Mother Hen

Can you believe it, Sherbie's laying more eggs! She laid her second clutch a few weeks before we went on holiday, and as I did before, I replaced the real eggs for the dummy eggs and she was quite happily sitting on them. Then over the weekend, she seemed to leave the nest and became more active and singing, so I removed the eggs.

No sooner had I done that, and she started to 'chat' to her mate in the mirror and added things to the nest. Sure enough, yesterday there was a new egg and today there was a second.

I was a little concerned that we were doing something wrong, so I phoned a breeder for their advice, and she said we were doing everything right, except that we should add a calcium supplement to her food. We do have cuttlefish in her cage, but she said that's not enough, and gave me the details of what they use and I ordered some straight away. I asked how many clutches they normally lay, and she said once they start laying, they will usually continue to do so, but if we leave the dummy eggs in the nest it should prevent her from laying more.

I asked if I should get her a male, but she said that would exacerbate the problem and that they usually throw the chicks from the nest and don't look after them. So we'll see how we get on this time, both previous times she's laid 4 eggs so I guess we've got another two to come over the next two days.

Ironically, the pattern has been that she's laid eggs shortly before we've gone on holiday, and sure enough we're away again in another 10 days. Thank goodness for Charlotte our doggy sitter!