Alice has been acting "eggy" since Thursday. My first clue was that she didn't eat anything Wednesday night. The second clue was that she was in her nest basket when it was time to leave to do a program and she flat out refused to get out of the nest. She stepped over my hand a bunch of times, bit me A LOT, and just simply wouldn't cooperate. She's acted this way before when close to egg laying, and when I made her go to work anyway she was absolutely miserable, not sleeping, standing on both feet all day, trying to jump off her perch, and all but running to her nest when we got home.
She didn't eat Thursday night. She didn't eat Friday night either, and as Hein said, she was hooting differently. It was more subdued and quiet, and she was sitting with her back arched slightly. About 1 AM on Saturday I heard her jump up to her nest basket. She never goes to her nest basket at night...she's too busy looking out the windows. So I expected an egg to arrive at any time.
She was sitting in her nest when I got up in the morning. I reached a hand under her to check for an egg, but didn't find one...I just got bitten. She wasn't flat out in incubation posture...she was more in a squatty posture...so I wasn't expecting to see one.
I checked again when I got home from work. She kind of looked miserable and squatty, and again bit me good an proper when I felt for an egg.
When she doesn't eat she needs to drink water, and I hadn't noticed her drinking, so I offered her a drink from a squirt bottle. She wasn't interested. So I just left her alone.
When I went to bed at about 10 PM she was down flat, and yes, there was an egg! I'm curious to see if she'll lay a second egg. She has yet to lay two eggs in one year. But the interesting thing about her egg laying this year is that she never allowed me to "copulate" with her by putting my hand on her back, which is something she's wanted in past years. Guess she doesn't need me to help her make an egg....
Congratulations Mamma Alice! Do you let her incubate it? I seem to remember that you do, then remove after the time it would have hatched. How about Iris and Rusty?
ReplyDeleteYes, I'll let Alice incubate. We have very few if any requests for programs this time of year, so this way she can satisfy her instincts. I'll take it away a short while after the normal incubation period (32-34 days). Iris should be on a more normal schedule and I'd expect her to lay in late January or sometime in February. Alice always goes early, probably because she's indoors and exposed to longer than normal light levels.
ReplyDeleteGo Alice! Now lets hope for Iris later in the month.
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