# Is the trying to lay an egg...?



## patchwork (Feb 1, 2012)

Hi all!

It's been a while.. well, my younger of two females as of the past couple days is, well, doing what i can only assume is nesting behavior.. she's favoring the top right corner of the bottom of the cage, with her bum lifted up and aimed at the corner as she preens/messes with the bedding beneath her... then she'll return to the usual perch for a while. i've never had a budgie lay an egg before! am i right in assuming this is what she seems to be up to? is there anything i can do to help her have the egg pass safely, if it is what's going on with her? thanks!


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## aluz (Jul 24, 2011)

From your description, it does seems that your budgie is showing signs of being broody. Have you noticed a massive increase in size of her poops and does the vent area look swollen? These are the typical signs that tell an hen is about to lay.

Given the circumstances and the behaviour exhibited by your budgie, the best course of action is to discourage her nesting mood and this is done by blocking the access of the spot she is using to nest and to not allow her to make a nest out of the material used to line the cage's bottom. If your cage has a grate, then it would be good to put it on.
In order to throw off the breeding mood, rearranging the cage would also be a good option. An even better one would be to place your female on a spare cage (and not give access to hiding areas nor potential nesting spots), this can be effective in interrupting the laying cycle and to make your budgie go out of breeding condition. Reducing the amount of protein in the diet as well as limiting the daylight hours will be beneficial as well.

These measures to prevent egg laying from happening are safe and will not lead to egg binding. This will only happen where there is lack of calcium combined with poor diet.

The detailed information on this link will be of use: http://talkbudgies.com/budgie-breeding/90584-when-we-dont-want-eggs.html

Good luck!


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## patchwork (Feb 1, 2012)

Thank you so much for your reply..!
I haven't noticed any real changes in her physically, i'll give her a good look over tomorrow morning. 

Unfortunately the cage i have doesn't have any sort of grate for the bottom.. so i'm not quite sure how to keep her out of there aside from scolding her gently and putting her back up on the perches to distract her. Tomorrow morning i'll also try re-arranging the cage!

They haven't gotten a whole lot of sunlight this past week actually, i've been pretty unwell so i've been sleeping in and keeping the curtains drawn.. so i don't think too much light is going to be a problem for right now, haha. ;-;


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## FaeryBee (May 9, 2011)

*aluz has given you excellent advice.
In addition to rearranging everything in the cage, moving the cage into a different location in the room or even into a different room will be helpful. Limit the budgie's daylight hours to only 8 hours of light per day and limit the amount of protein in the diet.

"Scolding" your budgie will have no effect on her behavior. 
If you have no bottom grate for the cage but have a pull out tray, consider removing the newspaper or other "bedding". 
You'll simply need to clean the pull-out try once or twice a day using pure white vinegar.

Ensure they have plenty of calcium (cuttlebones) and if necessary, supplement the calcium with Calciboost for a week or so.*


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