Re: does a caged solo female orange-wing amazon parrot lay eggs?

Greetings Suzy!
That was a good question because I imagine that a lot of people often 
wonder if  a lone Parrot can lay an egg without it's mate.  Putting it very 
simply , yes it can lay an egg , but the egg will not be fertilized without 
the male.  The female can portray some very typical behaviour in regards to 
breeding and reproduction even if there is no male around. She will
have a tendency to spend a lot of time on the bottom of the cage and may 
display amorous behaviour toward objects in the cage.  If your solo female 
does lay an egg, it would be best to  leave the eggs with her. When you 
remove the eggs as she lays them you are removing some of the natural 
feedback cues that enable the bird to know when to stop laying. After the 
female has tended her clutch it is usually safe to remove the eggs. If this 
doesn't do the job, decreasing her light exposure may be helpful in 
resetting her biological clock. 

Amazons are commonly bred in captivity, courtship usually begins in warm 
weather from April to early May.  The hen will then lay two to five eggs 
which incubate for about 28 days. The young will leave the nest at 8-9 
weeks old.  As with many parrots, the male will eat for himself and the 
female while she incubates the eggs and feeds the young.  He does this by 
regurgitating the food for the female to eat. 

If you would like a really detailed  explanation of how the egg becomes 
fertilized go to the site:

              
              http://www.jobird.com/eggstory.htm

This site not only has a scientific explanation of how an egg becomes a 
bird but it also has a very humorous original story of the egg which you may find 
amusing.

If you are the owner of an orange amazon it would be very worthwhile for 
you to check out the following site that deals with sexual behavior in parrots.
              
               http://www.funnyfarmexotics.com/IAS/BlanchSB.htm

Another excellent site will give you tips from a veterinarian, just point 
your browser to

   
     http://www.pubnix.net/~mhagen/docu/vettips.html

And for a little trivia,  the female bird carries the XY combination which 
determines the sex of chicks.  This is opposite from mammals.

And just in case you're interested,  female iguanas develop eggs with out a 
male !

I hope this information will  be useful to you , thankyou for taking the 
time to send in a question to the MadSci Network.

June Wingert

Baylor College of Medicine
Houston, Texas