When to remove eggs?

[Gazimon]

Rainbow laid 3 eggs and I'm monitoring her in case there's a 4th. Eggs are likely sterile as I separated her from Moony and BB when she got too aggressive (months ago). Its been about a week since the first egg.

I do plan on removing them some time as I don't want her to sit around for too long. But I also don't want to remove too soon and have her body clock 'reset' into making more eggs. I live near the equator so seasons are non-existant.

When should I remove the eggs?

 

[Zara]

When she abandons them.

They are infertile so just leave the eggs as they are, no need for boiling or fakes or anything like that.

My hen makes it clear when she´s had enough, she will start tossing everything around and the eggs will be no longer together.

Also, I know you have split your birds up, but in the future, if they do rekindle their relationship, I would advise against breeding two different species together.

 

[Gazimon]

Normally when is that? Weeks later?

I don't plan to breed them.

 

[Zara]

It can vary.

Rainbow sounds a lot like my bird Aldora. I don´t take eggs until she make the move. She gets upset easy.

 

[teena87]

Just to share my personal experience - I left unfertilized eggs hoping that she will eventually abandon them herself. She never did. She stayed with them for a month and maybe a week and then laid another clutch. Vet said that leaving the eggs and the nest box may have caused her to remain in the mode to lay more once she was done with the previous clutch. The advise was to remove them 2 a day and hide everything that resembles a nest and nesting material.

 

[Zara]

Just to share my personal experience - I left unfertilized eggs hoping that she will eventually abandon them herself. She never did. She stayed with them for a month and maybe a week and then laid another clutch. Vet said that leaving the eggs and the nest box may have caused her to remain in the mode to lay more once she was done with the previous clutch. The advise was to remove them 2 a day and hide everything that resembles a nest and nesting material.

The best advice is to not provide a nesting box or anything shreddable. If she lays on the floor, leave them on the floor.

 

[Gazimon]

There's no nest box or snuggle hut as I didn't want to induce any nesting.

But I put newspaper to line the floor of my bird cages so that their feet don't get strained by the bars. She shredded that and made a nest.

Yet at the same time, I don't want her to be bored while I'm at work. I put in a new toy 2 days ago, but she's just so fixated on shreddables.

 

[Lady Jane]

It is my understanding there is no reason to leave the eggs with the female bird. @PoukieBear

 

[PoukieBear]

Morning!

Remove the eggs. Since they are infertile, there is no reason to let her incubate them, and waste precious energy on eggs that will never hatch. Remember that while incubating eggs, the male is always there to help out and make sure she is fed and has a break from nesting. Since there is no male, she's doing this all on her own and will lose weight in the process. Losing weight for a bird is always dangerous, so do what's best for her and take the eggs out.

Then re-arrange the cage, move some perches and toys around, re-locate the food and water dishes if possible. This will help throw her out of the nesting mood and she should be back to her normal self soon.

Good luck!

 

[Lady Jane]

@Gazimon what did you end up doing with the eggs. What Poukiebear said makes much sense.

 

[Gazimon]

I took the shredded newspaper nest out, gave the cage base a clean and left 3 eggs in the dish beside the food dish [ there were 4 eggs total, I took out one. Candled all to confirm all infertile. I was thinking of taking out 1 by 1 ].

She ate "angrily" from the food dish after I let her back in, and I spotted her roosting on the perch away from the remaining eggs last night. If she's no longer interested in the remaining eggs I might remove all at one go.

 

[Gazimon]

Ah shoots. Rainbow laid another egg today. She managed to shred a bit of newspaper from under the cage floor grill, but it wasn't enough to make a nest, more like a gathered clump. And the egg was sitting on the grill wires but she was incubating it. I already took out all the eggs on 14 Mar, and she laid 1 today so that's a mere 15 days. What now?

 

[PoukieBear]

Ah shoots. Rainbow laid another egg today. She managed to shred a bit of newspaper from under the cage floor grill, but it wasn't enough to make a nest, more like a gathered clump. And the egg was sitting on the grill wires but she was incubating it. I already took out all the eggs on 14 Mar, and she laid 1 today so that's a mere 15 days. What now?

Just keep taking them out as she lays them. Remember it's spring time and the days are getting longer and hormones are raging in our birds.

Are you covering her cage to reduce daylight hours? Have your re-arranged her cage, moved perches, rotated toys?

 

[Gazimon]

There's no spring here, I'm near the equator. Maybe its time to move her cage somewhere quieter. I'll try re-arranging things too