 1/27 she sits on it, and I notice that neither of them is even using the cuttle-bone he has become her slave basically. I let him out at times with the other males and when she calls him he goes back and I have made her come out of the cage for a small time each day but then she goes right back in. I know this has to change but I don't know how to go about it without doing more damage. I really love my birds but it seems I have made a mess of everything because I didn't want her to die. Should I take the egg out, take the box off??? Please help!:

[maxollie]

Hi, and welcome back to the community. I am so sorry you lost the male. Do not lose heart. I think it was fine she attracted another mate, and that you put them in their own cage. Quite honestly, it takes awhile for a pair to get to know each other, so even though they have mated, I do not expect her to lay eggs right away. I do think, if you are hoping for babies, you should remove the dummy egg. Allow the two to explore the box, and to get to know each other. A hen has to be in hormonal condition to lay an egg. You will notice, that here cere which is the light colored spot above her beak will turn a darker color, and be a toasty brownish color, when her hormones have kicked in. Then, when they mate, she will lay eggs, if he is in good condition. The nest box will encourage her hormones, but only mother nature will dictate when she is ready to lay. Having the male will also encourage her.

I think if you remove the dummy egg, ASAP, that will help to get them to know each other better, because, it is normal hen behavior to be nesting, and you want her to have real eggs. Be sure to feed plenty of cuttlebone, the seed mix, and fresh veggies and fruits to them. I do not think you did anything wrong at all. In fact yiu helped fill the void she had in her life losing her mate. Consider the info I have given you, and take a day at a time. Budgies are different species than tiels and the male stays out of the nest when she is laying eggs and setting on them. But as soon as the first one hatches, he will be in the box helping with the babies. At least, that was the behavior of a pair I bred. So, do not be concerned if he is not in the box. Let her prepare her nest without any additional nesting material. Just the box. It sounds like you knoiw that from your post.

I think at this sad time, you totally helped her move on by introducing the male. We will welcome your updates anytime. Good luck!

[boomer girl]

I am sorry you lost Woody and feel sorry for Skye that she lost her mate. I have never dealt with female birds at all but to me it is certainly a very long time that poor Skye has been sitting on that egg and it might be best to take the egg away to see if she will come around and be a normal bird for awhile. Maybe even taking out the nest box to see if she will snap out of her desire to sit on eggs. But then again I never dealt with females and how they get so hormonal. I just worry for her that sitting on a egg for that long is causing her stress or something else. Again like I said I have honestly no clue how to take care of females as I have only had and been around male birds and my suggestion is just a guess as to what I would do in your circumstances.

[JazzyJ244]

Thank you so much for responding to my frenzied request. What I decided to do was tap on the box a few times a day and she would come out. I did that with her 2 prior clutches and she trusts me even when she has a full clutch of eggs. Then I opened the cage door and when he would fly out I would call her out and she would come out for a few minutes, each day she stayed out a bit longer and one day when she was out I took out the egg. When she went in she seemed to be looking through the nesting feathers, etc she had gathered. When I let her out a while longer I covered the entire cage, and had their normally much larger cage ready and just replaced them. when Skye went in she seemed to just accept her old cage was back. Her new mate is very attentive and she seems very happy. It seems I am the only one mourning my Woody now but I am very relieved she it happy. Thank you so much for making me feel better about this.

[JazzyJ244]

Thank you so much for replying to my frenzied request. All is well now. The egg is removed, and when they were both out I switched the cages so they returned to the much larger cage and she seemed fine with it. I am not a breeder so I really don't want any more budgies and I know if I don't use the dummy eggs and saw the little ones born I could never give them up. Taking care of them the right way is pretty expensive for me so I am at my limit. Thank you once again for your help and compassionate response to my losing my Woody. I know you understand because of your love for your Boomer.

[maxollie]

That is great news!!! I am super happy they are contenr now. Many owners do not choose to breed their birds. So do not feel guilty about using dummy eggs if she were to lay again. Or, you also can boil the real eggs and give them back to her. I used dummy eggs with a single cockatiel hen that was a chronic egg layer because I just could not boil the real ones. Not sure why, because I never have trouble boiling chicken eggs!! Lolol

Your main goal, if she does lay again, and you replace the real eggs with dummies is to be sure to allow her to nest with the dummies for about 25 days or until she no longer pays any attention to them., if you decide to not have more babies, They have to go through the breeding cycle with eggs or they will just keep laying more and that is not good for their health. It is best to not give her the nest box, if she lays again, and you choose to use the dummies. Place the dummie eggs on a piece of paper towel on the cage floor corner and let her nest there instead. The nest box, encourages egg laying.

You resolved the problem in a great and kind way!! We will welcome updates anytime.

[maxollie]

Fly high and free Woody! Over the rainbow bridge! I know the heartbreak of losing them! It is very sad! (((((Hugs))))!