FINCHforum

I have a zebra male and a society female (meant to be non-breeding). At first I thought she was eggbound, and added calcium in her diet. However, even after passing the egg on the floor (no nest provided), she continued to sit on a half eaten honey seed stick through half of the day, eating less than usual. Anyway, I was about to make her a hospital cage thinking she's sick when I realize what she was doing. On the honey seedstick, they've eaten the top half, revealing a plastic stub sticking up in the middle of the stick. My female hen sits on that stub, fluffing out her bottom feathers, and occasionally move side to side around the stub (since she cannot "roll" the stub). She thinks she's sitting on an egg! And when she moves away to eat, she calls the male over, who then skips around the stick and eventually loses interest because he can see that there's no "egg." Have any of you seen something like that? I feel bad that they cannot breed, but I've had them try to raise a clutch without success and both birds were really stressed out from the process. Now I don't know whether to remove this thing because she seems to enjoy sitting on the stick and is still active and energetic otherwise. What a weird phenomenon!

Now THAT's a new one! I would let her have her "egg", as long as she's still eating. She'll eventually lose interest (or they'll eat the rest of it!).

thats a new on me!and sounds so funny

ken