Claudia is "with egg"!

I noticed 3 days ago that she seemed heavier and a bit swollen. She is very obviously about ready to lay an egg! I was slightly worried that she had not laid it already, but I asked the ekkie list I am on this morning, and was told that 7-8 days between when you notice an egg forming and when it is laid is normal. I suppose I am too used to teils, that lay in shorter intervals! I also was directed to this great article, which I thought was really interesting.

I am rather paranoid about egg laying complications, thanks to my experience with my dear Cone, so I admit I am prone to worrying there is a problem before there actual is. I do try to stay calm around the birds, since they would not understand at all why I was wringing my hands and frowning! I can just imagine Claudia, giving me her, "Ok, what is wrong? You humans really involve so much care, your brains just aren't so big," look.

Hopefully, she will lay this egg just fine, and any others she may be planning to lay afterwards. I gave her a cardboard box on the floor of her cage yesterday, just in case she might have felt like holding the egg in until she found a place to lay it. She has been very busy in there, tearing it up to her satisfaction. She is such a motherly bird (or you could just say she knows she is a bird), I think she is very excited about starting a family. Unfortunately for that ambition, mean old me is going to take the eggs away and replace them with wooden ones. Nothing against breeders, but I know of enough rescue birds that need homes, without letting my birds breed. Plus, Claudia is a hybrid, RS/Vos, and Chester is a SI, so any baby of theirs would be a real mix! And I really can not support breeding in any way of hybrids. Nothing personal, Claudia, really!