When survivors talk with each other, it’s not always about suicide. The following conversation appeared in a thread on the Alliance of Hope Forum.
CeeCee Cara: Hi Everyone! Well, the night began with what appeared to be a potential rectal prolapse problem with my parrot Cleo, a Moluccan cockatoo. So while on the phone with the emergency vet (who is 1.5 hours away), and about ten minutes of labor, my parrot laid her first egg at age 19! (It’s unfertilized because she has no male bird to mate with.) It was such a beautiful egg. Then my husband accidentally dropped it. (He feels just awful.) So we have an empty chicken egg shell in her cage right now. Not sure if she’ll “adopt” it or not. But the vet suggested to try. –Wishing everyone peace and love… (((hugs)))
Shelby: Oh my goodness!!!! That is just amazing!
Joni: Wow! I kinda doubt she’ll take to it. They’re smarter than most imagine. Have your husband apologize to her for dropping her egg. She’ll understand him.
Turtle: I had no idea parrots lay eggs…… Guess I just hadn’t thought about it. And now I am. How’s she doing now?
Ano: hahaha@turtle. You do know about birds and the bees…? Birdies need to make babies too, Thankfully humans don’t lay eggs -can you imagine! Don’t think we have the patience to sit there and keep it warm, but maybe there won’t be so many unwanted babies in the world either. –Thinking about the fact that parrots can get extremely old, 19 seems like a ripe age for reproducing? Hopefully you didn’t think that she was male (as I did with a canary before ‘he’ laid an egg) Are you going to find her a mate?
Changed4Ever: Congratulations on the first laying and hopes for many more…note to self, keep hubby away from the parrot, he’s hard on the eggs
TerryS: Like Ano, I had a cockatiel that I thought was a “he” until “he” laid an egg. They were just little eggs. Maybe about the size of your thumb nail. Your baby’s egg looks pretty big.
MarianneS: Wow! How awesome!
Savier: That is very cool! Must have been quite the surprise!
CeeCee Cara: I really enjoyed reading everyone’s response. Thank you for asking about her. She’s doing fine now and is almost back to her “normal” self. I work from home so I can check on her frequently. I’ll keep my response here brief, to spare you all the details. –We knew she was a female as we had a blood test on her when she was a baby. She also tends to get “competitive” with me, too. She’s a total “Daddy’s girl”.
She’s been in a mating phase for a few weeks, but her doctor couldn’t see her right away. So it wasn’t a total surprise to see an egg. She saw the doctor on Saturday, and he said she’s too young to lay an egg and gave her a hormone shot. He said she’s not physically developed enough to pass one. (Guess she showed him a thing or two!) Normal age for that would be around 25 years old…. Her lifespan is around 80+ years.
It was explained to us that part of the mating phase could include her protruding her rectal organs (sorry for the graphic imagery there) from her pushing, in which case one of us would have to literally push her butt back in.
I will say that although it was scary, It was very beautiful, too. As I watched her go through labor and pushing, she looked so calm and relaxed. I could tell she was not in distress. All was quiet (except for her contractions). And she just had this “peaceful” aura about her. It was a special moment, one that I will never forget. (Thank you, Cleo!)
And thank you all for reading her short story.
P.S. Oh! She rejected the chicken egg… I figured she would the moment she saw it. She knew she didn’t lay that one!
Turtle: I love this.
Changed4Ever: I needed the entire thread today. My heart needed the smile.
