# Hen still sitting on the eggs



## Nipun82 (Dec 18, 2016)

Hi guys , I hope u and ur birds are doing well.

Last month on 15 Sep my cockatiel laid her first egg and there are 8 of them. When I checked, they all were infertile, so I was waiting for her to abandon them herself before I remove them. But its been one month now and she is still trying to incubate her eggs. And today when I was cleaning the cage I saw big and watery poops , I think she will be laying another clutch of eggs , not sure. What should I do , should I remove the old eggs ? M afraid cos she's still sitting on them. Waiting for ur replies ,
Thank You

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## roxy culver (May 27, 2010)

Is she a single hen? If so have you tried hormone control? Egg laying is not healthy for a single hen all by herself.


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## Nipun82 (Dec 18, 2016)

roxy culver said:


> Is she a single hen? If so have you tried hormone control? Egg laying is not healthy for a single hen all by herself.


Nope there is a male also , but I haven't saw them mating . The eggs are on the bottom of the cage, I didn't placed the nest box , coz I didn't wanted to raise her hormones. I haven't tried any other hormone control techniques yet.

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## roxy culver (May 27, 2010)

I would start the hormone control asap. It's very unhealthy for a hen to lay eggs like that without stopping. It will take about two weeks for the hormone techniques to take.


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## Nipun82 (Dec 18, 2016)

roxy culver said:


> I would start the hormone control asap. It's very unhealthy for a hen to lay eggs like that without stopping. It will take about two weeks for the hormone techniques to take.


Oh okay I will start hormone control from today , but what should I do with those old eggs? I heard that she abandons them in 3 weeks but my hen is sitting on them from a month. Should I wait more for her to abandon them herself or should I remove them now.

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## roxy culver (May 27, 2010)

I would wait for the hormone control to take affect. You remove them now and she may lay more.


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## Nipun82 (Dec 18, 2016)

roxy culver said:


> I would wait for the hormone control to take affect. You remove them now and she may lay more.


Oh okay thanx , really appreciate it  , I will keep updating her status 

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## ninfatiel (Jul 22, 2016)

I am afraid if there are watery poops-she is going to lay some more.. I would apply the HC but on the same time wont encourage more sitting either-removing the eggs and blocking the spot in the cage by putting a dish or something there,also, change of location may help-brightest spot during the day time with no shadow available on the bottom of the cage


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## Nipun82 (Dec 18, 2016)

ninfatiel said:


> I am afraid if there are watery poops-she is going to lay some more.. I would apply the HC but on the same time wont encourage more sitting either-removing the eggs and blocking the spot in the cage by putting a dish or something there,also, change of location may help-brightest spot during the day time with no shadow available on the bottom of the cage


Yeah I think the eggs r rotting, one of them has turned black, should I remove them all at once or one each day? I have started some HC techniques. Is it okay to cover the cage with a cloth during day time to keep them out of light?
And I read that food high in fats like seed raise their hormones, so should I remove them from cage for some days or let them eat seeds with fruits and veggies? 

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## tielfan (Aug 31, 2008)

Eggs that have turned black are rotting and need to be removed. Personally I'd take away all the eggs at once and make some other changes (like moving the cage or rearranging the interior) to disrupt the situation in a way that's not too threatening. Hopefully this will keep her off balance long enough for the hormone control to take effect.

It's a myth that high-fat foods raise their hormone levels - it's the general abundance of food that has the biggest effect, and it's doubtful whether the specific type of food that's available has anything to do with it at all. If anything is going to do it, it would be the availability of soft moist foods because they make such great baby food.


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## Nipun82 (Dec 18, 2016)

tielfan said:


> Eggs that have turned black are rotting and need to be removed. Personally I'd take away all the eggs at once and make some other changes (like moving the cage or rearranging the interior) to disrupt the situation in a way that's not too threatening. Hopefully this will keep her off balance long enough for the hormone control to take effect.
> 
> It's a myth that high-fat foods raise their hormone levels - it's the general abundance of food that has the biggest effect, and it's doubtful whether the specific type of food that's available has anything to do with it at all. If anything is going to do it, it would be the availability of soft moist foods because they make such great baby food.


Okay I will remove the eggs and rearrange the cage stuff. What should I do with the food. I mean earlier , seed used to be in there cage all day and I used to give them fruits and veggies in separate dishes which the birds used to finish in few hours. So now, should I offer them food for few hours only or should I reduce the quantity of food , for ex: half bowl per day.


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## tielfan (Aug 31, 2008)

You can still have food available all day, but try to make sure that it's enough to satisfy your birds without having a lot left over. If there's a lot left over they'll think that there's enough food available to raise a family.


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## Nipun82 (Dec 18, 2016)

tielfan said:


> You can still have food available all day, but try to make sure that it's enough to satisfy your birds without having a lot left over. If there's a lot left over they'll think that there's enough food available to raise a family.


Okay thanx for help , really appreciate the valuable info I got 


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## ninfatiel (Jul 22, 2016)

Infertile eggs dont rot, eggs which are DIS (dead in shell) do. So if the egg turned black-there is a chance it was fertile, and so the eggs from a new coming clutch may be fertile also. I always feel its a shame to throw away fertile egss,like a birdie crime or smth..I suggest carefully open the rotten egg on a white plate-to see if there were any remains of an embryo. And if so-you may want to give them proper nest box and place new eggs there


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## Nipun82 (Dec 18, 2016)

ninfatiel said:


> Infertile eggs dont rot, eggs which are DIS (dead in shell) do. So if the egg turned black-there is a chance it was fertile, and so the eggs from a new coming clutch may be fertile also. I always feel its a shame to throw away fertile egss,like a birdie crime or smth..I suggest carefully open the rotten egg on a white plate-to see if there were any remains of an embryo. And if so-you may want to give them proper nest box and place new eggs there


Yeah I don't like removing the fertile eggs too. But sad I have already removed those eggs. So is it possible that the eggs didn't hatched because they were on the cage floor? I didn't placed a nest box coz I thought they were infertile and didn't wanted to raise her hormones.
Reasons why I thought eggs were infertile: 
1) I never saw them mating 
2) I tried to candle eggs and I found them only yellow from inside. 

Now , I have started hormone control , should I continue that , would u suggest placing a nest box now?

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## roxy culver (May 27, 2010)

I wouldn't. Not if you want her to stop. Personally, because she's already laid two clutches, I'd want to give her six months to rest. It tales a lot out of a bird to lay eggs. 

Just because you don't see the mating, doesn't mean it didn't happen. And if the hen wasn't able to nest properly, the eggs probably never developed far enough for veins to appear. They have to be kept warm and turned frequently, which probably doesn't happen on a cage floor.


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## Nipun82 (Dec 18, 2016)

roxy culver said:


> I wouldn't. Not if you want her to stop. Personally, because she's already laid two clutches, I'd want to give her six months to rest. It tales a lot out of a bird to lay eggs.
> 
> Just because you don't see the mating, doesn't mean it didn't happen. And if the hen wasn't able to nest properly, the eggs probably never developed far enough for veins to appear. They have to be kept warm and turned frequently, which probably doesn't happen on a cage floor.


She's about to lay the 2nd clutch , is it possible that she won't lay it coz I have started the HC.
If not , then m confused where will she lay them coz there isn't a nest box and I have also blocked the corners with bowls where she laid them last time. Any suggestions what should I do?

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## tielfan (Aug 31, 2008)

An infertile egg can rot if bacteria get into it. Since the eggs were laid on the cage floor, they might have acquired small cracks that let the bacteria in.

If she lays any new eggs then you have a decision to make. Do you want to let her sit on them in case they're fertile, or do you want to avoid breeding? If you want to let her sit on them, then give her an appropriate place to sit on them. It doesn't have to be an actual nestbox, but an open bowl or box with some padding in the bottom will help prevent the eggs from getting cracked. 

If you don't want her to sit on them, you can try the 'tough love' approach. Intense hormone control methods plus immediately removing any eggs that are laid. Taking the eggs will sometimes result in the hen laying more eggs than she would have otherwise, but it doesn't always work that way. Sometimes taking the eggs away will give her the idea that she's picked a bad place to lay eggs, and she'll stop.


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## Nipun82 (Dec 18, 2016)

tielfan said:


> An infertile egg can rot if bacteria get into it. Since the eggs were laid on the cage floor, they might have acquired small cracks that let the bacteria in.
> 
> If she lays any new eggs then you have a decision to make. Do you want to let her sit on them in case they're fertile, or do you want to avoid breeding? If you want to let her sit on them, then give her an appropriate place to sit on them. It doesn't have to be an actual nestbox, but an open bowl or box with some padding in the bottom will help prevent the eggs from getting cracked.
> 
> If you don't want her to sit on them, you can try the 'tough love' approach. Intense hormone control methods plus immediately removing any eggs that are laid. Taking the eggs will sometimes result in the hen laying more eggs than she would have otherwise, but it doesn't always work that way. Sometimes taking the eggs away will give her the idea that she's picked a bad place to lay eggs, and she'll stop.


Okay , so I will continue with HC , and will wait if she lays more eggs. If they are fertile then I will place a nestbox and if they are infertile I am not sure if I should remove them immediately or wait sometime. 

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## ninfatiel (Jul 22, 2016)

Nipun82 said:


> Okay , so I will continue with HC , and will wait if she lays more eggs. If they are fertile then I will place a nestbox and if they are infertile I am not sure if I should remove them immediately or wait sometime.
> 
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You wont be able to see if they are fertile untill about after 3-4 days of non-stop incubation. Usually when cockatiels mate,hens are very noisy about it and it is hard to miss,however I have one hen-makes zero noise,one can only find them mating if one sees it. Usually hen continues to mate while laying the clutch, but if you never have seen them-probably the rotten eggs really got bacteria in them-like tielfan said and were infertile after all, in which case more advisable course of action would be HC


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## Nipun82 (Dec 18, 2016)

ninfatiel said:


> You wont be able to see if they are fertile untill about after 3-4 days of non-stop incubation. Usually when cockatiels mate,hens are very noisy about it and it is hard to miss,however I have one hen-makes zero noise,one can only find them mating if one sees it. Usually hen continues to mate while laying the clutch, but if you never have seen them-probably the rotten eggs really got bacteria in them-like tielfan said and were infertile after all, in which case more advisable course of action would be HC


Yeah I am continuing HC , I will give her a box or something if she lays more eggs and will wait to see if they are fertile or infertile. 

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## Fran.bath89 (Jun 12, 2016)

Yes you can cover them for parts of the day to minimise light I would try and keep the cage covered at night and then you can take the cover off abit later and put back on earlier to make night seem long not just cover for a few hours here and there. Also make sure the cover covers the whole cage other wise you will end up with light still getting in. Maybe move your cage to a shadier part of the house so there is less light that way too. Unfortunately I don’t have experience with hormone control but I like to research


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## Nipun82 (Dec 18, 2016)

Fran.bath89 said:


> Yes you can cover them for parts of the day to minimise light I would try and keep the cage covered at night and then you can take the cover off abit later and put back on earlier to make night seem long not just cover for a few hours here and there. Also make sure the cover covers the whole cage other wise you will end up with light still getting in. Maybe move your cage to a shadier part of the house so there is less light that way too. Unfortunately I don’t have experience with hormone control but I like to research


Yea I have been covering the cage from past few days. They don't get light more than 10-12 hours, I hope that will help.

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## roxy culver (May 27, 2010)

12-14 is the ideal amount of darkness to knock their hormones out of whack.


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## tielfan (Aug 31, 2008)

It needs to be 12-14 hours of nonstop darkness to make them think that the nights are long. Don't cover them up for a few hours in the middle of the day to get the extra hours, because that sends the message that the nights are really, really short. It needs to be a long, continuous darkness session.


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## Nipun82 (Dec 18, 2016)

tielfan said:


> It needs to be 12-14 hours of nonstop darkness to make them think that the nights are long. Don't cover them up for a few hours in the middle of the day to get the extra hours, because that sends the message that the nights are really, really short. It needs to be a long, continuous darkness session.


I mostly cover the cage at 6-7 PM and remove it 7-8 AM.But after all that she laid an egg today. I have started a fresh thread regarding that. Please help me out.

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