Soft Eggs (Also on Q&A)

[Bevie]

My cockatiel is in the egg laying mode, She has laid five eggs, but the last three eggs she laid were all soft. I'm very concerned for her. She has two cuttle bones in her cage, I add crumbled sea shells in her food (she ignores them) and I cook eggs and crumble up the shell in the eggs. She really goes for those and eats them, but one thing that concerns me is that she goes searching for dried poop! I have drift wood on top of their cages which sometimes I miss the poop, and I keep the cages clean, but she still manages to find some to eat. She even goes to the other bird cages looking for poop. I don't know how I can keep the cages any cleaner. Two questions, what causes the soft eggs and will the bird poop hurt her or make her sick? I sure wish I could get her to stop laying eggs all together!

[tiffers]

Isn't it a Vitamin D or Calicium deficiency? I'm not sure what it is from, but I know she's not getting a particular vitamin that hardens the shell. Call an Avian Vet, they'll know which one it is and what supplements to give.

[SweetPea]

soft eggs also is at a higher risk for egg binding which can be fatal.

try removing all hormonal stimulant, ie nest box. also i would reduce the amount of light she gets per day.

[BirdCurious]

I second the suggestions of seeing a vet and removing all "nest cues" - so remove nest box, shorten daylight hours, don't let her go off in "nesty" dark corners, no extra food or warm food. Eating poop like that is usually a sign of a serious nutritional deficiency. She's probably very depleted by the egg laying.

Let us know how she is.

[senorabarb]

How is your bird doing? Remove all mirrors from her cage, and make sure she is in total darkness for 12 hours per day. Move her cage to a different room, or to a different part of the room. Give her a calcium supplement on her food. I give my Eclectus with this problem Cal-Phosteoform. If your bird continues laying soft eggs, I recommend that you take her to a vet and have the vet run blood tests. She may be deficient in other areas, too. I almost lost my bird during one of her egg-laying sessions. I now take her to the vet about 3 times a year and she gets a series of lupron (hormone) shots.