Alright Who Laid The Egg???
You guessed it! My 8yr old Moluccan Cockatoo laid her first egg last night at 8:05 p.m.
Unfortunately we havent a male to fertilize it. But by all indications she has proved herself as being mature now and shows an eagerness to breed. Unlike my other birds who are older. Yes I also have 2 Blue & Gold Macaws 9 & 10 y.o., and a African Grey Congo who about 14+ y.o.
Its actually quite the event as she had been acting horribly lately, I had assumed she was just being a brat, as some of you know who own birds, and especially these they can sound like Haller Monkeys when they go on a rant! So I had been bringing her into the house daily for the last 2 weeks, as normally they live in the garage, and if loud enough can cause neighbors to get upset. So she’d sit in the upstairs extra bedroom caged and stare out the window, then around 5pm she’d have another screaming fit so she’d go into a separate closet of darkness so she would take a nap and be quiet, then 11 pm go back out to her cage in the garage for the night. No, Im not cruel, but i do know how to shut them up after 11 yrs experience!
Now first i thought she was just demanding attention, then it crossed my mind uh oh maybe she has a egg binding situation (laymans terms: an egg that gets stuck in the oviduct, and requires ugent medical attention.) So i figured okay well when she’s in the closet situation i laid blankets over the large pet carrier to increase the warmth/humidity level (helps with binding), she seemed to like it and stopped yelling right away, i figured whatever floats her boat. What i had been noticing for the last week daily, is that all the newspaper inside was all shredded into millions of pieces, and id change it everyday! Figured she was just bore and figured it was a way to take out frustration….but Hmmm…more like nesting actually!
Now, She actually appears to handle her egg with gentleness and care, which is a good sign she will be a good mommy some day. Trust me with a beak that can has a cruching ability of 500 lbs per square inch thats amazing. And Talons which desparately need clipping and are razor sharp.
Now i let her keep the egg last night so she can experience it, but the books say i should remove it right away. So as a test the next morning, when her back was turned i removed the egg , but when she turned back she became frantic, and searched, well i put it outside the cage and when she saw it then she was calm again. I have now transfered her to another cage, and she has started eating her seeds, (a good sign, since she had been hardly eating lately) and hasnt started a screamin fit or anything. Probably cause she knows its in the other cage…... Any breeders out their with suggestions to make this an easy adjustment for her?
George Link
What a beauty she is…
DefyingGravity
Poor baby, she wuvs her egg! She is beautiful. ;D Don’t know what to say about the egg though, sorry. ;D
velveteagle
Great sharing and capture.. it looks like you take care of your friend very well..
Karen Crozier
Cool story Lisa
mlgkats
she is very beautiful , love the pink tint , and congrats
angelandspot
She is very pretty. Sorry I don’t know a ting about raising birds.
Anartist
as a bird guy I love this story…she is beautifull..
Lisa Weber
Thanks, I named her “Peaches”, because of her coloring and even before it was confirmed she was a female at 2 months old. I was right. I generally get a feel, and chk the vent, listen to the voice, color of the iris and how they respond to me, Ive owned 13 birds now and have only been wrong 1 time so far. She’s the sweetest little big girl, but only says “hello” and a muffled “love you”.
Some day Id like to own a red-tailed black cockatoo
and the grand daddy of them all the 28inch (mine’s 20 inches in length) the Palm Cockatoo (they cost about 12,000!!)
RonniLeigh
Oh I loved reading about your bird. Wishing I could help out but I don’t know anything about birds. But I love birds :)
Maylock
Wow what a great story Sis and you still have time to have drama in your life and create like a mad woman, WTG Girl I IZ proud of you, great Pics of da birdies…So now you have to ask yourself, Who knocked her up Sis? one of your males for sure, but which one?? Looks like they crossed Species I guess hahahahaha lolo. horny old birds hahaha.
Lisa Weber replied
Okay so youre not bird smart…lol
hens lay eggs once they reach maturity but they cannot fertilize them without a male. So nobody knocked her up.
Now if they were larger I’d be having em over easy!!
LOL…. NO WAY JUST KIDDING!!
Lisa Weber
UPDATE: No new eggs, guess 1 was enough for her! I was wondering if a clutch of them were going to appear, or even just a second one for that matter (i’ll have to do alittle research and find out how many is normal for this particular species.)
Well as usual 5 pm came and she wanted to change cages but rather than put her back in where she laid the egg (I was concerned that being in with the scent probably given off after a egg is laid she might go through a withdrawal type symptom or post mortem issue.) so i chose to put her back in the garage cage instead, she didnt freak surprisingly. She chatted with other birds complained alittle, then was 1/2 covered an hour later to inform her her chatter was becoming loud, and by 10pm settled into bed nicely. whew…...I think i went through more stress than her over this whole matter.
Hardest part is this…what do i do with the poor little egg?
Eat it?...no couldnt do that
Throw it away?...I cant it seems disrespectful
Make a grave, say a prayer and bury it?...sounds logical and politically correct.
Stick it in a bag and refrigerate it for eternity?...yup, thats what i did….I havent the heart to do anything at this point.
Yes im so sentimental, compassionate, etc….But its my first birds egg!
What would you do?????
Sidhegraphics
Congrats… on the egg!!! Can’t say I know anything about birds,,, so I just have to wait for the experts to pipe in :)
Angela Stewart
You could blow the egg and paint it pretty colours!
shooting4fun
I thought that I was the only person that went through this. My girl Peaches, just gets down right honorary when she is about to lay and egg. She gets horny and it is a terrible time for me. I wish I knew what to do. I guess it is something we both have to live with.
Lisa Weber replied
Thanks!
Hilarious Mine is named Peaches as well!!
And she just laid her first egg this year 3 days ago….exactly 1 year to the date!
Is yours at least 8-10 yrs old if so…she’s mature and will eggs forever now!
Tip, they generally lay eggs the same time every year for a 2-3 week period at least mine does. What they are demanding ( all the fussiness, screaming, even aggression at times) is a separate box/cage (a pet carrier well sized) is best with lots of clean newspapers (for her to shred like for a nest-seriously into a million pieces!) Cover with a blanket for darkness but only 3/4 of the way around. And remove to another quiet area of garage/home/room…gives a sense of privacy and safety to lay eggs. Make sure she has water/and food supply put her in in the a.m. and bed at 10-11 pm, if she starts with the bowing over and shaking, and makes funny sounds when you touch her, she’s in egg laying mode. Ive figured her out! Note when she lays an egg, dont just take it away give her 24 hrs with it, in otherwords let her remain in the carrier that night and cover it completely and say goodnight, make sure to acknowledge her well doing of the egg, they like the praise, and definately would appreciate half a bananna too! It calms them and resupplys the potassium needed after egg laying, along with seeds and reg. diet. Mine lays 1 about every 5 days and usually produces 4 in total.
Then she’s back to normal and doesnt wwant to to back to the nesting box we create. But save it cause she’ll use it every late feb and early march! I save the eggs in a bag in refrigerator, i cant throw em out, part of me feels bad, another part says well if i ever had to sell her i can show she’s a proven egg layer if nothing else…lol
Watch out for egg binding, it can occur, (means the egg is impacted and she cant get it out) it does happen, ive been lucky!