Very, very confussed? WTF?

[indigo]

Hi all.
Well today I decided to give my pair of lovebirds a thorough cage clean (aka spring clean ) disinfecting, changing things around, new toys, new branches etc. I took out their nest box aswell and thought I'd give that a good clean out aswell.

They have had 2 lots of eggs (2 clutches) this last season (their first) so eggs were all clear. Nevermind I thought, lets see what next season brings. Since then, I had not checked their nest box.

Well anyway, as I was cleaning out their nest box, there I found five eggs but obviously abandoned as they were cold and she wasn't sitting on them BUT they were FERTILE (but dead ) ! OMFG !
She filled her nest box with heaps of twigs and leaves and whatever she could find so it was pretty full to the top.
As I was emptying out all the old nesting material, I realized she had made layers...... of eggs, between nesting material....at least three of four different lots of eggs, between layers of nesting material. All the other eggs in the layers beneath the first top ones, were duds (clear).

Has this happened to anyone else, does anyone know what this means and what I should do in the future?
Will they/ or can they breed, all throughout the year? Should I start thinking about an incubator?

Thanks in advance for any help / advice you can spare!

[bleedinggreen]

Hi, Is she a young hen? If so I wouldn;t worry too much yet. There is a mention of this in the new lovebird book. I'll need to re read that bit and tell you what he suggests.
My suggestion would be to tone down the supply of material once the first clutch of eggs has been laid. An incubating hen doesn't really need the stimulation or distraction that nesting material provides.

[indigo]

Hi. Thanks for that. yes I do believe she is a young hen. the thing is, she fills her own nest box with any twigs, leaves etc she can find ...and over fills it.

[Laraine]

She must be a busy girl, my only suggestion is to make sure she is getting lots of calcium as she is laying so many eggs. Maybe you could take the box out for a while to give her a spell.

[indigo]

Thanks Laraine. Yeah sounds like she loves getting knocked up ;D ..jokes lol.

I have cuttle bone there but I might add some calcium supp in to their drinking water.

I'me very excited, this would be my first breeding birds and hopefully some day soon, baby lovies..woo hoo.

Is there any chance she could still make eggs or is the breeding season for these type of birds over?

[Robyn]

When i used to breed Masks & Love Birds I did a nest inspection each time i noticed the hens in their nest box. After each clutch the box was taken down & cleaned out. Once dried i would put a layer of saw dust then offer Golden Cane palm fronds for the hen to strip off the leaves to rebuild her nest with.

If you practice something like that she won't go back to nest so quickly. Instead of dud or dead eggs all the time she will be ready to mate & hopefully have a healthy clutch. The fact that there were layers of infertile eggs the nest box would have harboured some nasty bacteria.

Also it's a good idea at this time to spray the adult birds with a red mite spray & also use some pestene powder in the nest box to stop the infestation of red mites.

Forgot the cuttlefish bone is enough calcium, your hen will only eat what she needs. It isn't a good idea to add extra calcium, it's just as bad as no calcium.

Don't know about where you live but up north they breed almost all year around.

[bleedinggreen]

As Robyn some of thes ebirds will breed all year round once they start.Now is generally the time they would start if they hadn't been breeding, as long as they are in good health.
Takes Robyns advice re: cleaning and mite powder then put the box back in and after a few days start giving her small amounts of material to stimulate her. Not too much though. If you notice she has laid then only offer a bit once the eggs have hatched or once she has resorted into full incubation.

[indigo]

Done and done! Thanks guys! Much appreciated for your help!

[vankarhi]

mmmmmmmmm I have just noticed that Indigo has deleted her account??? Hope everything is ok and it is nothing "we" have done