# Nesting hen won't stop laying eggs!



## musiczineguy (Apr 29, 2010)

Hello all:

Here's my situation.. I have a female tiel, approximately 14 months old and a male approximately 8 to 10 months old. The male suddenly took interest in the female and the female suddenly started looking for a place to nest. She found a spot (outside her cage in an empty tote bag hanging nearby). She laid a total of five eggs starting on April 4. We were pretty sure the eggs weren't fertilized (there was interest, but no apparent bonding between the two tiels and they aren't caged together), but we let her go. A couple days ago she had just about gotten to the point of abandoning the eggs. We had read that she should do this on her own and not to push the issue, so that's what we did.

Today she laid a new egg. She's eating cuttlebone like crazy, so our guess is she's going to lay more. I'm concerned for two reasons: A) the eggs are most likely not fertile and B) we don't want to take the chance of harming her health by constant egg generation.

So what do we do? Should we let her sit this out on the eggs (fearing she won't stop laying) or should we remove her nest (the tote bag) and put her back in her cage? I would love to eventually have her and the male mate, but we definitely want her to regain her energy for AT LEAST a few months before even thinking about getting her and the male to bond.


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## kfelton0002 (Mar 12, 2010)

Start putting her to bed earlier. Reducing her daylight hours will make her think it is winter and her hormones will settle down. Limit her time and contact with the male bird, because just being caged next to a male is enough to kick some hens into laying mode! Leave the eggs until she is no longer showing them any attention and then throw them away. If you take them before she has abandonded them all she will do is lay more eggs to replace the ones you disposed of. My grandma still hasn't been able to grasp this concept!! Every time her little girl lays an egg she takes it out and throws it away so the hen keeps laying and laying and laying! I have tried to tell her it will deplete her body of calcium and could cause her to become egg bound, but she insists the bird will stop laying when "she's ready!" It sounds like your little girl has already started on her second clutch, so just go ahead and start giving her at least 12 hours of darkness each day and wait until she has laid her clutch and abandonded them. Hopefully after this clutch she'll quit, but in the future unless you plan on breeding her try not to encourage egg laying. Discourage any nesting behavior. Don't let her into any little empty or dark places (like cabinets or tote bags in your case). The laying of infertile eggs is an unnecessary drain on your bird and can cause serious problems if not controlled. Good luck!!


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