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From: hubler@tomcat.lerc.nasa.gov (Dale Hubler)
Newsgroups: rec.pets,rec.birds
Subject: Re: parakeet laying eggs
Message-ID: <1990Dec9.014012.19066@eagle.lerc.nasa.gov>
Date: 9 Dec 90 01:40:12 GMT
References: <1990Dec7.195853.25615@oracle.com>
Reply-To: hubler@tomcat.lerc.nasa.gov (Dale Hubler)
Organization: NASA/Lewis Research Center, Cleveland
Lines: 25

In article <1990Dec7.195853.25615@oracle.com> pmabon@oracle.com () writes:
>A friend of mine has a young parakeet that is constantly laying eggs.  She
>apparently sticks her rear end waaaay away from her perch and just lets them
>drop wherever.  She's laying a bunch of them and the owners were concerned 
>that somehow her system was going to get depleted or she was going to get
>bound up trying to lay an egg and poop at the same time (apparently she
>has gigantic poops, almost as big as the eggs).
   
     Be sure the bird has a plentiful supply of mineral block or cuttlebone
(or both).  Fresh greens such as beet tops or spinach will help with
keeping the bird's droppings loose. Cut down the number of hours of
light in the day and try to get the bird to stop laying,  too many eggs
may deplete the calcium in the bones and cause it to be prone to injury.
A young bird may often lay eggs and not take proper care of them, as they
mature they will begin to sit on the eggs they lay.  Egg binding is a
possibilily if too many eggs are layed but that is more often a problem
with an older bird or one that is not being provided proper nutrition.

Good Luck!

Dale


--
Dale A. Hubler  ***   hubler@galaxy.lerc.nasa.gov  ***  (216) 433-5649