# Is This an "Egg Bump"?



## cyhiraeth (Jul 14, 2012)

In spite of the hormone reduction techniques we institute (14 hours of darkness a day; limiting warm, moist food; no petting on the back; etc.), our 21-month-old hen Beatrix appears to be "with egg". (She is our only cockatiel and has not been in contact with any other cockatiels, so the egg will be infertile.) This would be her second egg, and she's acting like she did before the last time she laid: very chirpy/whiny, very clingy, getting more territorial about her cage, etc. On Monday I took the attached photo and I'm wondering if the thing the white arrow pointing to is an "egg bump". If so, it seems to be taking her an awfully long time to lay (as it's now Thursday), and I'm wondering at what point I should be concerned. Her poops are bigger than normal (sometimes quite spectacularly so), and are also happening less often.

She eats pellets throughout the day, and in the mornings gets a mix of veggies and grains (this week it's broccoli, carrots, peas, corn, and green beans for the veggies and cooked brown rice for the grain). I've also been taking her outside in her harness when it's warm enough for a little while and giving her a little scrambled egg and some liquid calcium to help with protein, vitamin D, and calcium. She's eating, preening, sleeping, and perching normally; using her mineral block; and destroying her Bird Kabob toy like crazy--in short, I'm not seeing any behavior that would lead me to believe she's in distress other than near-constant chirping. Should I just keep waiting to see if she lays the egg?

Thank you!


----------



## Haimovfids (Sep 19, 2012)

it does look like an egg bump, lets just see if she lays an egg


----------



## roxy culver (May 27, 2010)

An egg bump would be seen underneath her, near her vent area not on her back. But the way her wings are drooping, it does appear she may be carrying an egg. I would wait, since she doesn't seem to acting up, she may not be ready yet. 

Since the 14hrs of darkness isn't working (have you been rearranging her cage weekly and moving it to different spots in the room as well?) you can try the 24hrs of light. This means never turning her light off. She'll still sleep but it wont be "safe" enough for her to lay.


----------



## cyhiraeth (Jul 14, 2012)

Thank you both! We do rearrange her cage weekly, but our living room is pretty small compared to her cage, so we can't really move the cage itself around much (although we are moving to a bigger place in August and can start doing it then). I'll try the 24 hours of light and see if that makes a difference. I think the warmer spring temperatures were just too much for her little hormones.

I'm a bit of a hypochondriac about my birds and I just wanted to make sure there wasn't cause to take her to the vet (although we are very lucky to have an excellent avian vet and urgent care clinic at the nearby veterinary teaching hospital, so if anything goes awry we can have her there in five minutes, day or night).

I've attached a picture of her being adorable as thanks.


----------

