I think we are going to be mommies!

[Chantilly]

Ok, this might be long and will be filled with A LoT of questions, so I am sorry if I am just being to worried but I dont know how I should go about this.
Shrek has been acting very broody lately, this includes her sitting under her newspaper and ripping it up and her just sitting there making clucking and chirpy noises until she gets as if she wants to lay and egg (do parrots do that when nesting? I know chickens do.)
I am very scared about this all, I have 0' breeding birds or egg laying experience, and I am worried something will go wrong.
I was wrong about breeding season being over, a lot of the birds in the wild are still nesting(and squaking like crazy as monitors invade their nests) our ducks are still nesting and birds at the 'bird park' are too (baby macaws :3 ). In adddition to that Shrek has mated my hand and 'offered' me to mate her lately (Heads down and bums up)
So if she is nesting, how can I make sure she is comfortable (should I be getting a chunk of a tree that fell in storms this summer, making it hollow and cleaning it for her to nest in?) should I be getting her a wooden box or cardoard box or just let her continue nesting under the paper.
And seeing as the eggs will not be fertile can I just let her sit on them until they go off or get her the plastic eggs? Ducks dispose of their eggs when they go rotten but do parrots?

Sorry, I really dont know what to do to keep her comfy. She has been getting lots of one on one time every day out of the cage and she is very active until she decides its time to go under the paper, so I dont think she is in any way sick but I do have a feeling we are going to be getting an egg or two soon.

[Wolf]

Well since I don't have enough experience to really advise you on this, I will let others o it, but I must say that I do recommend getting dummy eggs so that you can trade the eggs out. Parrots know how many eggs they laid and removing any without replacing them will cause them to continue to lay eggs and that could cause problems.

[Pajarita]

Well, she doesn't have a mate so if she lays, it will be infertile eggs so, in reality, there is no need to get plastic eggs although it's easier to deal with them than with the real thing (they don't break or rot).

Yes, you can make her more comfortable by giving her a nest (a nice size stiff cardboard box should do). Then, when and if she lays, I would give her a dosage of avian liquid calcium (here it's called Calciboost but I think in Europe and Australia it's called Calcivet) for each egg she lays and increase protein intake with good quality items like quinoa and/or hemp seed or some insect protein. She will either leave the eggs laying there or she will sit on them but, in any case, don't get rid of them until she has not paid any attention whatsoever to them for a few days -don't get rid of them until you are sure that she has finished her clutch because some birds will not sit on the eggs until they do so, even when you don't see her sitting on them, it doesn't mean she doesn't care.

[Chantilly]

Thankyou both!
This morning I got her a calcium bell and she has been at it a bit this arvo (Tillys beak is breaking down/peeling so she needed the calcium, and then we thought 'Ay Shreks laying, better grab her some too!'), with outdoor time will this do as a calcium suplument?

I always have live insects (Mealies/Crickets) on me for my dragons, if I can get her intrest is it ok for her to eat these live insects?
Thankyou both so much
I think that Pet Barn sells dummie eggs so I will check there when we go out next (be easier than buying online )
Thankyou's again.

[Wolf]

Meal worms are high in fat as far as I am aware of, but as long as you don't give too many I think that you will be fine, although I don't know how much is enough or too many.

Dummy eggs for parrots usually come as a kit, with the kit containing a nest and dummy eggs of the right size, color and shape for that species and it should also contain at least one egg more than the normal clutch size. So you need to buy them based on the species of parrot they are for.

[Pajarita]

I use mealworms as the source of insect protein but I use the freeze dried ones because they are much lower in fat and do not carry salmonella so, if this is the kind you use, it will be OK.

Yes, cuttlebone or some other source of calcium and sunshine is the best you can give them.

My Naida BFA laid an egg for the first time in her life either last night or very early this morning. She is now 32 or 33 and was thought to be a male in her previous life (her name was Nathan) but I knew she was a hen the first time I saw her (she has a very delicate frame, small head and all the female behaviors). She had no problems with Blue Grinch, the male BFA, or the male YNA, but never really bonded with them in any significant way. She liked Mami from day one so, when I saw that the other zons were bullying them, I took them out of the birdroom and she has been very happy in the dining room sharing her cage with Mami YFA. They had both been chewing up a storm, having sex daily and Naida had gotten quite jealous of any other bird that was perching on me. She couldn't fly at all when she first came to me and, although she still doesn't (not really) she does take what we, in Spanish, call 'volido' (versus 'vuelo' which is the word for flight). It's like a loooong leap made possible by some wing flapping. It has no real height to it but it allows them to go from point A to point B in the air and she has been using them a lot lately to get on me whenever I pass near her and I have another bird on me. So I knew she was quite broody. Well, last night, she was in her 'nest' (a cardboard box on the floor of their cage) and would not come out for her dinner so I took her out and checked her. She had not lost any weight, poop had been normal, she had been eating during the day and was not really fluffed up although she was kind of crouching so I palpated her booty and sure enough, she had the egg butt! So I just put her back in the nest and put some nuts in front of her. This morning, I found a perfect, perfect egg! Good size, good shape and, best of all, nice hard shell on it. She threw it out of her nest and is not sitting on it but I left it there, just in case. Mami checked it out too, and, like me, decided not to do anything about it so I guess we all agree

[Chantilly]

Wow! I am so scared to find an egg under the paper each morning when I change it
That is a long time for no lay!

Sorry I made a mistake earlier, I never get Mealies because of the fat, I instead get supers, but all my insect feed is live not frozen, but I know I can buy both dried worms(not frozen though) and canned insects by exoterra.
I will have to grab a box for her when we go out next (3days I beleive) because we never have them on us.
Thankyou Wolf and Paj

[liz]

Tweet is still sitting on a nest but it is in a small corner and I have not checked it. I hope to do it today.
Maggie and whoever that is with her has been coming out from behind the door when I go in the cockatiel room. I don't know if they have mated but they are very much looking for a nest area. Maggie was a breeder bird so she knows her stuff. I just hope the male is shooting blanks if they mate.
I don't want babies but do not want to deter Maggie since she has accepted a friend after all this time. She has been a loner since day 1.

[Pajarita]

Just get the plastic eggs, Liz. It's an easy thing to switch the real egg for a fake one and the tiels don't seem to mind at all.