Is my Bourke Hen OK?

[rick]

Ok so I am totally new to breeding, but I have a pair of bourkes.

I'm not sure of time frames but I'll try my best. Around 3 weeks ago my bourke hen laid one egg on the ground which I thought was odd, so I moved it into the next box, however the next morning she was very ill and had all the symptoms of being egg bound... a pet shop told me that cuttle fish was not required for bourkes... WRONG.

I immediately got some calcium supplements, added to water and directly administered it to her. I had to take her out and put her in a carry cage, with hot water to steam the pair of them. I read about this online.. I was very concerned for her wellbeing. I repeated this process 2-3 times then sat her in luke warm water for about an hour. I then administered some vaseline to her vent. I know the latter approach is not recommended, but maybe it worked, whose to say?

Luckily, in the morning, she had passed the egg, again on the floor, which i removed in to the nesting box. I think, from memory, there were 3 eggs at this stage in the box, but my hen was still very sick for around a week.

Fast forward to now, I do not see my hen except at dusk.. she emerges from her box and does a god almighty extraction of droppings, it is quite amazing to see from such a small bird (sorry if I grossed anyone out, but it is quite a sight!). The male I believe from this must be feeding her in the nest box (which I think is happening as I've heard it going on).

I got a rare peak into the box today and saw that there were 6 eggs in there... she literally is roosting all day..

is everything OK here?

[avinet]

Laying eggs demands a lot of calcium, not only is the shell mostly made of calcium but the embryo needs calcium to form the bones needed before hatching.  That calcium has to come from the hen's body - they are able to store excess calcium in their bones until it is needed - that calcium is mobilized from the bones into the blood so it can be directed to egg formation.

So Bourkes are no different from other birds - they need calcium to build up that store needed for breeding.  I'm not too sure where your pet shop thought the Bourke was going to get calcium from, but maybe it is time to find another shop if you can.  Unfortunately not all pet shops know anything about birds, even if they sell them - I owned one specializing in birds for 20 years, and I've heard some horror stories about some pet shops.  See an article I wrote at scas.org.au/html/calcium_for_birds.html for information about calcium for birds

Adding calcium to her water undoubtedly saved your Bourke.  Egg binding has two main causes.  Firstly the bird's muscle tone is poor so the muscles used to push the egg out are not strong enough to do the job - this is most common in birds that are either clipped or in a small cage and unable to exercise by flying.  The second cause is lack of calcium to form a rigid egg shell, meaning when the uterus tries to contract to push the egg out the soft egg deforms rather than moves down the uterus.  If the situation isn't rapidly resolved the hen will likely die.  By giving her calcium she was able to utilize that calcium to form a proper egg shell and expel the egg.  Keeping her warm is good but the steam, sitting in warm water and vaseline is not needed - just the calcium will have been enough.

Going forward to now, it sounds like she has made a good recovery, and before long there should be some babies hatching.  Sounds like she is doing a good job of incubating.  The eggs on the ground may have been either a result of egg binding issues or maybe just inexperience of a first time breeder.  The droppings are nothing to worry about.  Bourkes are very clean with their nest box and she is saving up all her waste until she leaves the nest - hence there is a full days worth to get rid of in one go.  Because this waste has been sitting in her all day it can "ferment" at bit and have a nice ripe smell into the bargain!

These large droppings can also be a feature just before and during the egg laying - the forming egg can put pressure on the intestines and it then requires a large volume to build up enough pressure to push past the egg and be released.  and if you think the droppings your little Bourke released are gross have a look at the photo below - a single dropping from my Grey when she was laying eggs

cheers,

Mike

[rick]

My lord mike.. u made me lol literally. I hope they do have babies... yes calcium is a must ive learnt this.. ive been sprouting seeds also which reminds me.. time to drain. !!. and they have plenty of cuttlefish.