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ok, so a few weeks ago I had a baby parrotlet laying eggs after a stupid mistake i made. on the advice of my avian vet, i removed all nesting materials, the male was put back in his own cage but kept in the same room so as not to "stress" them both out, and she was covered for at least 18 hours a day, and it wasn't kept as "warm" so she wouldn't think it was spring. i also gave her "enriched egg/calcium" food to replace her calcium. Voila...she stopped laying eggs....

until last night when i found one in her seed dish. What the heck? She's alone in her cage, covered most of the time, the male is in his cage but she still laid an egg, more than 2 weeks after she stopped. what do i do now? remove him from the room? they are in separate cages, and they can't see each other right now, just hear each other.

I've called my vet again, and left a message, but i'm not sure what is going on.

The other thing is, my male, whom we originally got the female for as a friend, is plucking even worse and will soon be down to no feathers. The only thing that stopped him was when he had her with him.

These guys cause me to worry almost as much as my son wouldn't change it for the world though.

Don't blame yourself.
I have suspected for quite some time that parrotlets
have been over-promoted as pets. When they are good pets, they are only good alone, as they do not get along with another parrotlet of the same sex, or a bird of a different species. When they need company, obviously, it's going to end up as a breeding set-up.

a little bit more....
For everybody's peace of mind:
1. You might as well have the birds together.
2. No nest. (Unless you change your mind about having them nest.)
3. Have the cage about in the center of the room, definitely NOT close to a wall, so there is no sense of privacy or security. This might lessen the urge to nest.
4. The little hen might lay a few clutches. As long as they are about a month apart, and her diet is good, there might not be a need to worry. A lot of folks have even un-mated hens of other species that lay like this for awhile.
5. She might lay a few eggs in the feed cup. She might not have the urge to nest them.
6. This pattern of laying is one of the signs of domestication, as the hens that lay well are the ones that are producing the most babies in captivity.. so it's an inherited condition.