# Is she about to lay eggs?



## Ssarebearr (Sep 18, 2013)

I have a (probably) female cockatiel who has been screaming like **** for almost a week now. Even when I am in the room she will scream like crazy, even if I put her on my shoulder, etc. I will scratch her head for a bit and then start screaming again.

She has been doing this thing where she hunches over a little and makes soft peeps, and I've noticed her vent is opening and closing while doing so. 
Sometimes she will go to the bottom of her cage, tear up newspaper, and hiss whenever you try and stop her. I also saw her today swaying near that one spot in her cage, which I know is another nesting behavior.

I checked her vent and nothing looks abnormal. 
I haven't been able to pay much attention to her this week (maybe that's why shes acting out) but I saw her make a few poops that seemed normal. 
I don't think she's eating as much as usual but that might be due to a new cage she is getting used to.

Does this sound troublesome? Are these characteristics of an egg-bound bird?


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## Ptolia (Oct 21, 2014)

It sounds like a hen who is in the mood to be a mum. At this stage I wouldn't say any of her "symptoms" mean she is egg-bound, but it is certainly worth keeping an eye on her. 

Make sure she has plenty of calcium.


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## Ssarebearr (Sep 18, 2013)

Ptolia said:


> It sounds like a hen who is in the mood to be a mum. At this stage I wouldn't say any of her "symptoms" mean she is egg-bound, but it is certainly worth keeping an eye on her.
> 
> Make sure she has plenty of calcium.


Alright, that's what I was thinking. Thank you so much for your reply, I'm getting her some new cuttlebones today and feeding her hard boiled eggs


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## Ssarebearr (Sep 18, 2013)

Hello, sorry to double post. I posted another thread about her screaming and some people said she's being hormonal.

I kept her in a dark room to sleep for 14 hours for the past three days and her screaming has gone down just a little bit, but she's still passing massive droppings and doing that mating thing where she's low to the ground with her backside tilted upwards, with the quiet little squeaks and everything.

I'm starting to see a little rounding back there near her vent. (I think- maybe its just her natural body shape and I'm being paranoid). When she tilts her vent up in the air I see it's bigger than usual (no discharge, no poop around it, nothing sticking out, etc). By usual I mean in the past she has done this but her vent didn't look as big.

I'm very worried that she might be egg bound. I'll add some pics later.


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## mrme3257 (Nov 24, 2013)

Try to keep her in darkness and only allow 12 hours of brightness a day.

The Darkness might resemble a dark nest either so it could go one of two ways.


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## dianne (Nov 27, 2013)

I am going through something similar with my female tiel. Very similar behavior. She produced an egg yesterday.


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## Ssarebearr (Sep 18, 2013)

Hello! She JUST laid one egg. We haven't removed it and placed some paper for her to shred if she wants to (we initially removed it because we know it encourages egg-laying). We are leaving it there for a few days or a week. Is it ok to remove it after a week?

What should I do now?


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## Vickitiel (Oct 10, 2012)

Don't remove the egg after one week. She may continue to lay a whole clutch (averagely consisting of about four eggs), one every second day. Let her sit on them until she realises they aren't going to hatch. She will abandon them when she's ready, and hopefully this will help her get over the screaming issue.


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## Ptolia (Oct 21, 2014)

It's good she wasn't egg-bound and I agree, please don't remove the eggs until she shows no further interest in them.


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## Ssarebearr (Sep 18, 2013)

Hello, thanks for the responses! Overnight she's been sitting at the bottom guarding her egg. We put a small cardboard box in there and ripped up some newspaper for her. I'm quite relieved because she stopped screaming and apparently she's not eggbound.

I heard that they don't eat or poop in the cage for some time after laying eggs, but she ate a lot right after laying eggs. (We offered a scrambled egg to her) Anything I should be looking out for? Or should we just leave her alone unless she wants to come out?


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