Female laying large clutches

[kawikami]

Hello all, 
I have a mother who is laying more and more eggs each time she lays. First was 4 eggs. All turned out beautifully. Then 5 eggs and one chick with splayed legs that had to be euthanized. Then 6 eggs and I had to remove 2 babies and hand raise them. Just looked in on her and she has 7 eggs this time! I am going to try fostering three of the eggs with an infertile pair. I know the mother needs supplements to compensate for the calcium loss I just don't know what she needs. Any advice and or recommendations would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

[tweetiepiesmom]

The poor little hen! I bet she's exhausted from raising all those chicks. Everything I've read says laying that many eggs takes a toll on her health. There are people here who've raised chicks and know what to give the hen to help her stay as healthy as possible. They will give you advise on supplements in addition to calcium.

If she were my budgie, I'd stop her from laying more. If you decide to let her raise the current clutch, once done, take out anything she might use as a nest. Since she seems so persistent, I might separate her from her mate for a period of time. Give her only 8-10 hours of light. Others will also have additional specific information.

I encourage yo to read this thread, it shows what may happen to a poor little hen who's allowed to continually lay:
budgerigarsforum.proboards.com/thread/20522/big-welcome-penny

Good luck!

[kawikami]

She begins to lay eggs before the current chicks are out of the nest. I will try what you said after this batch. Thank you.

[tweetiepiesmom]

As soon as she lays any new eggs, remove them. Boil the eggs, let them cool and then put them back in. Do this with any new eggs. She'll continue to sit on them until she decides that they are no good. Then she'll either stop sitting on them or she'll toss them out. When she abandons the eggs, move her as I suggested above.

This may seem mean but it is best for her health.

ron, Hezz Anyone else, please add your suggestions.

[mona]

Apart from what tweetiepiesmom said, for now, I would add liquid calcium in her water, keep cuttlefish bone & mineral block in her cage.. give her a really balanced diet and she might eat more to feed the kids..

Not sure if removing her mate from the cage before kids are out of nest would be okay to do. If he's helping with the feeding, it would be difficult on the budgie mom to do it alone. More experienced people will be able to add valuable advice..

[Hezz]

You need to remove this hen from her partner, immediately! Only then can you begin to stop the whole laying cycle. Your hen will go on to be permanently physically damaged if you don’t step in and help her stop this. First step is to remove her to her own cage, new everything - food and water pots, perches, toys, shorten her days to fit more with winter days ie short days, long nights, no treat foods, etc.

[kawikami]

She is currently sitting on eggs. At least one of which has hatched since yesterday. I will remove her when the babies are all hatched. The father is a huge part of the process as he feeds her and takes care of her and the babies when they get big enough. Any eggs she lays as her babies grow I will remove. I have readied a cage as you said Hezz, I will put her into it the second her babies are out of the nesting box. Thanks for the advice.

[kawikami]

Pictures of Mom and Dad aka Harry and CC. This pair put out a Lutino or an albino every clutch.
Hezz, can I put her cage near her mate when I remove her or would that be bad? Thanks for all the great advice.

[tweetiepiesmom]

Best wishes for a healthy clutch and cute baby budgies.

Once you remove mom, I would not put her near her mate. That might cause her to continue to lay eggs although they would not be fertile. As Hezz says, you need to break the egg laying cycle.

[wocal]

Make sure she is "prepped" next time before she has back to back clutches. You give her whatever calcium source you want month or two before she is put in a cage with a male and you continue to feed her that high calcium diet throughout the duration of her breeding. I use calcium carbonate, and high calcium veggies in the chop I feed them everyday. it's good you know how to hand feed, just make sure you have a vet ready or you know how to deal with egg bound birds because if she has that many babies without enough calcium it becomes a higher risk fact

As far as your birds health it's normal for budgies in captivity to have up to 3 clutches in a row. So, she will bounce back from this okay. Just keep up with a balanced high calcium diet and you should be fine. typical clutch count for the year is 5 total that they can have and be healthy. If you wanna take stress off the birds you hand feed or have other parents ready to take over. I breed my birds 5 times a year but never without other parents to take over just in case or ready to hand feed, And of course by prepping their diet. I am an actual breeder, who does everything I am telling you. I have posts of my hand fed baby parakeet from day 0 I hatched out of an incubator if you wanna check me out as far as experience, just in case you don't know where I came from because I wasn't tagged.

Also, yes you can put their cages next to each other if you separate them. You can also let them fly around when you take them out to exercise when they are not breeding. Just don't have any nesting spot and keep an eye out for them making ones.