# My dove only laid one egg! How to know if egg bound?



## Clementine (Sep 5, 2015)

Hi everyone,

Clem has been a very loud bird ever since we got her, so I was starting to suspect that "she" may be a "he"... but she recently proved me wrong by laying an egg!

She started sitting on it in the improvised nest I made, and she's acting like a broody bird is supposed to. 
The problem is, there's still just one egg - and it's been at least 36 hours since it was laid, probably more (I found it on the bottom of the cage Tuesday morning, before she started sitting). 
Could she be egg bound? How do I know if anything's wrong with her?
She doesn't seem to be in pain or distress, aside from being antsy and eager to return to her egg any time I take her off. I do worry she might be getting a little thin, though - but it's hard to compare it to how she was previously because she never let me properly touch her breast area before (she would climb or jump onto my finger as soon as I applied the slightest pressure). 

She's also been having atrociously smelly droppings since she started to hold them in, which only worries me more; from what I've read online it seems that this is not uncommon for broody birds, but I think I can also faintly smell something similar near her beak/head area when I get very close, which doesn't seem good. It could just be the smell clinging to her, but maybe she has a digestive problem?

I'd really appreciate any help!


----------



## cwebster (Dec 11, 2010)

Our constant single mom egg layer, Fiona, takes a couple of days to lay her second egg and it always worries me. She also makes voluminous smelly poops twice over day. Would give your hen another day to see if she lays a second egg. If she is eating and drinking and taking care of her egg she likely is fine. An xray would show if she is egg bound. Would give her a little longer to lay the second one though. Are you giving her calcium and D3?


----------



## Clementine (Sep 5, 2015)

cwebster said:


> Our constant single mom egg layer, Fiona, takes a couple of days to lay her second egg and it always worries me. She also makes voluminous smelly poops twice over day. Would give your hen another day to see if she lays a second egg. If she is eating and drinking and taking care of her egg she likely is fine. An xray would show if she is egg bound. Would give her a little longer to lay the second one though. Are you giving her calcium and D3?



Hi and thanks for the reply!

I have some powdered bird vitamins that I used to give her, but she hasn't had them for a couple of weeks now (they're at my mother's house, I'm getting them back tonight). In the meantime I put a bit of grit in her food as well as some crushed cuttlefish bone.

She's still taking care of her egg, and hopping off on her own to eat/drink (+poop when I take her out). However, there's still just one egg!

Should I take her to the vet even though she doesn't seem in distress?


----------



## Jay3 (May 4, 2008)

A calcium supplement to add to the drinking water, like CalciBoost or Calcivet would be a better idea then cuttlefish bone added to the seed, as she probably doesn't even eat it. If she seems fine then she probably is. On occasion they can have just one egg. 

Also, don't put the grit in her food. Put it in a separate dish for her to take when she needs it.


----------



## Clementine (Sep 5, 2015)

Jay3 said:


> A calcium supplement to add to the drinking water, like CalciBoost or Calcivet would be a better idea then cuttlefish bone added to the seed, as she probably doesn't even eat it. If she seems fine then she probably is. On occasion they can have just one egg.
> 
> Also, don't put the grit in her food. Put it in a separate dish for her to take when she needs it.



There's supposed to be a good amount of calcium in her bird vitamins (which I usually dissolve in her water), so once I get them back tonight I'll start doing that again! I know putting cuttlefish on seed isn't the best option, but she ingested some of it at least (I moistened the seed a little bit first so the powder would stick, and fed it to her from my hand).
Normally her grit is indeed in a separate dish, but I figured she needed more of it than usual right now especially since I didn't have her vitamins with me during the past few days.

Thanks for the information! Maybe she really was set to have only one egg this time... I wonder if the fact that it's her first has anything to do with it (when I got her, she had only just become sexually mature, according to the pet store employee).

She does seem fine for now. Would she stop sitting on the egg if something was seriously wrong?


----------



## Jay3 (May 4, 2008)

Don't mix it in her seed anyway. She needs enough calcium and vitamin D3, which she needs in order to be able to use the calcium). Your vitamins probably don't have enough of either.
You will know if she seems in distress.


----------



## Clementine (Sep 5, 2015)

Hm, I wonder... I'll check the ingredients list. I remember it has D3 too, I don't know in what amount though. How much is 'enough'? I'll look into it.


----------



## c.hert (Jan 15, 2010)

Some Doves when they first lay the first eggs only lay one egg. For now I would not worry unless she seems in distress like hunched up and not eating and sitting there doing nothing--not walking and seems like she is cold and in distress. Your bird is sitting and eating and walking and just watch her but I hope she is fine and I think she is and just keep a eye on her. Female poops around this time of egg laying and even after are always messy and smelly and no reason to get alarmed just yet...Hope everything continues good and you get stress free...for now anyway...Keep us updated..Make sure she is warm in a warm place and comfortable and private.


----------



## wiggles and puddles (Sep 3, 2015)

I agree with the others. Grit in a separate bowl. They are picky little things, even if you have it in the seed bowl they pick out what they want, so having the grit in a separate bowl will make it easier for her to get enough of it when she decides she wants it. You do need a actual calcium supplement, and vitamins with D3. I use calcium powder on the seed, since it is the only kind my two would eat, and then vitamin drops in the water. I give probiotics in the water for two days after Puddles lays her eggs, and that seems to help with the smell of her poo, and it was a routine my vet recommended I get into, to give probiotics regularly. You can ask your vet about it. Puddles just started laying eggs too. Her first set, she laid both eggs within 12 hours. This last time there was 3 days of separation before both eggs were laid. Just keep an eye on her, and when in doubt, you can always call your vet if you are concerned.


----------



## Clementine (Sep 5, 2015)

Thanks to everyone for the replies! 
A late update for those interested :

It turns out she really did lay just one egg, and was completely fine afterwards. She's now laid her second clutch, with two eggs this time (although they both fell to the bottom of the cage and got broken!)


----------



## Jay3 (May 4, 2008)

Thanks for the update. Why are they falling to the floor? Does she not have a nest. That isn't good as it will just cause her to lay soon again, and she will soon become depleted of calcium stores. Then she will run into trouble.
Can you post a pic of her set up?


----------



## Clementine (Sep 5, 2015)

Yeah, I did read about these issues... that's why I let her sit on her first egg, and intended to let her sit on the last ones too. 

She has this platform in her cage that she likes to sit on, and I make it into a nest when she has eggs. It seem like the first egg from the previous clutch rolled off before I could secure it (I found it cracked at the bottom of the cage), and she laid the second one directly from a perch onto the cage floor, breaking it as well!

I plan on getting some kind of fake egg for these situations, hopefully it can fool her into sitting for a few weeks instead of laying more. 

This is what her first 'nest' looked like : http://i.imgur.com/Z8MRijT.jpg


----------



## Jay3 (May 4, 2008)

Is there a way that you can put a small box or something in there that they can use as a nest bowl? Something you leave in there all the time. A small plastic box that you cut a door out of it, or something like that. But it has to be there all the time as their nest so they can use it when they want to.
Pic of their cage?


----------

