nesting and how to stop it

Question
Hi,
I had a horrible day today.  When I woke up my bird was breathing very hard and would not move from the bottom of her cage.  I brought twity to the vet this morning and it turns out she is very sick.  She has been laying many eggs for the past 6 months and apparently she has become extremly weak, developed and infection and has a serious calcium deficiency.  The vet said the food i was giving her was fine and that she should keep on eating in my plate because it gives her some needed vitamines.  I am very worried for her and at the same time I cannot bear the expenses if things do not get better.  The vet told me that I had to stop her nesting behaviour before she laid another egg or else she would probably need hormonal therapy.  I was wondering if you had any tricks to help me with my lovebird in regards to stopping the nesting and egg-laying.  Twity and I both need the eggs to stop coming!

Thanks for your help  

Answer
Hi, Isabelle.  Thanks for posting.

I'm sorry to hear your lovebird isn't well.  To stop nesting behavior, remove any nestbox or anything that resembles a nest from the cage (including paper or anything that could be used to build a nest).  Limit your lovebird's daily light to 10-12 hours per day.  In addition, warmer temperatures in the springtime is a nesting trigger...try to keep the ambient temperature where you keep your bird about the same during the day (don't let the daytime sun increase the temperature in the room too much).  

The hormone therapy your bird vet is referring to is an injection to stop her from laying eggs.  I would recommend you have this done since your lovebird is not doing well from laying too much.  If not, you could lose her.

Keep your lovebird as nourished as possible (give her as much food as she can eat and feed her nutritiously).  It might help to handfeed her with baby parrot handfeeding formula (using a handfeeding syringe) if she'll accept being fed this way (was she handfed as a baby?).  She needs to be kept warm (but not overly so), and try to get her immune system working overtime by perhaps supplementing her food with echinacea (which is a herb...open up a capsule and mix a little of it into her food) or use parrot vitamins or Spirulina (a green algae vitamin supplement).  For calcium deficiency, don't feed corn and, at minimum, provide a cuttlebone in the cage or supplement your lovebird's diet with liquid calcium (ask the pharmacist...liquid calcium is usually kept behind the counter, but does not require a prescription).  If not available, even crushing a calcium tablet (or open up a capsule) and sprinkle a little over moist food.   

I hope everything goes well with your lovebird.

Chrys