Egg Bound??

[Mellon_91]

I have a year old kakariki (like a mini parrot, just bigger than a lovebird) and 3 days ago she started to have periods of straining..not sure how else to describe it, she pants and her tail end goes right up into the air. The only idea we have come up with is egg laying. She has also been eating her cuttlebone and mineral stone much more than normal and now more frequently has these 'attacks' of straining which last two or three minutes, then she is absolutely fine again.
To anyone who knows about egg laying in parakeets, is this a serious problem? We have rubbed warm olive oil on her vent in case she is having issues but obviously because of the xmas period access to a vet is very very difficult! I thought egg binding happened very quickly - anyone know how worried we should be? Thanks a lot!

[wildwood]

Bird ailments are extremely difficult to diagnose, even for a Vet, let alone on a forum. I do feel however, that if eggbound you should have been able to feel the egg when putting olive oil on the cloaca. Furthermore, after three day she'd be dead by now as the same orifice is used to pass excrement and urea. Eggbinding is also a continues condition and does not go away and come back for a few minutes.

As you probably know, kakarikis are very active birds and play like kittens on the ground so eggbinding is fairly rare in healthy birds. Any bird that is not in good condition is prone to eggbinding as the muscle that palpate the oviduct are not toned.

It does sound like it is trying to pass something so maybe the bird is constipated. Perhaps a drop or two of olive oil in the other end will be benificial. The condition you described is a typical reaction of all birds that have a discomfort around the claoca. Make sure that the vent area is clean and no damaged feathers are present that could 'tickle' the bird.