"Linda Ambrose"  wrote in message
news:irixazul-C0AD08.09464322012005{at}news.videotron.net...
> "David G Fisher"  wrote:
>
> > I wouldn't recommend paper for the fact that many female birds will go
into
> > nesting behavior and start laying eggs. This can be dangerous to their
> > health for a number of reasons (low calcium--egg binding). Not everyone
> > knows what to do when their bird goes into egg laying mode.
>
> Dave:  Sydney III was a bird I "rescued" from my friends' pet store.
> The bird was no longer wanted and dumped at the store.  When I first got
> her, I didn't know her sex, but I was hoping she'd be a male as they're
> usually a little more mild-mannered than the girls.  My friends said she
> loved being at the bottom of the cage hiding under her papers and she
> also had a homemade "happy hut" thing that she hid in.  She was also a
> bitey, nasty little creature and I couldn't handle her without a glove.
> She's come a long way since then, still nippy, but she'll go on my hand
> and run up my arm to sit on my shoulder.  Having noticed how much she
> loves her newspaper, I didn't have the heart to replace it with chips or
> other kinds of bedding.  Since I've had her (just over a year now), she
> has laid a few eggs.  To be honest with you, I always worry about the
> possibility of egg-binding in my female birds, even though I make sure
> they have cuttlebones and calcium supplements.  I also have several
> female budgies who have laid eggs at the bottom of the cage.  I try to
> discourage egg-laying but I suppose nature can be controlled only to a
> certain extent.
>
> Do you have a suggestion as to what I could replace the newspaper with?
> I've heard certain types of chips are dangerous and not advisable to put
> into birds' cages because of the oils &/or scents.  Would corn cob be a
> good alternative?
>
> Thanks.
> --
> Linda

Sorry it took a couple of days to reply.

Egg binding is so dangerous that I would not have any nesting material in
the cage if she is reacting to it in "nesting" way. :-) I put paper towells
(newspaer is fine) below the grate of my lovebird's cage where she can't get
to it.

You could always give your bird a piece of a paper towell to occasionally
shred.

Wild birds are not confined in a tiny space (a cage) for most of their day,
inisde a house. To have them in that situation with nesting material can
push them into egg laying when in the wild they would be off doing a million
other things in the outdoors with (obviously) no boundries. I think we
sometimes forget how much we change them to force them to live with us, and
we need to be careful.

Dave




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