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Post by BloomCountyLover on Aug 5, 2019 0:44:34 GMT
This is my attempt at being proactive as many years ago I had a solitalry little hen who bonded with my son and started laying eggs. We were at a loss initially but then soon came to find out that she had taken my son as a mate...lol. We disposed of the eggs and thought nothing of it...until she layed again a few weeks later. Hmmm...not much info out there but had the forsight to move her to another room. Darkened her room early so she had 12 hrs of darkness. Nope...still layed. Eventually had to leave the eggs in the cage as she was sitting on them but mainly so she wouldn't lay another clutch so quickly. Gave her mega protein and calcium but at 31/2 she succumbed to egg binding. My question: I see now people saying to just remove the eggs, or to replace with dummy eggs. I let her sit on them as that is what she was determined to do. I now have another solitary hen and don't want to make any mistakes. She is young and probably will never lay BUT if she does...what is the way to go...take them, let her sit on them? I'm just wanting to know before I need to (if that makes sense).
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Post by Hezz on Aug 5, 2019 1:07:43 GMT
I have been through this myself, BloomCountyLover. My little hen now has displaced hips and a sway back from all the laying she did and the complete deprivation of calcium in body. I was given very bad advice from a so-called avian vet. I took her eggs away as was instructed as well. Never again! I would leave the eggs in situ, or replace with dummy eggs and let her sit on those. There are things you can do to help break the laying cycle. As you say, extending their sleeping hours although I would go for more than a 12hr cycle, mixing up the cage furniture completely, removing any favourite toys, favourite swings etc running perches in different directions, cutting out all protein-rich foods (unless, of course the laying is well established, then the extra nutrients are a necessity), moving into different rooms on different days, basically what you need to do is put the hen into a slightly stressed state, rather than the over-fed, over-satisfied life that she would otherwise be living, of course NOTHING that could be mistaken as a nesting place either inside or outside the cage, even keeping her caged for days at a time can help. If you see her making any sort of nesting moves, move her on straight away and start implementing some of the changes mentioned above. Of course there is all the other stuff of not touching her anywhere but on her head, no stroking her body, lifting her wings, touching her vent etc. There are times you do need to do such things, but not on a regular basis. |
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Post by BloomCountyLover on Aug 5, 2019 1:23:29 GMT
Thank you Hezz..yes we pretty much did all of this, and thank you for saying NOT to remove the eggs. My poor son had to basically ignore his little hen but we did that. I think if maybe we were given good advice from the start that she would have stood a chance. I see comments on other boards that say "just get rid of the eggs, easy peasy". Well no...not so easy peasy. I'm so very sorry for your little hen.
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Post by Hezz on Aug 5, 2019 2:54:05 GMT
Thank you. She still enjoys her life, but it isn't the life she should be having. Her and her mate only get to meet through the bars of the cage. In the end I did have to have her given hormone injections, two, which is a big deal for a budgie. Usually not more than one is recommended. I'm sure it would have been a lot easier for everyone if I could have just let her have a clutch to raise. OH was very much "no more birds" at that stage.  I do hope your little Sam is much too smart to go down this route. |
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