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Post by josiedownunda on Feb 5, 2005 6:45:02 GMT 10
I have a 15 month old hen that decided it was time to start a family and proceeded to lay eggs.......alone...she has no mate. The first few eggs she laid on the cage floor and they were broken so i removed them. She kept on laying so I put a nestbox in thinking she will lay a few more and then sit and so on....problem solved! Not her! She now has 6 eggs making a total of at least 12 eggs laid all up and she has lost lots of weight. If I take the eggs away she gets very stressed and paces and screeches but while they are there she is eating very little. She is due to lay another one today so i don't want to remove them and have her keep laying more. Any suggestions? I have never had anything like this before.
Thanks
Jo-Anne
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Post by hillcresttiels on Feb 5, 2005 7:46:53 GMT 10
Hi Jo-Anne seems you have your hands full as this is one of those where trial and error is the only solution! I wouldn't remove the box or the eggs now as it will only spark another round. Keep up her calcium intake and not just her cuttlefish but maybe some Calcivite or Avical intake added to her water or softf oods,if she's not eating because of her commitments then maybe think about givng her a supply of softfoods such as sprout and seeds and place it in her box.Is she a handreared bird? goodluck
Frank
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Post by josiedownunda on Feb 5, 2005 10:00:12 GMT 10
Hi Frank,
Yes she is a handreared bird. I have bought her in this morning and given her extra foods and she had a fair amount. She is restless agin now so I will put her back in the nest which is outside. I tried putting food in the box but she doesn't touch it. Even her favourite food just sits uneaten. I figured if she was alone in the cage she may relax more and spend more time eating but seems her eggs take first priority. Would being handraised make a difference? I also have another pair on 5 eggs due to hatch any day...I even considered giving her 2 of their eggs in the hope if they hatched it may speed up her incubation/not eating faze. Not sure if she would be up to feeding babies though in her condition. I am even prepared to bring her and 2 babies inside and help her feed them. Anything to help her at the moment as she is my favourite hen.
Jo-Anne
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Post by billspets on Feb 5, 2005 10:18:22 GMT 10
hello all
jo-anne another thing you may want to try is pulling all the eggs and putting an adult male as this has been known to stimulate the female and she will not fret about the eggs this has been know to work before
hope this helps
regards
bill
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Post by josiedownunda on Feb 5, 2005 14:44:39 GMT 10
Hi Bill,
I bought a male for her when she first started laying and I put him in with her but she unfortunately had ideas of her own and wouldn't let him near her or the box. Thanks for the suggestion though.
Jo-Anne
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Post by billspets on Feb 5, 2005 15:04:54 GMT 10
hello jo-anne
that being the case i would try to put some fertile eggs under her and see if that helps the only thing is you may end up haveing to hr them as she herself is hr and it is common for them not to know what to do
regards
bill
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Post by hillcresttiels on Feb 5, 2005 16:19:03 GMT 10
Hi Jo-Anne considering she has laid so many eggs the last thing you need for her to do is to lay more and any removal of eggs without replacing them or introducing a mate is only compounding the problem.Depending on her biological clock breeding wise if the introduction of a soon to hatch fertile egg is not too early for her clock then the arrival of a chick can help steady her hormones but be prepared to keep an eye on the chick and if all else fails a vet can inject her to stop laying for now but that is a last resort cheers
Frank
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Post by billspets on Feb 5, 2005 16:26:30 GMT 10
hello all
what about removing her from the cage she is in and introudusing her into a new cage with a mate
regards
bill
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Post by SunConure on Feb 5, 2005 17:00:52 GMT 10
Have you thought about buying fake eggs from the pet store i heard that they work great for birds that won't stop laying eggs.
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Post by josiedownunda on Feb 5, 2005 22:20:00 GMT 10
Hi everyone
thanks for the suggestions but I have tried them all. The only things I haven't done is giving her a fertile egg or 2 or going to a vet. She has her own eggs to sit on so I don't need fakes, and when she started laying I moved her into a breeding cage with a male and she rejected him. She kept laying and savagely chased the male from her and the box to the point I moved the male hoping she would settle and eat more. The pair I have with fertile eggs started laying after she did so looks like tomorrow I may do some swapping and put 2 eggs in with her that are fertile. If she decides to reject those eggs I can always put them back with the parents. She has calcium supplemants and lots of good food if she decides to eat it so lets hope she will accept a foster baby or 2 and settle.
Thanks again for all your ideas
Jo-Anne
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bangkokphil
Newbie
Actually from UK originally.
Posts: 4
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Post by bangkokphil on Oct 21, 2005 11:32:45 GMT 10
Hi Josie Downunda
I know she has probably stopped by now but if it happens again I would try gradually reducing the daylight hours,as the days appear to get shorter she should stop laying you can do this with a dark cloth or board, I have had this problem and found this worked,
. Sorry I only joined today,so this is my first post, hope it helps for the future.
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Post by Laraine on Oct 21, 2005 12:52:41 GMT 10
Welcome to our forum Bangkokphil, its great to talk to someone from Thailand. What types of birds do you keep over there?
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