So I have a female cockateal and she already laid one clutch of eggs and just now in between this thread and the other one I started she laid another egg. 2 months after the first clutch. And on my lap.

Is this strange? Common? Worrisome?

On your lap? Sounds common.

She was sitting on my lap because she wasn't feeling good and I was rubbing her head. She pulled her head away so I looked down and pop out comes an egg. Its not the first time shes laid one in my lap. But it is the first time shes laid eggs for a second time. Over the years shes had clutches from 5 - 12 eggs.

I used to raise Parakeets. They would lay 3 or 4 clutches of eggs. You have to throw out the third clutch and remove the boxes after the second clutch can eat on their own. It takes so much out of them to raise their young that the third clutches are usually inferior and mentally retarded.

5 eggs is normal for a cockatiel clutch... 12 means she's double clutching and seriously shouldn't be.

If you remove the eggs right away, she will try and fill out the clutch... best thing to do is let her lay all her eggs (should take about a week, either one every day or every other day) and then remove them all after she's done sitting on them for awhile... (normally it takes 3 weeks for fertile cockatiel eggs to hatch) they won't be fertile without a male, but you sure don't want her to get egg bound, and you don't want her double clutching or laying that many eggs at once. If she becomes egg bound, the vet will give her fluids, calcium, and something to help her pass the egg while keeping her body temperature up.. not cheap by any means... and all this may still not save her.

If she will eat cuttlebone, make sure there is plenty of that in her cage, if not, you can scrape it onto her food, or give her some bread, it has plenty of calcium in it and she needs the extra calcium to lay eggs.

If she continues to lay eggs, and it becomes a health problem, (which can happen at any time) the vet can remove her reproductive organs to stop her from producing eggs, but they may also just try medication to keep her from producing so many eggs.

There are a few things you can also do, you can limit the amount of light she gets every day which will decrease the interested in laying eggs, make sure you don't stimulate her by petting her tail area either which could trigger her mating/laying instincts...

Hopefully you can convince her she really doesn't need to be laying eggs...

------------------

She has cuttle bone and gets a sprinkling of calcium in her food bowls. I'm not about to even try and pet her ass. I rather like my fingers. Other then rubbing her head and neck she does not like to be petted at all. I'm not really worried to much about the eggs since shes pretty good about them. Unfertile but she keeps them warm and rotates them like she should.

I was just surprised that she would lay more 2 months latter. Her first set was in mid Feb. a few weeks earlier then last year.

quote Originally posted by Amethyst: 5 eggs is normal for a cockatiel clutch... 12 means she's double clutching and seriously shouldn't be.

Was someone up watching "the fast and the furious" too late?

"granny shifting, not double clutching like ya should!"

quote Originally posted by darkhorizon: Was someone up watching "the fast and the furious" too late? "granny shifting, not double clutching like ya should!"

laugh.. no it's the cold medicine! I swear!! What's really fun is to have a pair of lovebirds lay 10 eggs or more... nope, not a pair... both females?... but hey, weren't they mating? Yeah, but they still aren't a true pair... lol.. hmmm may need to have them surgically sexed ($45 each... nahhh they aren't worth that much) or go find another male... glad I'm out of the lovebirds... we'll see how these parrotlets do...

Too much light will trigger egg laying in hens... or dark places they can get into thinking it's a nest.. maybe not so much the stimulation of petting for cockatiels, but it can be a problem for bigger birds like cockatoos...

Just watch her when she starts laying eggs in case there's a problem... like her sitting on the floor of the cage, listless, not eating... etc... you may not get much of an inkling if there is something wrong, birds hide illness well...

------------------