I've had my keets now for about 7 months and yesterday was the first time I've ever seen Bit get into her food dish and kick food out. She wiggled a bit when in there, pecked at her food, jumped out and would repeat. Bit has never layed eggs since she has been with me and is around 2 years old.

Original I thought they were both boys which was perfect, because I didn't want them to breed, but of course they turned out to be male and female.

My mother has had keet clutches in the past so I have her to help me if the eggs are fertile however we're having difference in opinion on wether or not to put a nesting box in.

Like I previously said I don't want a clutch at this point, my keets and I are still working on becoming compeltely hand trained and while I'd love to experience a clutch at some point in my adult life- now isn't that time.

My issue with the nesting box is that Bit is still in breeding mode, I'm concerened that putting a nesting box in now is going to promote breeding (if it hasn't already happened).

Thanks in advance!

By putting in the nesting box, you are encouraging it. If you don't want eggs right now, don't put it in. Also, change around the cage often so it doesn't get to comfortable. Cover them early in the evening and uncover later in the morning. She can still be in breeding mode but there are ways to discourage it.

Thanks for the response, I may not have been clear enough in my first post though.

I'm worried that maybe she is stressed currently because she doesn't have a place to lay eggs, which is one reason I would WANT to put a nesting box in. The flip side being, I'm reading too much into her behavior and she isn't carrying eggs-obviously then I wouldn't want to put a nesting box in the cage.

Do you have a male keet? Do you have pictures you can post?

or if you have another cage you could seperate them.but changing it(the cage)around's best.

Most females will lay them anywhere. Once an egg is ready they have to lay it regardless of a nestbox. Peeps laid one in my hand, one on the living room floor and the other 4 on the bottom of her cage. After that she could care less about them. She more than likely will lay it on the bottom of her cage or in the food dish. You may add a mineral block if you dont already have one and some ground oyster shells. If she is about to lay an egg she needs the extra calcium to keep her shells hard.

Thanks for the responses. It's been a month and there have no other signs of nesting, she still digs occassionally but it *seems* to be just a new habit she's picked up. I've started changing the layout of the cage every couple of weeks to discourage breeding and will keep an eye out.