Sunday Bird (and Egg) Blogging

Whitey after the ordeal.

We had to miss Friday's demonstration against the Bush-Heather money roundup  because we had to deal with an egg emergency. Turns out our albino female parakeet Whitey was bound up with an egg she couldn't get laid. This happens at times with birds, and it can be dangerous. Whitey was all swollen and listless Friday so we took her to the avian vet, who did her magic to diagnose the problem and make it easier for the egg to emerge. I won't go into the gritty details! Thankfully, not long after we got her home and "steamed" her in the bathroom with the shower running, out came the egg (below) -- an unusually large one for a parakeet.

The bad egg with pen to show scale.

The egg, like the rest of the series that's been laid by Whitey over the past few weeks, was infertile. We had long ago separated her from Queenie, the father of her one and only brood, three of which lived and became part of our avian family. Nonetheless, she kept laying eggs even though she now resides in an all-girl residence with our trio of green boy birds housed in another room.

Turns out some parakeets will start laying eggs when the hours of daylight increase. Whitey is one of them, so we were instructed to cover her abode earlier in the day. This way her hormones will get the message that Springtime is over and it's time stop laying eggs and get back to the serious business of parakeet playtime. Another day, another birdie drama and, fortunately, another happy ending. (Click on images for larger versions.)