A thread in the Ekkie forum got me thinking and wondering. There is discussion about if we should let our birds, (hens especially) go "through the motions" for breeding, or if breeding behaviors should be discouraged.

Personally, I try to discourage it, but Tiki laid eggs the last two July's and she is starting to get a little nesty again.

I don't pretend to know which way is best, I'm just curious as to other people's experience.

Do you encourage (provide cardboard box, etc.) or discoursge (avoid triggers) your broody birds? Pros/ Cons? Issues? Successes? Please share!

I was going to post this same thread. I'm very interested in everyone's opinions on the pros and cons. I have never had to go through this (except with Lucy (lovie) and Ethel (lovie) who nested and I just let them have their clutch). and now that I have three hens, one of which is already starting to get hormonal and the other two aren't far behind, this is a really important topic for me!

I don't have any experience yet, but this topic is of great interest to me as well since Lulu is maturing.

Lately she is vocalizing more and when I've uncovered her in the morning she has been perched on her food dish. She is not there when I cover her and she's not a midnight muncher that I'm aware of - my first thought is that she may be getting nesty. I haven't seen any other sign that she's hormonal other than being more vocal lately.

But since cockatiels can be known for chronic egg laying, I need to research how best to handle things if and when she lays an egg. What I have read in the past is to remove any triggers or prevent her from feeling comfortable enough to lay (like rearranging her cage often). But I've read of many people lately who say to allow them to nest, lay, and sit on the egg and get them through the cycle. I'm very interested in this concept.

Laying should be a normal thing so it makes sense to me to allow them to nest and lay and work with their hormones instead of against them.

{Quick Thought}.

Chipper, my god fid, is a matured lovebird. She nests and lays in her regular 'cycles'. My grandmother has a little cardboard box where she biuld her nest, lays and goes through the process. Not once has she ever had a problem with her being a chronic layer or plucking, etc. I'm going to try it with Lucy to see how it works for her

I would never recommend actually deliberately triggering a hen to breed as there are risks associated with breeding. That being said it does a hen no harm to have one clutch each year if any triggers are unavoidable, you cant actually switch off the process totally. As to providing boxes I firmly believe that any species such as my suns which live in nest holes year round the providing of boxes in not the trigger.

Should an egg be laid the process needs to continue for the full weeks it takes to hatch that particular egg. The hen will abandon the egg/s within days of the failure to hatch and the season is over. Teils often become chronic egg layers because the process got interrupted and they have to start over. Teils can also have very big clutch so if she feels the need to lay her 5-7 eggs she most probably will and needs support diet wise.
It is rare for a mature hen to have any egg binding or other difficulties provided her diet is good. Once truly in that breeding mode a bird is very much hard wired to finish a cycle.

My understanding is, not to provide a box unless the hen starts laying. Once she has, or if she is behaving very broody and signaling that she is about to, then providing a box with paper to shred, etc. will help her.

I avoid anything that will trigger a breeding response from my companion 18 year old GreenWing hen. Learning from past experiences as to what will solicit an immediate breeding response from her; there are no cardboard boxes, no blankets to burrow into, no playing on the sofa, no access to dark little spaces, no petting down the back or under the wings, etc. I am guilty of making diet mistakes that have triggered hormonal responses and am learning what to cut back on and when.

But despite avoiding all I know how to avoid, when I know she’s becoming reproductive I have found we get through the process and it's not immediately repeated if I provide what she needs to facilitate her so that she's comfortable and prepared to pass eggs. I also let her complete the sitting process and try to keep it as stress free as I can for her. We had some extenuating circumstances with her when she first came to live with us and we learned that when she did not complete the cycle and sit on her eggs, she repeated the process much sooner than what was healthy for her.

This may be of some help to someone so I'll explain what happens with my GreenWing and what I do here;

Eggs don’t appear out of the blue, so I have time to prepare. A few days preceding the actual egg I will start to see messy large droppings with an excess of urine, broody behavior, aggressiveness, reluctance to leave her cage, tail pulling, weight gain, and loss of appetite to name a few. I know her habits pretty well now. When I see the above signs, I supplement Calcium. I don’t supply a box of any kind, as the size I would need to accommodate her tail would take up her entire cage bottom. I remove the grate in her cage (She will not poop in her cage) I line the tray with brown Kraft paper. I put bottlebrush and other hardwood chewing items toward the bottom of the cage. Oddly, the only time she will chew on wood is when she is sitting on eggs. She also will shred the layers of paper. I supply an extra heat source by her cage until she’s done laying eggs.

I can pin point the night she will pass her first egg as she will not be interested in her dinner at all. She will lay an egg within 20-30 minutes of quiet and lights out. Which means she has actually been having contractions before that time which I attribute to her missed dinner on that evening. She lays every 72 hours. Once I’m able to visually see the contractions the actual process for her to push the egg out does not take long at all. Sometimes the shell of the egg will be lightly streaked with some blood. I always check the egg carefully to see if it’s broke or if there are any thin spots on the shell. She has laid as many as four eggs, but I usually only keep two in the cage for her to sit on. I don’t know why but she doesn’t seem to care if she sits on her first egg and is usually quite content to carry on as if she never had an egg. It isn’t until she’s laid the second egg that all the instincts kick in and then all she wants is her eggs. When she is sitting on eggs I put her food and water dish within her reach.

She allows me to remove her from her cage every few hours so she can eliminate. If she’s comfortable I will leave her out. If she gets anxious I return her immediately. Per my AV’s instructions, I now watch the calendar during this process. If she doesn’t give up her eggs in 4 weeks time, I remove everything and she immediately returns to her normal behavior.

This is a great thread discussion for all of us with pet hens so we can learn how to make their life more comfortable, less stressful, and healthier.

good post Karen, exactly what I was trying to say.

That was a very helpful and informative post, Karen. Thanks!

My big concern is that my husband thinks it's so "funny and cute" when he puts his hand over Lulu and she crouches down and coos and becomes very still. I've told him numerous times that that's a hormonal trigger and he even jokes with me about how many times I say "chronic egg layer" in a week's time - but he STILL puts his hand over her back sometimes and it drives me bananas.