Chronic Egg-laying in Single Cockatiels

by Susan McWilliams
Spring 2003

Introduction

I base this article on my own experience with a single, chronically laying female cockatiel. While the ideas shared here are limited to cockatiels, they may also apply to other pet birds and they are certainly based on extensive experience in terms of duration of the problem and its resultant complications. The discussion is holistic in nature, focusing especially on behavioral factors relating to chronic egg-laying, with some attention to allopathic treatments and issues of diet.

Louise’s Story

We have an approximately five year old normal gray female cockatiel which, until just over a year ago, laid eggs every month for about 3 years. During her chronic laying, Louise did not have an avian mate and she was the only bird in our household. Louise averaged 5-6 eggs per clutch, bringing her total egg-laying production during this period to approximately 180. Once Louise started laying, she did not skip a single month during the entire 3 year period. She laid through illness and health, egg binding, soft-shelled eggs, and prolapse. She laid before, during, or after 2 separate 10-day to 2-week boarding experiences. She laid in 3 different cages. She laid through hormonal injections. She laid through a diet heavy on green peas (recommended as a natural birth control method). She laid through any number of different light reduction/increase schedules. She laid through weekly cage rearrangements of various sorts. She laid through psittacosis, giardia, and at least 2 unspecified respiratory infections. She laid through our own ignorance, frustration, anxiety and, finally, very serious fear for her health. Despite all of this apparent failure (on her part, as clearly this was the most unproductive sort of productivity, and on ours, as clearly we seemed unable to help her stop), there is much to learn from Louise’s case, if only in terms of what not to do or, in some case, when not to do it.

Natural versus Unnatural Egg laying

As this article is concerned with egg laying in unpaired, non-breeding hens (and as I have no breeding experience) it is not relevant for those making decisions about breeding practices. What is natural (and healthy) laying for a single hen of opportunistic laying tendencies is different from what is natural and healthy for a breeding hen which, presumably, does at least some of the feeding of chicks. For example, many cockatiel breeders limit their pairs to a maximum of 2 clutches per year. Any breeder who had a hen which quadruple-clutched would be alarmed. However, as cockatiels are opportunistic breeders, meaning they will engage in breeding behaviors when the opportunities for doing so successfully seem greatest, judging “natural” breeding behaviors is more difficult than it might be if they were tied to a more rigid breeding cycle.

In the case of the single hen, however, determining unnatural laying is tied to the bird’s health more generally. People frequently report single hens laying the occasional egg from a perch and ignoring it completely. Others report a hen which dutifully sits on her eggs, but only lays once or twice a year. Such laying, whether “natural” or not (given its occurrence in the most unnatural of environments, a cage) will probably not hurt a bird that is otherwise in good health. So how does one determine whether laying is unhealthy?

Health problems such as nutritional deficiencies, illness, egg binding, soft-shelled eggs, cloacal prolapse, and others are clear indications that, whatever the frequency of laying, it has significantly deteriorated the hen’s health. The problem is that once such signs are in evidence, laying itself may have become so cyclical that it is difficult to stop. For this reason, I divide the discussion of responding to chronic egg-laying into three sections, one focusing on preventing egg-laying, one responding to initial laying behaviors, and one focusing on responding to laying that has already become chronic.

Ounces of Prevention

If you have a single hen that is sexually mature, especially one that is exhibiting signs of that maturity (e.g., “mating” with objects in the cage, seeking nesting environments) consider acting in a preventative fashion before any eggs are laid. At the very least, avoid behaviors on your part which may encourage egg-laying. Do not simulate “mating” with your cockatiel. Many recommend avoiding petting the bird below the head/neck area. I concur with avoiding petting the bird’s back. It may help to limit displays of physical affection altogether during periods where the bird is displaying sexual behaviors. I do not know what types of physical contact my bird experiences as mating behaviors so when she shows signs of sexual behaviors I severely limit my own displays of physical affection toward her. Do not encourage any nesting behavior on your bird’s part. It may seem “cute” that she is shredding newspaper, attempting to hide in cupboards and book shelves, behind couches, etc., but this behavior, if not checked, is a part of her preparations to lay. Preventing nesting behaviors may require more considered attention to her cage and play environments. Removal of potential nesting materials and environments is important. Other modifications of cage and play environments are considered below.

Responding to Initial Egg-laying

Whether your hen lays from a perch, in your hand (yes, that happens), on the floor of her cage, or in some other spot, once she has done so, more aggressive measures are called for to discourage further laying. I focus here on two primary approaches, light reduction and modification of cage and play environments.

People with chronic layers are frequently instructed to reduce their bird’s photoperiod to curb egg laying, with the usual recommendation being to limit the bird’s exposure to 8-10 hours a day. The logic behind this recommendation is that an increased photoperiod acts as a signal to the bird that it is currently an auspicious time to lay eggs. While photoperiod may stimulate egg laying, many breeders successfully breed their cockatiels during winter months when the photoperiod is relatively short. For this reason, photoperiod reduction may not be as effective as other measures at deterring or stopping laying. In addition, if acted upon incorrectly, the recommendation to reduce photoperiod actually could have the unintended effect of encouraging laying. In my view, the primary risk with addressing light exposure is that of inadvertently creating a nest box for the bird. For example, when initially instructed to reduce our bird’s photoperiod, we did so by keeping her cage covered for 14-plus hours per day. The problem with this was that her cage remained in its original location, a fairly sunny corner of the primary living space in our home. Life continued much the same around her, the primary difference being that an already broody bird had a darkened space in which to indulge herself. Light reduction, if it is to be effective, should probably involve either a second cage in a truly darkened and quiet environment or movement of the primary cage into such a location. Half-measures involving light reduction probably do little more than create attractive nesting environments.

Photoperiod reduction is seen as means of deterring or stopping laying by making the environment seem less suitable for doing so. In my view, other environmental changes are probably equally if not more important in this respect. As I mentioned above, preventing access to or the creation of nesting environments is one means of preventing laying. Once laying has occurred, this becomes even more important. Here the goal is not just preventing access to a cozy nesting environment but actually creating a sense of uncertainty and even insecurity in the bird. This can be achieved through cage swapping, rearrangement and relocation.

The purpose of cage swapping, rearrangement and relocation is to make the environment less hospitable for laying. Therefore, moving your bird from her regular cage to one nearly identical rather likely defeats the purpose. Cage swapping should involve a more dramatic change (from your bird’s perspective) in environment. A cage of different proportions, layout, and with different contents is called for. Ideally, the cage swap will include moving the bird to a different location in the house. If these measures are not possible, minimally the contents of the bird’s cage should be changed dramatically. Similarly, frequently used play stands and other play environments should be altered and relocated. For some birds, a single experience of such environmental change may do the job. For other birds, like mine, repeated changes in cage environment may be necessary. Since disturbing routine and security is the goal, I recommend irregular swapping on an unpredictable schedule. For example, simply providing a different sleeping cage may actually ultimately enhance security. In contrast, less predictable movement of the bird and cages to different locations in the home will decrease security. I have also had recommended to me that familiar furniture and other arrangements be significantly altered, especially in cases where the layer spends a significant amount of time out of the cage. This advice strikes me as extremely sound as my birds show strong signs of insecurity at the sight of new objects in their environment (laundry baskets left out seem particularly upsetting to them, though I have not formally tested the effects of laundry baskets on egg laying).

Responding to Established, Chronic Egg laying

The strategies discussed above with respect to responding to pre-laying and early-laying behaviors also apply to responding to established, chronic laying. The idea is that if successfully adopted, strategies such as light reduction and other dramatic environmental changes will actually prevent chronic laying. The fact is, however, that in some instances, a very determined layer will not be deterred by these strategies. Personal experience suggests this is especially likely if such strategies are not executed with thoroughness and consistency. Light reduction that mimics nest box conditions will not deter laying. Half-hearted attempts at cage swapping, relocation, and rearrangement will likely be ineffective.

For those who have done any homework at all, once their bird has begun to lay on a regular basis, they are rightfully concerned about the bird’s health. This may result in a host of responses which, on the surface, appear to be common-sense reactions to a laying bird. For example, one is concerned with providing adequate nutrition. As a result, one may feed a hen where she is sitting on eggs, and one may be concerned to provide the best of foods in abundance. Such responses, while understandable, may constitute what I have come to identify in myself as an accommodationist stance towards my bird’s chronic laying. With each passing month, I was afraid to disturb her routine, especially as her laying-related health problems mounted. I hesitated to make her feel insecure as I was understandably afraid that I would further endanger her health if I did so. When truly chronic laying sets in the owner faces a dilemma. On the one hand, the very real health hazards this behavior poses must be dealt with. On the other, the bird owner must attempt to avoid being so accommodating as to actually encourage further laying. In retrospect, I wish I had been much less accommodating and much more willing to risk upsetting my bird by dramatically shaking up her environment at a much earlier stage, since such dramatic changes are what ultimately stopped her laying.

Aside from more aggressively pursuing the environmental changes already discussed here, those with chronic layers often receive advice from veterinary and other sources about strategies to stop laying. I consider a number of these in turn, some of which I have personal experience with, some not. In general, once laying has become chronic, I do not think any deterrent strategy should be pursued without consultation with a qualified avian veterinarian.

Pounds of Cure

Towards the end of Louie’s 3 years of constant egg-laying, we were at our wits’ end and feeling desperate. She had successfully endured surgery for a severely prolapsed cloaca but the laying had not slowed down and she continued to have recurring problems with soft-shelled eggs, problematic egg delivery/egg binding, etc. Four options were recommended to us by a number of well-intentioned and experienced sources: 1. breeding/fostering; 2. getting a second bird; 3. hormone injections; 4. surgical removal of her ovary. I consider each in reverse order.

Louise’s records were sent by our vet to surgeon at Tufts for evaluation as a candidate for surgery to remove her ovary. The surgeon in question found her to be a very poor candidate as her health was so deteriorated as a result of laying it was thought she would not likely come through surgery successfully. As any surgery is a high risk response, it should, in my opinion, only be considered as the option of last resort for chronic egg laying. I had no questions about surgery to repair Louise’s prolapsed cloaca. The alternative was to watch her bleed out at the vet’s. However, I would have thought many times about subjecting her to additional reproductive surgery even had she been viewed as a strong candidate for it.

Hormone injections are another strategy often recommended for chronic layers. Louise had a series of three Lupron injections during the course of her chronic laying. These had no noticeable effect on her laying. However, others have reported success with stopping laying with Lupron and with other hormone therapies such as depo provera. The problem with these therapies (aside from potential side effects) in my view, is that they are not likely to be considered until laying is fully chronic, a point at which their effectiveness is probably reduced, but not their potential side effects. Like all other deterrent strategies, hormone therapies should be a matter of careful discussion with a qualified avian veterinarian.

I have stressed here the importance of preventing, deterring, and stopping laying through unsettling the bird’s routine and environment and thereby reducing her sense of security. For those with hens who are the only bird in the home, getting another bird is sometimes recommended as a further means of unsettling the layer. I have found no reliable empirical evidence of any sort that adding to the flock in and of itself affects egg-laying behavior. Obviously, if you have a chronic layer who already lives in a larger flock, adding to the size of that flock is unlikely to affect her laying behavior. To the extent that a second bird makes the layer less secure, alters the bond between the layer and the human (bonding object/mate), etc., a second bird may affect chronic laying. On the other hand, depending on the sex of the new bird, it may simply add to your household’s population of egglayers, or it may present problems of potential breeding. In our case, a first attempt at a second cockatiel was disastrous. Louise attacked the young hen at every opportunity. We ultimately returned this hen to her breeder after several weeks of failed attempts to integrate her into our home.

Finally, in the late stages of Louise’s laying, it was recommended to me by a variety of sources that I consider setting her up to breed and/or allowing her to foster a fertile egg. I discussed breeding her at length with her veterinarian, who had seen her through so many laying-related health crises. His logic struck me as impeccable. Why, under any circumstances, would one consider breeding a hen whose health was already so compromised? If her laying was partially the result of her bonding to us humans, what were the chances that we’d be able to create a successful pairing? For a variety of reasons, we rejected the notion of breeding her, in my opinion, quite wisely.

This left us with the question of allowing Louise to foster a fertile egg. Doing so presented some of the same problems as breeding her would, but eliminated others. For example, we did not have to find her a mate. She was laying eggs anyway, so the substitution of a fertile egg could be accomplished with a little subterfuge. With a single fertile egg, we could more easily imagine taking over hand-feeding, even at a very early stage (something we could not see ourselves doing for an entire clutch). But what were we likely to accomplish with this? What if she fostered a fertile egg and then continued right on laying as before? Were we ready for a second bird? What if she “freaked out” when the egg hatched and attacked the chick? All these questions and many more worried us. Then circumstances intervened. In late February of 2002, Louise was sitting on her usual batch of infertile eggs. A kind and generous friend who breeds cockatiels had a pair sitting on fertile eggs. We decided to arrange for Louise to foster one of these. The logistics of this are another story altogether. Suffice it to say, a fertile egg was swapped for one of Louise’s infertile eggs. She sat on it and hatched it out, fed it on her own for about 10 days, and then we took over with hand feedings after she seemed to lose interest in properly feeding the chick. This chick, named LB, fledged and weaned and we got a new, much larger cage to house them both in. LB is now one year old and is a large, healthy, white face with great confidence and personality. And Louise has not laid an egg since.

Conclusion

Sentimentality might cause one to conclude that the experience of motherhood somehow left Louise sufficiently fulfilled so as to stop her laying. I think this would be a foolish conclusion. Several key aspects of Louise’s life and environment changed as a result of this experience, changes which we had attempted to make prior to this time but which, for a variety of reasons, we had never been successful with. One of the major changes in her life is a new, much larger and very different cage. One noticeable difference is that this new cage has a grate on the bottom. While she occasionally walks around on the grate, she spends little time there, in contrast to her old cage and it’s accommodating, newspaper-covered bottom. Probably more importantly, Louise must share this new space with another bird, and one which more than holds her own in terms of sharing the space. For whatever reason, Louise has accepted this bird which she fostered in a way she never accepted the other juvenile hen we attempted to bring into our home. While not intimidated by LB, Louise can no longer totally dominate her own environment. In addition, she must share us with another bird, and one which is not afraid to assert herself in the “pecking order”. LB is large, loud, and energetic in comparison to Louise’s more diminutive stature and demeanor. Sometimes LB’s energy seems to actually startle Louise. She frequently appears unsettled by LB’s youthful antics. In short, Louise’s environment is less predictable, secure, peaceful and routine than it was during the entire time she laid. If I indulge in anthropomorphism, I feel that Louise was much more irritated than fulfilled by motherhood. Sometimes, she seems much less happy to me than she used to, if happiness is defined as being totally at ease in her environment. She is much more jumpy than she used to be. However, she hasn’t laid an egg, had a prolapse, or had any other health problem, in a year. If this outcome is the trade-off of a slightly less at east bird, it’s more than a fair trade.

Finally, a word of caution. If fostering played a role in stopping Louise’s laying it was because it necessitated the environmental changes we’d never fully achieved otherwise. If there is a moral to Louise’s story, it is that dramatic environmental changes can work, not that fostering stops chronic laying.

This discussion leaves out more than it includes about issues related to chronic laying. Some of these are covered in the links I’ve posted below. I strongly recommend reading these. I am grateful to the authors of these links and to the many others who have communicated to me their experience with egg laying. Louise, the reformed chronic layer, and LB, her foster chick, can be viewed at the last link under references.

References:

http://www.birdsnways.com/wisdom/ww35eiv.htm (egg binding)
http://www.allpets.com/petcyclopedia/birds/topic.asp?id=1306 (prolapse)
http://www.aviannetwork.com/articles/eggs.htm (egg laying, general)
http://www.wctropicalbird.com/bird%20education/egg_laying.htm (egg laying, general)
http://www.realmacaw.com/pages/unwanted.html (egg laying, general)
http://www.lbah.com/Avian/prolapsed_cloaca.htm (prolapse)
http://www.avianweb.com/Prolapse.htm (prolapse)
http://www.vetcentric.com/magazine/magazineArticle.cfm?ARTICLE ID=1318&rnk=8&qry=Chronic+egg+laying%3f (egg laying, general)
http://members.tripod.com/~Suzzie/egglaying.htm
http://www.holisticbird.org/pages/healHen.htm
(HB website information on egg laying)
http://photo.starblvd.net/louise/1-2-5-1035348688?m=0&pg=0&ro=1&co=4
(“The Girls”)