FINCHforum

I have many gouldians in my aviary, all adults minus 3 are paired up. The aviary is outdoors and I keep a good eye on the birds daily.

I have noticed one hen having labored breathing, so I brought her in, gave her a heat lamp, meds in her water, and 2 days later she passed and egg. I let her recover for a week and put her back in the aviary.

Fast forward to 2 days ago. Same symptom, same recovery plan, and just now I saw the egg and she's breathing normal again.

Paired up or not, she's not passing eggs like the others. In the aviary theres always cuttlebone chunks, crushed oyster shell and charcoal.
Other gouldians, owls, waxbills are passing eggs just fine.

Your thoughts??

In the meantime, I'm going to change the oyster shell/charcoal dish as it's mixed. Going to make them separate so the hens can better choose what to have.

I agree with Rancel. I don't normally like giving meds or supplements in the water, as then they are forced to take them in, but when hens are breeding, unless you are sure they are getting enough calcium, some liquid calcium once a week or so won't hurt. My birds all eat eggshells even better than any other source of calcium, so adding some crushed eggshells could help. You will want to keep a close eye on this hen. Many would say she should be pulled from a breeding program right now and rested, but that depends on whether you have a good place to move her.

Some hens can have difficulty passing eggs, either due to age, physical reasons, some develop adhesions internally from repeated (difficulty passing) egg laying that can hinder or stop the egg from passing. I personally would rest her. Even without mating she may be stimulated into laying by the other pairs breeding/building/nesting. Give her additional calcium and watch her carefully.