Help: egg laying

[lutino]

Hi all,

My 3yr old blue IRN, Jasper has laid her first egg! Whats the best way to handle this? Do i just remove the egg from her cage? She doesn't seem to care about it. At the moment shes on the bottom of the cage concentrating! May be a second one?? How many eggs do they normally lay? She doesn't have a mate.
The egg looked quite big, and her backside looks like its been bleeding, and all the feathers have gone in that area...i suppose this is normal?

Any advice would be great!

Cheers

Sarah

[rod038]

They normally lay from 3 to 5 but she may lay more because she wont start setting. You can remove them if you want too.

[lutino]

can anyone tell me what to expect in terms of behaviour at this time? shes been on the bottom of her cage for most of the day concentrating trying to lay another by the looks of it. I just hope shes not having trouble...i have heard of egg bound birds What are signs of this?

Sarah

[mikeb]

just what you are saying feel her vent area real gentle to see if you feel a stuck egg but be careful not to break it inside her and bring her to a vet as soon as possible

[lutino]

She feels soft-ish there but im not sure. She still comes running for food and when i open the cage. But her cage is in my room (i live in a flat) and she was on the floor of the cage for most of the night, but she was sitting on the one she has already laid.
I duno if im just overreacting because i have never seen egg laying behaviour before or what

[mikeb]

sounds like she is ok being she's coming for food and she's sitting on egg just keep an eye on her when they are egg bound they will just sit on the bottom of cage and not move around much at all like their sick

[lutino]

I took her to the vet yesterday just to check it out. The vet said she had a large egg inside so they decided to keep her in an incubator over night and give her some calcium shots. She still hadn't laid so they put her under anesthetic and got it out in pieces..they could only keep her under for so long so they don't know if they've got it all. She will have to have an xray tomorrow to see.
Its all happened so fast..she wasnt extremely sick, i just wanted a check up, even the vet said she wasnt too bad and now all this has happened.
The thing is i rang the vet this morning and she said jasper hadnt laid the egg and that she would ring back at midday with a plan. She never did. She rang back later this afternoon saying they had put her under anesthetic to remove the egg! I never got asked for permission.

They also found that when they removed the tubing from her lungs after the procedure that there was gunky stuff on the tubing which is a sign of a respiratory problem Shes never had a breathing problem, shes never even been sick.

I was wondering if shes having these issues cos she was the runt of her clutch..she was 2/3 the size of her siblings.

[ellieelectrons]

Oh dear. I'm so sorry. I'm sending Jasper my best wishes.

Regarding the respiratory problem, they say that when you actually notice your bird is sick it is quite often too late as they will naturally try to mask illness or injuries.

Best wishes for your little girl.

Ellie.

[lutino]

Thank you,

Its getting me down a bit. I thought they may have waited another day before trying to remove the egg, but its done now. I wasn't even 100% she was egg bound,i just took her in to get her checked out cos i know if she is/was it can be serious...
And it doesn't help when your flatmate just tells you to put your bird down and get another one I said i love her though, and he said 'how can you love a bird, its not like a dog.' I felt like bursting into tears..

[ellieelectrons]

<sigh> Some people just don't understand bird people!

Ellie.

[julie]

oh dear sorry I would have put the flatmate on his ****. I hope your baby is ok. Just thinking would it be an idea to put a shoe box or something in the bottom of her cage so she can have her little clutch and then when the eggs dont hatch she will go back to normal.If the eggs get taken away they lay again and again.


I have an aviary hen that is by herself and she laid a clutch,mine have nesting boxes in their aviaries so they can feel safe from the neighbours cats that keep coming in. I felt so bad for her I swapped an egg from the pair in the other aviary with one of hers,the egg hatched and she had her little bub to look after.

[lutino]

Sorry, for some reason i didn't see this reply.

Aww thats so cute that she had a baby of her own to look after! I've been told different things about having a nest..some people say its better not to have one because the bird will be less likely to lay..

Anyway...jasper was hospitalised for 2 nights, she wasn't particularly ill but she was acting abit strange and the vet said the egg in her was large. I didn't want to take any chances cos i know how serious egg binding can be. She hadn't laid the egg by the morning so they put her under anesthetic and they tried to remove it but it cracked so they had to remove itin pieces. They gave her an x-ray the next day and it was all gone

The thing is she gets a varied diet with lots of fruit and vegies but does eat seed. Shes always been a slim bird, she was the runt of her clutch and im wondering if thats why shes having issues laying eggs. However the vet said she had a prominent keel bone which is a sign of poor body condition.
It made me really sad, like im a bad owner...at the moment im trying to change her to a pelleted diet, which i have tried before, but she justs eats the seeds ive been mixing with it (changing gradually)..

any ideas??? thank you!