# unmated egg laying



## newsun (Aug 12, 2011)

Hi,

Been reading all the great stickies and threads

I just want to make sure that I am on the right path and I have some questions.

Pepper laid an egg this morning. It's on the grate. It's calcium deficient, pink rather than nice and white and hard. Pepper is probably about a year and half. I adopted her from the Humane Society so I'm just guessing from the first molt and her bodily changes.

So here goes.

1. Need to get a calcium supplement to make sure she doesn't egg bind and put her outside for more D.

2. Increase her sleep time to 14 hours. 

3. Rearrange her cage.

Now the questions...

Should I remove food and put it back at random times so that maybe she'll get the idea that food isn't available for babies. She eats pellets plus I give her fresh/cooked veggies with seed in it morning and night. She loves sweet and regular potatoes, broccoli, rice, and salad ingredients. 

She's not interested in the egg. She's interested in me. Should I put the egg in a little bowl with a piece of towel or just leave it? 

I have a pair of budgies but they are in a different room but they can hear each other and they do very occasionally see each other. Is having a male budgie in the house an issue?

Thanks for your help. I've had budgies for over 40 years and never had one egg... even with males and females together. Oh boy! Something new...


----------



## roxy culver (May 27, 2010)

First, she needs seeds in her diet. Tiels are natural seed eaters so not giving her any is a bad idea. An all pellet diet can hurt her in the long run. I would not take her food away at random times. Offer her seeds throughout the day, but cut back on the soft foods that you give her (i.e. the sweet potatoes and such). Soft foods are what they feed babies. 

If the egg is pink that means it hasn't developed yet or its infertile. Place it in a bowl and leave it for her, some hens wont sit til the third or fourth egg has been laid.

A male budgie being in the house will not have an affect her on, especially if she rarely sees him. Its most likely YOU that she sees as her mate so make sure you aren't petting her back or anything like that. Stick to head scritches if she accepts them.


----------



## newsun (Aug 12, 2011)

Thanks for the advice. I feel a lot more confident as to how to handle this now.


----------



## tielfan (Aug 31, 2008)

Instead of taking the food away at random times, cut down on the amount that's available. Make sure there's enough food for her to eat as much as she wants, but not so much food that she thinks there is enough for babies too. 

We have a sticky thread on hormone control at http://talkcockatiels.com/showthread.php?t=32330 The second post in the thread talks about single hens laying eggs.


----------

