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Boaz and Ruthie mated not this past Saturday but the week before! When will she lay eggs and what are the signs? I dont want to seperate them if she lays eggs cause they will probably be fertil and she would need his help with them. But if they arent going to lay eggs I wanna seperate them so I could try and tame them. Any help on what I should do?

do not encourage her to lay eggs. take the nest box away, and separate them if need be. Baby birds are VERY expensive to take care of, and if the parents reject them, you will be left to feed them every 3 or so hours. Breeding and egg laying can also be very risky and can lead to VERY expesive problems like EGGBINDING that can KILL the female--this is ESPECIALLY RISKY WHEN YOU ARE UNEXPERIENCED. Please, do not encourage them to lay. you also do not know if the birds are related--which can lead to DEFORMED chicks-- I do not know if my younger birds are related, and the vet told me to shake their eggs if the female lays because the chicks from related birds can be DEFORMED.

I am not the only person who believes this--you have gotten other posts that say the same things.

Shaking/addling the eggs may not kill them.... you may have to boil them instead...

i've got a pair of cockatiels that have been mating for years without producing eggs. Don't supply them a nestbox and that's half the battle. You can also control the lighting to discourage it as well.

And for unwanted eggs, I boil them, let them cool, and give them back.

As mentioned, it can get VERY expensive to raise baby birds... I remember one tiel baby somehow got a piece of pine shaving under her eyelid... I sold that bird for a negative profit, factoring in the avian vet visit.

Im really sorry but I DO NOT have the heart to kill the eggs! It is like bird abbortion. I think i Will take away the nest box but if she lays eggs I will put something back in. I would rather anytime take half of my life handraising chicks than kill one. I am reading everything I can about cockatiels every where I go. And dont breeders have to start somewhere anyways?

I completely abhore abortion, but I would never let two brids who could be siblings mate and produce eggs. You must understand, that allowing tiels to inbreed causes SEVERE PROBLEMS and DEFORMITIES. If you cannot afford it, do not do it. Breeding birds is for people who have the TIME and MONEY to do so. Hobby breeders are one of the reason that so many birds are in shelters. Maybe Sam can offer some advice here, he recently expanded his flock and had to hand raise the last clutch. This also means he has a lot of hormonal brothers and sisters running around and he knows about the time that goes into this. He can discuss the TIME and MONEY that goes into raising birds.

You are new to birds, maybe it is best to listen to people who have had them for years and who have bred them in the past and present. Understand that taking care of a single bird with moderate health issues can cost THOUSANDS of dollars in a year--are you ready to take on that responsability for a clutch of 5 birds with PHYSICAL AND MENTAL DEFORMITIES.

If you bring them into this world, it is your responsability to care for them--can you take on this responsabiity--it is not just the time, but there is a SIGNIFICANT FINANCIAL INVESTMENT here.

Please, for the sake of the birds and their potential eggs, discourage them from laying--take away the nest box so they won't lay and don't give it back if they do--and hopefully they will not sit on them.

I love animals and can barely bear to see dead animal let alone kill or cause the death of one.

I will take out the nest box but if they still lay eggs, though I will try to prevent it, I will not hurt the eggs It is too horrible.

I am willing to handraise them if I have to and even though it means getiing up at two four and six in the mornings to feed them I will if I must. I can take them everywhere I go also I do not mind spending half my life doing this. I WILL TRY HARD TO PREVENT THEM FROM HAVING EGGS AND CHICKS BUT I WILL NOT KILL THEM NO MATTER WHAT! And the way, boiling your tiel's eggs are like boiling your grandchildren! I will spend money on them if needed.

By the way, I dont think they are related because when we got them the lady had a breeding box for them that she was going to give but forgot. Unless she was inbreeding them on purpose. She also said they were a year and a half old and that they were vry friendly with her. They are wild with me.

jihae1200 wrote:boiling your tiel's eggs are like boiling your grandchildren!

You don't eat eggs?

So you may not intentionally kill a chick.... but say if the pair do produce fertile eggs. If they aren't experienced, or if they are bad parents, they may kill the chicks. They could overfeed them, underfeed them, not sit on them, ignore the chicks, pluck the chicks, or even mutilate the chicks.

So what happens? They have to be handfed in order to survive. If you are forced to feed day one old babies, you WILL NOT get any sleep! Feeding day one old babies you need to know when you can start feeding, because if you feed right after they hatch you will kill them. They have to be fed EVERY HOUR around the clock. If no one is home for several hours throughout the day, you CANNOT handfeed young chicks. The chicks MUST be kept in a brooder at the right temps as well as the correct humidity. Not doing so can cause dehydration, cold chicks, or other problems. The formula has to also be fed just right.... not too thick or too thin. Not too much or too little... the formula MUST be around 100° to 110° F... and it cools quickly, too. If you feed too quickly, or you don't feed right, you could aspirate (drowned) the chick. If the formula is too hot, you could cause crop burns. If the formula is too cold, you could cause slow crop, or crop stasis. This doesn't include the fact that formula can dry up within the crop and can be really hard to loosen up. It also doesn't go into the fact that birds can have air in the crop, and you'd have to either burp the baby or put a needle into the crop to take the air out. You also have to be prepaired for problems such as bacterial or fungal infections.

If you aren't experienced OR prepaired to do any of this, you could very well end up having dead chicks, or worse, a dead parent.... because there's also problems in laying eggs... The parents MUST be healthy and on a good diet (seeds, pellets, veggies, sprouts, cooked beans, cooked eggs, etc), and must be able to get good exercise. Females that are overweight or out of shape may have difficulty laying eggs, which could cause egg binding. Females who are lacking in calcium may end up having to take calcium from their bones in order to produce eggs, which weakens them (and sometimes, you can feed birds all the calcium you want, but if their body is not absorbing it, it does no good to them). There's also the fact that they could lay soft shelled eggs, which could easily break inside the hens body, causing egg peritonitis. There's also the fact that some hens may be genetically disposed to laying BIG eggs... eggs so large that they cannot lay them, and MUST go through surgery to have the egg removed and to get fixed... or hens who create many SMALL eggs and never lay them, again surgery is needed to remove the eggs and spay the bird.


Those are some of the many cons to breeding birds. Sometimes once a pair starts breeding, you can't stop them. It is only recommended for them to lay 2 clutches per year, max 3. There are people who allow their birds to reproduce 4-6 clutches, which ultimately kills the parents because they get no rest, and the females body is working in overload.


There are many pros to breeding as well.... however, if you are serious about breeding your birds, then you must be aware of all the cons of breeding.


And as for wether or not being related... there ARE people who do buy birds from the same breeders or petstores, who have a very high chance of being related, and thus end up breeding these birds. They may not know that the birds are related, but breed them anyway, because they just don't think of the possibility. And there are some people who just don't know any better and will try and breed siblings anyway.

Jihae,

I can give you a hint at what you might be looking at trying to let the birds breed and produce chicks. One of my pairs has given me 2 clutches, but in doing so, I have had my share of problems and medical difficulties with both the parents and their offspring. Straight out, can you afford a $3000.00 vet bill or bills? I'd venture to guess not, but that is what it CAN cost if a bird has a problem, and believe me, birds can and do have problems. Since this is your first pair and you seem to be trying to learn, I'd like to think you would not use them as your guinea pigs for your knowledge, as it could cost them their lives. If you are not absolutely sure of their ages or their family history, do not under any circumstances give them a nestbox. Yes, the hen will most likely lay eggs, but you don't have to provide a setting for them to continue or to encourage them to lay. I have one hen who laid a clutch of 6 eggs first go around, and before the chicks had even fledged, she started laying again, and laid another 6 eggs, this being in a period of about 4 weeks. I removed the eggs and the nestbox, and she continued to lay eggs, but stopped at 2. That is 14 eggs total in a 3 month period, and it's enough to kill a hen. You don't encourage laying at all, because sometimes they don't know when to quit. You let a hen lay so many eggs, and her calcium levels will be depleted, and her body, in an attempt to produce eggs, will start taking calcium from her bones, and she will die. There is no way you can give a hen enough calcium to let her lay clutch after clutch. Another thing that should be considered is taking over if the parents don't feed the chicks, or if they are too inexperienced to do so. You think about feeding something as small as a housefly with a syringe, and that would be about what hand feeding a newly hatched chick would amount to. There is only so much you can pick up from reading, but a hands on approach is clearly not the best solution either, especially when it involves a life that is dear to you. I say that because you mention you'd not kill an egg. How do you know you'd be killing a chick ? You won't know if the egg is fertile until 5 days after they start incubation. Addling the egg will not kill it either. Just toss in the trash or crush and destroy. There is no point in bringing new life into the world only to be sold or worse, thrown away. If you want to become a breeder, might I suggest you find a breeder and work for him / her for free, just to learn what all it takes to do things right.

So many of us have been trying to lead you on the right path, but it seems you are determined to go your own way, and if that is the case, I can only caution you, your actions will not make you a hero or outstanding person in the collective eyes of this web group. If you really want to contribute to good things, as I said, find a breeder and let them know you want to learn, but find out what all is involved before using your own birds as guinea pigs for some science experiment. Breeding is not a fun job, nor is watching a bird die a slow death because of being hard headed.

Regards,

Sam

If you go on Petfinder.com, there are about 125 cockatiels from Pasadena, California to Bangor, Maine. That is JUST petfinder, never mind all the other rescues in the US.

Why on earth would you want to bring more baby cockatiels into this world? If you are going to keep them, like Sam, then fine, but to be ANOTHER breeder!!!!

If you think that removing the eggs is cruel and you can't get tiels spayed or neutered, then you need to prevent birth somehow.

Not trying to be self righteous, but all these people are trying to tell you how hard it is and how much money, etc. They know from experience.

All I can think about is those 125 Petfinder.com cockatiels who need homes and are sitting in cages, unloved.

A sad reality though!

I would keep them. No question. I always keep my pets.