Old Bird Laying Eggs?

[Malaise]

I have a 17 year-old Nanday Conure named Shelby. I've had her since I was around 13. She's never been sexed, but my mom thought she was a female when we got her. Since she'd never laid an egg, we were thinking she was possibly a male, but today, she laid her first egg. Is this normal for such an old bird to lay an egg?

She seems fine and everything, and I've always fed her food with calcium in it so I'm not too worried about that. I just have never heard of this happening before and if anyone can give me some information it would be much appreciated! Shelby is a very dear member of the family and if there are any health risks I want to take care of it right away. I haven't removed the egg from the cage so as not to trigger the egg laying cycle again.

Again, any responses would be much appreciated!

[bmsweb]

Calcium is what they recommend for egg laying birds and the fact that she laid an egg tells me she is healthy. Egg laying is perfectly natural and her age is not an issue at all.

As far as the reason for why she would lay an egg now and not in the last few year could be purely due to diet change etc There are so many factors that effect egg laying. For example once we decided we wanted our conures to breed, I simply increased the number of fruit and veggie servings to 3 times a day, all of which was freshly chopped and after a month they laid their first clutch of eggs.

Hope this helps.

[Malaise]

Good to know! Thank you.
However, I don't think her egg laying can be explained by a diet change because she's been on the same food for many years. I feed her ZuPreem Fruit Blend.

[bmsweb]

In all honesty it could be absolutely anything. I know breeder had done everything right and birds wouldn't breed. Then they moved the cage or put them in a new cage and all of a sudden you have eggs. This list of variables is a mile long. The most important thing to take away is the fact that she is healthy and its perfectly normal.

[Malaise]

Thank you so much for your response. I've had Shelby for a very long time and never had any problems (aside from a broken toe a few years ago) but had never actually conversed with anyone who knows much about birds. I was just worried that there could be some health implications because of her age. I've been keeping a close eye on her since she laid the egg and she seems to be doing just fine. Thank you for calming my nerves!

[bmsweb]

Thank you for calming my nerves!

You're very welcome. We are all learning every day and every little bit helps. There is a lot of conflicting information out there and you have to just try to figure it out as you go.

[Malaise]

Just thought I'd update this a little bit...Shelby has 4 eggs now and seems to continue doing just fine!

[nhymidog]

Hi, Our archie who we have had for 18 years laid an egg last week and then another...I am hoping that the egg laying has finished now because the stress is going to kill me. There are so many questions that this has given rise to. I also was interested in the factors which could have led to such a change and diet was something that occurred to me. We have had very good weather this summer and archie has benefited from lots of fresh redcurrents (soft fruit) and broad beans which she (still doesn't sound right) seems to really enjoy. I have lately taken to treating archie with a piece of fried egg which also has become a favourite food. I must admit this abundance with the usual sweetcorn and bits of sweet and sour chicken and rice (archie usually eats what we eat) has meant that it may have seemed that food was unusually plentiful which I have read is a trigger for egg laying. We have also spent quite a lot of time outside - especially after an evening working in the garden I would bring archie to sit up late on the patio. Then there are the videos on youtube which we started getting in to with opera singing parrots and baby amazons. The list could go on.
Back to the stress...archie seems a little confused but generally unfazed by what is going on. I think our normal routine is so ingrained that it is easy to get archie out of her sleeping cage into the larger day cage for something to eat and generally have a break. at this time archie seems quite happy to leave the eggs even for quite a long time. as soon as I put archie back it is down to sitting on the eggs again. btw I wasn't sure whether to leave the eggs but ended up boiling them so that they wouldn't go bad. I have ordered some plastic eggs. archie accepted both eggs back. I was hoping that she would be satsified with two and since a couple of days have passed since the last - and no obvious problems are evident I think she might have finished. one thing that is worrying me now is that archie does not seem to have any sleep at all and yet seems quite bright and perky during the day. I wonder how long this lack of sleep can go on for. I have been reading everything possible to find out possible ways of stopping egg laying and will probably get a new sleep cage with a grill at the botton to prevent her from tearing up the paper to make a nest (which I also read was a factor). I have looked around for a local avian vet in case of problems but these seem to be few and far between (North East Hampshire, UK). I am thinking that general good health and preventative measure are probably the best we can do. I also bought some calcium additive but am a bit reluctant to use it as I can't be sure that the right quantity will be consumed if at all. I read that spinach is a good source of calcium which archie has previously enjoyed. At the moment we are still a bit up in the air over all this and I cannot speak from any expertise. and I think that all parrots probably react in a different way although similar patterns can probably be seen. this is why I am a little dubious about reading too much advice and think that just observing and trying things out slowly with a certain trepidation seems to showing me what the boundaries and possibilites so as not to cause too much stress on either part. but my main concern is archie's wellbeing and seeing that there is plenty of food and fresh air etc. hopefully we can get through this crisis but I don't think things will ever be the same again.

[nhymidog]

Hi, archie laid another egg today. that means its six days since the second one. I put the two plastic eggs in yesterday to replace the boiled ones and archie sat on them straight away without seeming to notice anything amiss. I am thinking now that after resting for a few day there may be another in 48 hours but I am still hoping that she will be satisfied with the three. If anyone knows if it is usual to have such a long gap between laying I would be interested. I thought that it would be every 48 hours until they stopped.

[Malaise]

So...I left the eggs in the cage, waiting for her to lose interest so I could remove them. Now, just tonight, she has laid another one! I had thought she was beginning to forget about them but now she's sitting on the eggs and being very protective of them again. I was under the impression that the clutches would be farther apart in time...or is it possible this is part of the same clutch, but delayed by a month? I just don't know what to do.