Female cockatiel laid an egg in her nighttime cage?

[Raveien]

Hello,

I've got a female cockatiel, got her when she was 9 months old - she's about 2.5 years old now. She's been acting quite hormonal and based on her behaviour I was thinking she might be gearing up for egg laying. She doesn't have a mate and is just a single hand tame female.
She has a main indoor aviary cage downstairs, and a smaller sleeping cage upstairs. I've been putting her to bed around 8am and getting her up around 9am to try and minimise the hormones and things but last few nights she's been coming down off her perch in the sleeper cage to be in the bottom corner.
My partner got her up this morning and she was in the bottom of the cage in a defensive position and he got her up and took her downstairs. I've just looked now and there's an egg! Is it best to leave the egg where it is? Or can I remove it? I'm not sure if she remembers that she's laid an egg, as shes not been back in this room since, but I don't want to cause any upset. I line the bottom of both her cage trays with newspaper which I think I'll remove. How else can I discourage further egg laying?
Any input would be greatly appreciated

 

[Shezbug]

Bump

 

[Emma&pico]

@Zara what would you recommend?

how did she act when away from egg downstairs?

 

[Zara]

This one is quite complicated for having a nightcage. Cockatiels tend to re-lay lost eggs, and can quickly become chronic egg layers.

I don't know the answer. If it were me, I'd put the egg in the day cage and stop using the night cage until the cycle is over.

Try to notice the signs next time before eggs are laid (it could be something from a sound she makes, spending more time on the cage floor, nest making, more shredding than normal etc ) and stop using the night cage when she's in an egg cycle to prevent her from laying in there.

@Monica ?

 

[Monica]

Egg confirms gender!

Is it possible to share current setups of her cages?

 

[Raveien]

Hello,

Thanks for you replies

So she laid the first egg on the 12th/13th of September and she does sit on the egg in the nighttime cage and does a defensive protective stance but then after a while she seems to get bored of that and comes out the night time cage so I take her downstairs. And then during the day downstairs she starts squawking a lot so I take her upstairs with me (the night time cage is in the office room and I work from home a lot) and then she goes in and sits on it again, and then will come out so i take her downstairs for food and water. And by the evening, like 7pm, she begins squawking a lot so I put her in the nighttime cage with the egg and she settles on it.
I got her up this morning though, and she was on the perch in the nighttime cage rather than at the bottom with the egg. Also, so far she's only laid one egg? From what I know it's meant to be every 24-48 hours? She's active as normal, perching, eating (albeit later in the day than normal) and drinking and preening so not showing any immediate signs of worry but I am a bit concerned over the lack of eggs.
The only reason for the separate night time cage really is her big cage is in the living room and she's a very light sleeper and will hiss and is disturbed very easily so figured it was the best way for her to get proper sleep as there's no where else I can put the big cage due to the size.

 

[Emma&pico]

I love her big cage so pretty

how is she now ?

 

[Monica]

Thank you for the photos!!!


Is there any way you could either stop the use of the night cage???? (yes, cockatiels tend to be drama queens when it comes to their sleep!)

Or maybe use a different cage without that plastic base to it? The plastic base has the potential to be more "nesty" than cages without a base like that. (i.e. her day cage)

 

[Raveien]

I love her big cage so pretty

how is she now ?

Thank you! We were given the smaller cage when we got her and were told it was big enough for her, but I didnt agree so brought the bigger cage.

She's doing really well actually, she's been a bit inactive last couple of weeks, or squawking incessantly, but realsied that was likely down to mating hormones. But she's back to her curious, active self now, as in getting into everything she can and generally just being a chaos bird living up to her namesake of Loki! Still only the one egg, but she's pretty much lost all interest in it? It's been nearly a week now since the first one was laid so not sure if another will come?

 

[Raveien]

Thank you for the photos!!!


Is there any way you could either stop the use of the night cage???? (yes, cockatiels tend to be drama queens when it comes to their sleep!)

Or maybe use a different cage without that plastic base to it? The plastic base has the potential to be more "nesty" than cages without a base like that. (i.e. her day cage)

I think the best option will be to swap the night cage for one with bars on the bottom instead of the tray so I'll start looking into options, thanks for the suggestion.
I don't think we can stop using a separate cage for night time purely because there's nowhere else the day cage can go, other than the living room and typically myself and my partner stay up till 11pm/12am most nights and I would worry about her quality of sleep. Even when she's in the office room, and I tiptoe in to get something, I immediately hear her hissing and flapping her wings! So she's quite a princess about her sleep xD