I was shocked tonight when I found that Allison had laid an egg. She is only a baby herself and is having a baby. I hear they do it all the time in the wild though. Her being in her eating cup was the sign of nesting behavior I was told. She had been doing that behavior for some time. Last week I saw her moving her tail up and down and laying down between the cages on the towel and it looked as if she was trying to lay an egg but I thought "no, it can't be, she's too young!" Well she did it! People have told me to throw out the egg but I won't! She is devotingly sitting on it and keeping it warm. I am going to call the Avian Vet tomorrow and ask questions on what to do. The egg is in her big food dish and she is snuggled in it atop the egg. I am going to be a grandma!
Oh goodness me Ruth! (I am sorry to have missed your post before)
I have NO idea when birds "come into season"! With birds it must be when they are quite young. As I know it's usually 6 months old or thereabouts, in dogs.
How old is Alison?
Anyway....Alison and her 'intended' have obviously gone and done it!
So you're going to be a Grandma!
Keep us posted. I am interested in little things hatching out of eggs.
Allison may be young, but she wouldn't lay an egg until she was old enough. This first egg might not be fertile. Many of the eggs are not. She will sit on it for awhile. If it is not developing a chick she will give up. If the egg breaks it will be because it dried up, which happens if the egg does not have a growing chick.
If she stays on it and it hatches it will be so cute. Find out from someone locally who breeds birds what you need to feed the chick.
You should be able to get her a nest box for next time. I know a lot of pet stores carry nest boxes that work for Budgies.
Good luck to you and Allison. She sounds like she has the proper mothering instincts.
She stopped sitting on it. I heard from a group I am in on FB that Danny is too old to produce babies. He is 7. One lady told me they go sterile at 5. I don't really want to have baby birds any ways. I am not equipped to have them nor do I know of all of what to do. I am not a breeder. I just wanted a companion for Danny. I hope that doesn't make me sound awful.
I can understand you not wanting to have babies. It is not as easy as people think. Often the parents can't feed the baby and you have to do it. That means getting special egg food and mixing it up and feeding the baby. They have to be fed often and it is a lot of work and not easy for someone who has not done it. Sometimes you just want to enjoy your pet and not get into breeding.
Breeding is risky. Sometimes you lose the baby and you can even lose the mother if the egg laying goes wrong. I breed my snakes, but I worry about them. I have retired one female because she is looking old and I don't want to risk her getting pregnant. I would never breed Jake Krinkle Snake. The risks of things going wrong are just too great.
I think you are wise to just enjoy your birds. If Danny is too old then you don't have to worry. Allison may lay a few eggs, but they won't hatch.
She has laid 3 eggs in the bottom of the cage. The Avian Vet told me to put the egg in the bottom of the cage and she would ignore them after awhile and she has. It is all for the best. I have heard that hens get depleted of calcium and many nutrients and get frail as a result of egg laying. She seems to be okay now. Danny won't leave her alone, won't let her eat or do anything but kiss him. I have had to seperate them for amounts of time but then I let them be together again. She is such a nice bird she won't tell Danny off. The other female birds did. Such is life.
She did go on to lay a full set of eggs. Hopefully she will take a rest. You will probably have to supplement her calcium for a while. Egg laying does take a lot out of a female.
Maybe it is spring that has triggered the egg laying and Danny's attention to Allison. We are having almost spring like weather. I assume you are having warm weather too. Certainly the days are getting longer. The wild birds here are starting to call to each other.
Good thing you can separate the two birds a bit. It will give Allison a break.
I bet the eggs are really tiny.
I don't know if 3 eggs is a full set; I've heard 3 to 5. She may have another tonight the way she is going. The weather here has been nice but it is going back to Winter at the end of this week. I hope Allison will be okay. People at the FB bird group were saying how she can get egg bound because she is so young. I am concerned about her. I got her some special breeding food and a mineral block. She won't touch the mineral block and I don't know why. She probably doesn't know what it is. I will probably be up late tonight and I will keep a watch on her.
I know what it is like to be on egg watch. I hope she is okay. She will certainly feel better for having you nearby.
Keep us posted.
She didn't lay an egg last night or this morning. Danny and Allison are visiting now; they make a cute pair! I feel like a worried mother!