My Zebra mommie is laying many, many eggs

[Kathycorvette]

Last week I sold their 3 babies to the local pet store. Since then, I've tossed out 10 eggs. I got rid of the nest and now she's laying them in the seed cup. Why does she keep laying eggs? Should I put a nest back in? I didn't want her to keep laying eggs but she has other plans!
thanks

[Sally]

Hens will keep laying eggs, often even without the presence of a male. Eventually, it will slow down. Don't put a nest back in, that will stimulate even more egg laying. Try to keep her diet fairly plain/simple for now, no egg food for the time being. Anything that is high in protein stimulates egg laying.

[Kathycorvette]

Thanks for the info. Should I be feeding her calcium since she's loosing so much with the eggs?

[Sally]

Definitely keep up the calcium, that does not stimulate breeding necessarily. Do you have liquid calcium? I recommend keeping a small bottle of liquid calcium on hand any time you have a hen laying eggs, as liquid calcium can be a lifesaver in an egg-binding situation.

[Kathycorvette]

So now.........it's Feb 20th and my poor momma zebra is still laying eggs, 1 per day. I've taken the nest out and she's laying in the food dish or just laying them from the perch. Is she ever going to stop?
thanks!

[debbie276]

Have you tried cutting back on high protein foods such as eggfood?

[Kathycorvette]

I'm not feeding them any egg food. They are getting calcium in their food.

[Barbara]

I am by no means a expert in anything about finches ,I just started up a while back and am new to this site but someone told me get the seed bowls out and give them tube feeder that go thru the cage or clip on with a very tiny cup they can't get in,might help just a thought good luck

[Barbara]

Yipeeeeeee my message go right on.

[Sally]

You could try getting some fake eggs to put in a nest and let her go ahead and try to incubate them. That would stop the egg laying for now, but it would probably resume once she gives up on the fake eggs.

[Sojourner]

I'm not feeding them any egg food. They are getting calcium in their food.

I'm concerned about this. If you mean your feed is supposedly "fortified" with calcium in some way, that is not enough.

If you mean you mix crushed oyster shell, egg shell, or cuttlebone into your seed, that's still kind of chancy. Especially if she's decided to be an egg-machine. Personally I find it easier and safer to offer their calcium and mineral supplements in separate treat cups or attached to the cage (mineral block and cuttlebone) at all times. Then I can monitor what they are and are not eating, so I can keep tabs on their intake.

I lost a finch earlier this year to egg-binding because I only had some crushed eggshell in the cage and I don't think she was eating it - had removed the cuttlebone when I threw out the holder it was in for being a poop-magnet. I don't think I had the ABBA mineral mix yet ... not sure. If I did, I don't think they'd tried it much yet.

At any rate, I try to be super careful with that now, especially since I now have one of each gender (where my first pair were both females). One source is not enough, IMO, because they seem to switch off and on. Also, the more birds you have (I have only two) the more likely it is that some will want one thing, and some another. I think you're better off with more calcium sources, kept in separate holder/feeders so you can monitor intake.