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Help! My bird laid an egg!

© Mary Wilson

In the wild, Mother Nature takes care of her creatures by varying the amount of daylight. Spring and Summer bring longer days, which cues the female bird that it is time to nest. As the days grow shorter with the advent of Fall, then Winter, the female bird takes a rest from parenthood. As man brought birds indoors, the birds became used to artifical light, but once the electric light was invented, some birds became thoroughly confused.

With the lights on 10 or more hours a day, every day, the bird began to think of itself as living in continual summer. Sometimes, a female bird may simply enjoy it, then one day, you'll discover, much to your suprise, that your bird laid an egg.

As a bird breeder, I had grown accustomed to finding eggs where I should, such as nestboxes. Yet, when I peered into my parakeet's cage and saw an egg, I suddenly felt overhwelmed. How was it, that when I had my parakeet paired with a male, that she refused to breed yet, months later, she begins to lay eggs? I racked my mind for an answer.

I decided to let her be. Perhaps it was a fluke. Then, two days later, another egg joined the first. Then another. I knew I had an egg-laying bird on my hands.

The first thing to do when confronted with an egg-laying bird is to assess the bird's environment. A mental list of the available light, the cage size, the toys, anything that might contribute to the behavior. Many people like to provide "nests" for their birds, whether the small canary nests, or homemade places. While the birds enjoy these items, a female bird may decide that the presence of a suitable nesting area may mean that it is time to lay a clutch.

My parakeet, Ozzie, didn't have a nest, so I looked into her lighting. She lives in her cage in the same room as my breeders, and so had acess to plenty of light. My first thought was to decrease the amount of light, but this meant covering her in the evenings, when I enjoyed watching her antics, or moving her out of the bird room. I decided to try other methods first.

I knew Ozzie had recently been moved to a slightly smaller cage. I thought that perhaps the lack of room might have contributed to a more stationary lifestyle, and such, prompted her to lay eggs. I moved her into a larger cage. Thankfully, this fixed the problem, but had it not, I'm going to list my next thoughts.

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