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I have a 15yr old Military and 8 yrs ago she laid 12 eggs from Jan. to March now a month ago she started laying eggs again and so far has 5..................I was told they lay eggs when the daylight is longest......she is a domestic hand raised bird......
I am just curious why she would have laid the eggs 8 yrs ago in Jan. and now is laying eggs. I am in the southern portion of the eastern time zone of the US.

skc wrote:I was told they lay eggs when the daylight is longest

The opposite, when daylight is the shortest. It has been my experence that they will continue to lay eggs untill a sucessful clutch is established and chicks hatch. If they don't this process will repeat.

skc wrote:I am just curious why she would have laid the eggs 8 yrs ago in Jan. and now is laying eggs

More data is needed here; is she setup with a male, has your food changed, have you changed her cage position, how many other birds are in the aviary, and if so did a new bird come into the flock?

From your limited description I would tend to think that she is a lone companion bird and with 8 years in between clutches she is due. This is not abnormal and should be considered when having a lone hen along with other elements in the proper care and keeping of this species. Your vet should be made aware of this occurrence and ask him/her what special things you should do now and of course always bring your bird in to see them at least once a year, more so during this time period.

But all in all it is nature at it's best! Your doing things right and she wants to have a family. Congratulations and enjoy your wonderful bird. I raised Military Macaws for almost 10 years in the 70's (now for Macaws, all I raise is Greenwing, Scarlet, and B&G) and found them to be not only a loving and caring species but also very loyal and intelligent. Keep up the good work!

Dutch

Are you still around? If so, the article at this link might be helpful to you: http://www.exoticpetvet.net/avian/eggbound.html

Bluesbird Exotics wrote:Are you still around? If so, the article at this link might be helpful to you: http://www.exoticpetvet.net/avian/eggbound.html

Do not scare people with a diagnosis of "Egg Binding" This is totally irrational and unwarranted!

That is why I suggested that during egg laying sessions a female who is not with a male (paired up) visit their DVM.

When you tell someone about egg binding it puts the scare of death into them. This is not the case. Who are you to tell someone about egg binding just because the hen does not have regular clutches?

From all my experience nothing is worse than an uniformed "chicken little" running around saying the sky is falling. In almost all cases of "Egg Binding" that is when the hen is paired up with a cock and there is regular clutches being laid or in other words a bonded producing pair.

8 years without a clutch does not constitute egg binding....period!

Dutch

We think in the terms that birds start nesting as the days START to get longer.
We forget that nesting usually ends when the days are longest, that is, summer.
However, none of the rules are written in stone.

PurpleHeart wrote:Do not scare people with a diagnosis of "Egg Binding" This is totally irrational and unwarranted!...

You must not have read the article Only at the end of a long discussion of avian reproduction does Dr Wissman mention egg-binding:

"... armed with correct information, you won't have so much to be worried about... Egg-binding is much more common in cage-bound birds, those that are overweight and those birds on a poor diet... most healthy birds should have no trouble laying an egg ... Forewarned is forearmed."

Bluesbird Exotics wrote: ... Forewarned is forearmed."

I must have missed your latest remark and due diligence alerted me of your misconceptions and ambiguous alarms.

For the record I am familiar with all of Dr. Margaret's articles. I find her writings to be not only on topic (unlike yours) but also very thorough. The article you point out in your latest "Sky is Falling prediction" was FOR COCKATOOS!" Not Macaws. And it was in response to a direct question about egg binding, not what is in front of us now! What we have here is a simple question about a companion military macaw laying an occational clutch of eggs 8 years apart. NOT EGG BINDING!

See, case in point, this is one of your faults Blues Birds, you naturally Google up articles and miss the very reason for their publication. You can not arbitrarily take one species occurrence and transcribe it across the whole spectrum. But then again you post to so many of the forums here you forget where you are posting to! Why don't you stick to the forums where either you own birds or have personal experience in them and refrain from over posting to every single topic of every single species in order to what? Arbitrarily build up or add to your posting total? You personally make me sick with your inexperience and doom and gloom.

You have no idea what your "digital" diagnosis may cause for these bird owners. Bringing up things that are highly unlikely, very sporadic, improbable, and sparse brings up dire feelings and hurt these people. You ought to temper your predictions so that you are not so harsh on peoples emotions. Furthermore, you have no facts to support your thesis and should not (where normal people think and communicate) come to these conclusions.

And lastly you used a proverb that has been traced to 'Treatises of Fistula' (c. 1425) by J. Arderne. If you had done any study in that treatise you would find your own demise. In plain talk you don't run up to someone on the sidewalk and because they have a runny nose tell them and all those around them, that they have T.B. Furthermore and on point you don't automatically think the worst possible scenario about a situation when a more likely and probable result is obvious.

Dutch