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Our cockatiel layed her first clutch of eggs recently, much to our delight. After candling, we determined all five were fertile. Mom was being a good mother constantly sitting and tending to her eggs. However, we are within a few days of the first hatching date and it appears she has possibly abandoned them. Yesterday she didn't sit on them until evening. This morning she was off of them again. Today I candled and they all still appear to be viable. I also got an incubator if you all advise to place in there--I'm not sure. I really don't look forward to handfeeding from day one. Any ideas as to why she may have stopped incubating? Also, if I do put them in the incubator, is it still possible to put them back in with her after hatching? Thanks for any suggestions!

I forgot to tell you that she has been incubating these eggs for about 14 days now. That's why I hate to lose them...

Is the father sitting on the eggs at all? they are suppose to be taking turns and sometimes the males are crappy parents

Personally, I've not run into that type of scenario, but 'tiels, as with other warm blooded animals somehow have an uncanny way of knowing if there is something wrong with developing offspring, however if she's been incubating the eggs for x amount of time and suddenly stopped incubating them, it could well be a first time parent, or there is something wrong with the chicks inside the shell and she wants to abort the hatching process. Since we don't know what goes thru the mind of a young hen or male for that matter, there might be external forces that have caused her to stay off the eggs. Perhaps a change in environment, even something as simple as placing a picture in a new place or hanging new curtains could set off a chain of events that would seem minor to us, but drastic to them. Without further info, hard to tell what or why, but examine your past events and maybe a clue will pop up. If you have candled the eggs and they are all fertile, it would be hard to abandon them, but knowing how difficult it is to handfeed a newly hatched chick can be quite a daunting thought. Just the fact of hatching is a major effort, and we, as people, have no clue when to help a chick in distress during hatching, whereas the parent would know exactly how much effort to expend to help the hatching process. My suggestion is incubate if you feel the chicks are developing normally, but if not, let them go in peace without assistance. That really is a tough call to make, and I don't envy your decision. Life is precious, be it humans or birds, but just remember, the parents probably know best. If you are not prepared to stay up 24/7 for the first few days to feed/nurture the chicks, let them go. Maybe the parents are just too young... very difficult situation you are in.

Sam

Dem,

Since you have chosen to incubate the eggs, I assume you know about turning the eggs about every 45 minutes so they don't stick to the membrane and even the shell itself. I really hope they all hatch, but having spend 2 days off incubation, you may experience some DIS with the chicks. I tried my best to watch Smokey and Missy when they were incubating the eggs to see how frequently they turn them, but it was difficult, even with the webcam on them, and since I could not sit here and constantly watch them, it's only a guess about the time w/r/t the egg turning. Are you able to control the humidity inside the incubator? I'm not familiar with today's incubators, but I do know that humidity is critical to the proper development of the chicks, and while our last clutch was laid/hatched in the wintertime when humidity is very low, Missy would from time to time, get wet and take that moisture back to the nest while she was still damp, I assume to provide the proper level of moisture for the eggs. I am by no means an expert at egg hatching, but only go by my observations of the whole process. Keep us posted on what happens, and hopefully, about day 19, you'll start seeing some pips and chicks starting the 24 hour long process of hatching.

Good luck,

Sam

Keep us posted on how it all goes. I am so excited to hear!

YEAH!! One egg hatched last night between the time I went to bed at midnight and 3:30 AM when I got up to check on them. There had been a small pip made earlier in the day, and we knew he would be arriving soon...but not that soon So far he looks good. Weighs 5 grams. Can anybody give me an idea if this is a healthy weight for him or not? He is eating his Roudybush formula pretty good. Sometimes he is a little finicky when I first try to give it to him, but then he gobbles it up.
Look closely in his pix...he is tucked into a velour/feather cat toy

Congatulations! It s so cute! How many days since the egg has been laid?

Awww....what a cutie....

Oh my goodness... Dem, you have pulled off quite a miracle to have eggs unincubated and cool off for that long and then still have them hatch. Your house or where they were must have been warm enough that the embryo's didn't die from being too cool. It is absolutely amazing! Is there any chance that the parents would attempt to feed the chicks, or have you tried to re-introduce them to the chicks? It would be so beneficial if they would feed them even for just a few days to get the genetically good stuff from their feeding, as well as the probiotics from their digestive juices. I hope you can keep them alive hand feeding, and if the chicks are healthy and start gaining weight, it may be possible. As for the weight, 5 grams is about right. I weighed some of my eggs before hatching, and they mostly were around 5 grams, and the shell itself weighs way less than a gram, so essentially, all the weight is the chick. Please keep us posted on their growth..

Best of luck,

Sam