# Too long between egg laying? What does it mean?



## Frostwish (May 10, 2014)

Hey, all! So, my cinnamon tiel has been laying eggs and this is the first time she's ever done so. Maybe I'm just being overly worried, but the last egg she laid was Monday night. It is now Friday morning and if she was going to lay again she should laid on Wednesday night. And I can see that she obviously is going to lay again. I could see it last night as well, but I'm not sure about the night before. Maybe I could've but I never saw her out of her nestbox that night so I couldn't see. However, that doesn't change the fact that it has been 3.5 days since she last laid and is going to lay another. Is this a problem? It's really worrying me, especially since I'm about to leave and I'm not going to be back until 10:00 or 11:00 tonight. 

Also, another problem, she seems to be much skinnier than usual. I can't really compare it to before because she is not very friendly. The only reason she lets me touch her now is because she is trying to protect her eggs. By she feels very skinny. The bone in her chest is very prominent. I did feel my other, friendlier female to try to compare it and there is a really big difference. I think part of the problem is that she is so hesitant to leave her eggs. I rarely ever see her out of the nestbox. Is there a way for me to get more nutrients into her? If it helps, all of my tiels hrrently eat mostly seed. I've tried to give them pellets and I give them fresh food almost every day, but they rarely eat it. The only fresh foods I can get them to eat are broccoli and spinach.


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## Darkel777 (Jun 7, 2013)

I would take her to a vet ASAP. She may be having trouble passing the egg, the fact that she is skinny suggests something may be seriously wrong.


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## acm321 (Apr 9, 2015)

I would take her to the vet just to make sure, but my hen had the same problem. She laid the first egg, and then the second like a whole week after ward. The rest after that came every other day.

About the weight, my female lost weight as well. I just gave her proper foods to get her more vitamins and nutrients. I like to give my female a powder vitamin with her pellets just to avoid egg binding and to avoid her getting weak. 

Hope i helped!


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## Frostwish (May 10, 2014)

Well, she seems to be ok now. She's still skinny, obviously, but by the time I got home yesterday, she had laid the egg and seemed to be just fine. 

Well, thing is, I do give her the proper foods. However, she won't eat them. Do you have any suggestions on getting her to eat them? I think I will try the powdered vitamin as well. Which one do you use?


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## acm321 (Apr 9, 2015)

I use "Missing link- the original- Ultimate avian formula Blanced omega 3 and 6"
I heard that grounded oyster shell is also really good for them.

I also have cuttle bone it their cage. The female never ate it until she laid her first clutch of eggs.

To be honest, i have to sneak in powers and vitamins into their pellets and seed because none of my cockatiels like veggies. Maybe its because they were not introduced o them at an early age. 

Hope i helped, and if i can ill answer any questions


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## Kiwi (May 12, 2013)

Does the egg shell look like it is well formed and not soft? Does it have any pale spots on it? When my 'tiel was laying eggs I could tell their level of calcium by the shell of the egg.

I would go with cuttlebone or calcium powders or liquid calciums. Calcivet or Avi-cal are two I can think of right now. Oyster shells/Grit and egg shells have a chance to cut or impact the crop because they can be unevenly ground or have a really sharp piece so I would avoid them for safety reasons.


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## Frostwish (May 10, 2014)

Well, I do have a cuttlebone in their cage and I've seen her eat it. The egg shells look fine. I think I will try that vitamin that acm321 recommended. 

This also probably just has to do with the number of eggs she's laid. She has so far laid 7 eggs! And I'm pretty sure she is going to lay an 8th. Is there any way I can discourage her from laying more?


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## Kiwi (May 12, 2013)

Do you know if anything triggered her hormones? I would try and find it and take it out. My 'tiel's hormones were triggered by an overabundance of food and millet. It stopped once I took the millet out. It can be something as simple as food or a toy that causes it.

Are you keeping all her eggs in the cage for her? Keep all of them in there and do not take them out unless they break or she gets bored of them and ignores them. Make sure she gets 12-14 hours of sleep in a dark quiet room for the next week or more until hormones calm down. Try rearranging all the items in her cage to make it feel not safe. Avoid warm mushy foods because it simulates their mates feeding them. If there is anything in her cage like a mirror or happy hut/nestbox then I would remove it because it is also triggering her hormones. 

Here are also some more links on that:
http://talkcockatiels.com/showthread.php?t=32330
http://littlefeatheredbuddies.com/info/breed-hormones.html
http://www.tailfeathersnetwork.com/birdinformation/hormones.php
http://www.neitokakadut.com/en/cockatiel-articles/260-whyismycockatielaggressive
http://www.birdchannel.com/bird-beh...d-small-bird-behavior/hormonal-cockatiel.aspx


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## acm321 (Apr 9, 2015)

Im glad you want to try the vitamin power i use. I really like it. It is good for all birds, it helps with feathers, bones, etc. I have an amazon parrot that had extremely dull and grey feathers, but with the addition of these vitamin, his colors really brightened and he is more active as well. 

I would try to get a vitamin to add to their water because it is a crucial that your hen is as healthy as possible. The egg laying is only half the battle, and she will be very drained with staying in the nest to feed (possibly) all 7-8 chicks.

Good luck!

Have you considered helping to feed the chicks if most hatch? If most hatched, it would be overwhelming for the parents to feed them all, so people usually feed the chick and leave them in the nest, or pull the chicks and and feed them.


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## Frostwish (May 10, 2014)

Kiwi said:


> Do you know if anything triggered her hormones? I would try and find it and take it out. My 'tiel's hormones were triggered by an overabundance of food and millet. It stopped once I took the millet out. It can be something as simple as food or a toy that causes it.
> 
> Are you keeping all her eggs in the cage for her? Keep all of them in there and do not take them out unless they break or she gets bored of them and ignores them. Make sure she gets 12-14 hours of sleep in a dark quiet room for the next week or more until hormones calm down. Try rearranging all the items in her cage to make it feel not safe. Avoid warm mushy foods because it simulates their mates feeding them. If there is anything in her cage like a mirror or happy hut/nestbox then I would remove it because it is also triggering her hormones.
> 
> ...


Thank you! I think I am going to try giving them more sleep and rearranging their cage. They do have a nestbox which I know stimulates breeding activity, but all 7 eggs are in there and I don't want to take it away because they may not hatch if I put them on the bottom of the cage. I will try these measures first and see what happens. And thank you for those links! Only the first one worked, but it was very helpful!


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## Frostwish (May 10, 2014)

acm321 said:


> Im glad you want to try the vitamin power i use. I really like it. It is good for all birds, it helps with feathers, bones, etc. I have an amazon parrot that had extremely dull and grey feathers, but with the addition of these vitamin, his colors really brightened and he is more active as well.
> 
> I would try to get a vitamin to add to their water because it is a crucial that your hen is as healthy as possible. The egg laying is only half the battle, and she will be very drained with staying in the nest to feed (possibly) all 7-8 chicks.
> 
> ...


Well, I am planning on hand feeding once they hit about 2 weeks, but that would leave them caring for all 8 chicks for a few days. I hadn't thought about it before, but I think I will try supplementing the feeding of the younger chicks during the time when they have 5-6+ chicks. I plan on pulling the first half all together, and the second half once the youngest get to 2 weeks. Once I pull the first half, I think the parents will then be able to turn their attention to the younger chicks and they will no longer need supplemented feedings. Thank you so much for the suggestion!


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## Kiwi (May 12, 2013)

Oh sorry, it must not have copied the links. I edited the post and they should all work now. 

Yeah I would leave the nestbox too for the chicks. I think she might get bored of egg laying once the eggs hatch and if she doesn't then once the chicks have grown taking the nestbox away should stop the egg laying if it hasn't stopped by then.

The skinny part is still worrying though. Will she eat more of the pellets if you crush them up a little maybe? Or put some of the food inside the nestbox for her to eat? I had to put a dish right next to my 'tiel to get her to eat when she wouldn't leave her eggs, she was also injured so it hurt when she'd move. Sometimes she wouldn't eat from a dish so I would spread the seeds and pellets on the ground under her beak for her to eat. It is a bit messy, but maybe try that in the nestbox and try to clean it up after a little.


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## Frostwish (May 10, 2014)

I hadn't thought about putting food in the nestbox for her. And I do have some pellets so I will try crushing some of those up and mixing it with her seed. Thanks!


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## Frostwish (May 10, 2014)

Well, so, I got a vitamin. It's not the one acm321 mentioned before (they didn't have it where I went) and this one is for water, but we'll see what it does. I got it at a store called Parrots, Parrots, Parrots, Just Parrots, so it should be good. The man there was very nice and really seemed to know his stuff. He's the one who gave me the vitamin. He also gave me some of these things he called monkey biscuits for free. Ever heard of them? I'm assuming monkey biscuits isn't what they are actually called, though. He said they are really good for birds and, as I said, he seemed to really know his stuff, so I'm gonna try them and see if I can get Cinnamon to eat them. 

On a bit of an aside, this place was amazing! I'd never been there before! They literally had nothing but parrots! Well, and their supplies, but mostly just parrots! Everything from amazons to blue and gold macaws, from cockatoos to parakeets, it was insane! They had this one amazon that kept squawking like nobody's business and setting off all the other birds.  There was a cockatoo there that bit me. It was my own fault. I stupidly let it bite me, and it hurt! I wasn't thinking about how much bigger cockatoos beaks are when compared to cockatiels.  The man there also offered to buy my babies once they are weaned! That made me so happy! I was a little worried about how I was going to be able to sell that many birds! And he offered me a job! He said, if I had some spare days this summer, I could come work there, either caring for the birds or helping with sales. I think I know which one I'd do.  And he gave me his personal phone number and said to call if I was having any problems with my birds. Overall, it was an awesome trip and well worth the 20 minutes it took to get there!

Sorry for the rant, but I couldn't resist!


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## Kiwi (May 12, 2013)

I'm glad you got the vitamin! I hope Cinnamon starts to eat more with the addition of that and some food in her nestbox. 

It's the alternate name for Monkey Chow. It's a treat you feed in moderation, they're really hard. srtiels uses them to feed her Cockatiels as a treat so they're ok for her to eat. srtiels is a Cockatiel breeder on the forum and very knowledgeable on Cockatiels. 
http://forums.avianavenue.com/index.php?threads/monkey-chow.10536/

That's cool that he offered to do that! I hope the babies go to good families and that you can have fun working there too.


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## Frostwish (May 10, 2014)

Ok! Thank you, Kiwi!


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## Kiwi (May 12, 2013)

I just found that oregano is an appetite stimulant for parrots. If the vitamin isn't helping the appetite yet then maybe a little fresh oregano will? 
http://forums.avianavenue.com/index.php?threads/oregano.40891/


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## Frostwish (May 10, 2014)

Interesting. Ok! Maybe I will try it out.

Another thing: Cinnamon looked like she was going to lay again for the last couple days because she had a bulge near her vent and I assumed she was going to lay today, but when I got home, the bulge was gone but there is not another egg. Do you have any idea what happened here?


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## Kiwi (May 12, 2013)

Maybe she reabsorbed the egg or it got pushed out of the nest somewhere? I've read cockatiels will push eggs out if there are too many, but my 'tiel always hoarded them and tried to sit on all the eggs (she had like 16 at one point most were fake eggs).

I would still watch for signs of egg binding, but I think the most likely is she did lay and it just disappeared somewhere. Maybe eating them? (apparently it might happen)... o,o
http://forums.avianavenue.com/index.php?threads/fake-eggs-or-more-calcium.118536/


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## Frostwish (May 10, 2014)

Well, I went through the nestbox, and there is no eighth egg. Its obviously not in her cage. Maybe she did eat it? I don't know, I've never heard of that and I don't know why she would. :/ I've also never heard of eggs being reabsorbed. It doesn't really seem possible to me, but then again, what do I know? I'll look it up. And I will definitely keep a watchful eye on her.


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