Post by santinoandmondo on May 16, 2014 12:36:39 GMT
It's been a while since I posted. We were away for a few days and then I started working two days a week.
Prior to vacation, I had taken Santino to the vet for lupron shots. A quick history: We were given two male birds a year ago. However, Santino (the white/blue) started laying eggs late Sept 2013. She took some breaks but basically has been laying eggs ever since. Found out also that the other bird is another hen so the eggs are infertile. After seeking advice from this forum, I changed their diet to pellet, added veggies to their diet, cover up the cages for 12-14 hours a night, etc. I finally took her to an avian vet. We were optimistic and hoped that she'd stop laying eggs after 2 shots but I ended up taking her to the vet for a total of 4 shots. The egg laying slowed way down (and we decreased the time in between shots) and then we had to leave the birds with a friend during our vacation. She covered them up at night as I had requested. The vet was hoping that the time apart would also break whatever response that may have been triggering the egg-laying. Apparently toys or people can trigger egg-laying in hens.
Unfortunately, after we picked up our birds, the egg laying resumed. By the way, Santino has laid well over 40 eggs since she started. I spoke to the vet and the only other options were sterilization or a hormonal implant. The implant would contain the same hormone that Santino is not responding to. The vet did not recommend either procedure as surgery on a small, middle-aged bird would be risky. So, we are not going to do anything else. Our little friend Santino still seems to be in good health. She does make a "squeaking" sound occasionally when she bends down to eat but not sure what that means. She has been brooding in her little basket over some of her recent eggs. Sigh, she so desperately wants to be a mom but no can do. I already told the kids that she may not live as long as Mondo because she expends so much energy laying eggs but there is nothing else we can do.
On a slightly comical note, three times, she has sat on an egg so hard that it cracked but the eggs end up stuck to her chest feathers even when she was moving around in her cage! It's really almost funny to see a bird with an egg stuck right in the middle of her chest and you can tell that the bird is thinking "WHAT is this???". The last one oozed so much into her feathers that I couldn't gently peel it off. Had to catch her with a hand towel, spray her chest completely with water and massage the feathers a little at a time. Took about 5 minutes to work the egg off and then had to clean her more with a moist paper towel.
What an ordeal. But we still love our little parakeets.
Cherry
Prior to vacation, I had taken Santino to the vet for lupron shots. A quick history: We were given two male birds a year ago. However, Santino (the white/blue) started laying eggs late Sept 2013. She took some breaks but basically has been laying eggs ever since. Found out also that the other bird is another hen so the eggs are infertile. After seeking advice from this forum, I changed their diet to pellet, added veggies to their diet, cover up the cages for 12-14 hours a night, etc. I finally took her to an avian vet. We were optimistic and hoped that she'd stop laying eggs after 2 shots but I ended up taking her to the vet for a total of 4 shots. The egg laying slowed way down (and we decreased the time in between shots) and then we had to leave the birds with a friend during our vacation. She covered them up at night as I had requested. The vet was hoping that the time apart would also break whatever response that may have been triggering the egg-laying. Apparently toys or people can trigger egg-laying in hens.
Unfortunately, after we picked up our birds, the egg laying resumed. By the way, Santino has laid well over 40 eggs since she started. I spoke to the vet and the only other options were sterilization or a hormonal implant. The implant would contain the same hormone that Santino is not responding to. The vet did not recommend either procedure as surgery on a small, middle-aged bird would be risky. So, we are not going to do anything else. Our little friend Santino still seems to be in good health. She does make a "squeaking" sound occasionally when she bends down to eat but not sure what that means. She has been brooding in her little basket over some of her recent eggs. Sigh, she so desperately wants to be a mom but no can do. I already told the kids that she may not live as long as Mondo because she expends so much energy laying eggs but there is nothing else we can do.
On a slightly comical note, three times, she has sat on an egg so hard that it cracked but the eggs end up stuck to her chest feathers even when she was moving around in her cage! It's really almost funny to see a bird with an egg stuck right in the middle of her chest and you can tell that the bird is thinking "WHAT is this???". The last one oozed so much into her feathers that I couldn't gently peel it off. Had to catch her with a hand towel, spray her chest completely with water and massage the feathers a little at a time. Took about 5 minutes to work the egg off and then had to clean her more with a moist paper towel.
What an ordeal. But we still love our little parakeets.
Cherry
. We have both birds in separate cages and not sure if we'd want to add a male and possibly a friend for Mondo too (could just be another female rather than a mate so she won't be all alone). I suppose it wouldn't be that much more work but if they did mate successfully, we'd have a babies to worry about. My husband wouldn't be too happy about it but I know my kids would be thrilled.
