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I caught Noah trying to mate with Meg already today, the oldest chicks are 4 weeks old today

I managed to stop "the deed" but I am obviously not going to be around all the time when the desire hits
Would I be a really mean mum if I threw out any potential eggs
I just do not want them to have another clutch.
This was their first clutch and they did a great job but to be honest both Noah and Meg have lost weight, even though I am feeding them three times a day at the moment!
I think 1 clutch is enough, especially being a fairly large clutch.
I feel Meg especially needs a break.
If I can not stop them mating, then I do want to stop them from sitting so I was going to throw the eggs out, no matter how awful I will feel about it
Anyone any other tips???

Also, will it make Meg and Noah want to make the current chicks fledge prematurely???
It looks like they are really trying their best to get the oldest two out, they are constantly in and out of the nestbox and when one of those chicks pokes it's head out, Noah will fly to it or jump on top of the nestbox (assuming encouraging it to fly????)
Must admit, hugely entertaining to watch

Throwing out the eggs will just cause her to lay again. You can gently boil the eggs the day they are laid (no chicks growing at this state) for 8 minutes and let them cool, then give them back to sit on. You can also go online and purchase fake cockatiel eggs, these are plastic and you just replace the real eggs with them. Here is an ebay site that sells the eggs, there are a few online stores as well, but I can't get any of their sites to come up this morning. Click here for the Ebay store
Either way, she still gets to sit and fulfill the desire to nest without the strain of raising another clutch.

Watch for plucking on the chicks, many times when the hen wants to nest again she will try to kick out the chicks by plucking them. The chicks are very close to fledging at this point, as soon as they do you can remove the box if she hasn't laid yet, this can discourage her.

Good luck!

I always just boiled the eggs, cooled them, and gave them back.

You can control, to a degree, the desire to mate and/or lay eggs, through their diet and the amount of daylight they are receiving. I have four cockatiels from my earlier breeding days, and the only male I have chose a new female a few years ago... they mate constantly, but never lay any eggs. I don't provide a nestbox or any nesting materials to even suggest a nest and that helps dramatically. You can try limiting their daylight to 12 hours a day by covering them (you can even go down to 8, but I'd suggest doing that slowly over a period of time to find what works for your tiels).

thanks for the tip about boiling the eggs, will do so once I see any

Two chicks fledged today!!!!

Noah is very aggressive towards 1 of them, a normal grey, whenever (s)he flies, Noah jumps on top of it and really bites it is that normal????
Is that his way of getting him to find a perch or something cause at the moment the grey baby, called it Georgie for now, has not found a perch yet but is just flying up at the wire.
The other one, Saffron, is on a rope perch..........

...........by the way Takoda, I can not control daylight as they are outside birds

Since two fledged, I would be ready to remove the box if I were you. If Noah is still agressive, you may need to remove him for a while. Meg can keep up with the feedings until they wean, it won't be long.

but Christie, what do I do with the other babies then???
They are all so small still, even the fully feathered one still looks little, not to mention Mango, the littlest, the pied pearl, he is only sort of half feathered
The nights have been quite cold still too

also, I was wondering when I start to "cater" for the babies in terms of extra feed and stuff????

I was going to put moistened pellets in a dish but when can I expect them to be ready for that???

Thanks so much everyone, you are all so helpful!

And Christie you are sure Meg will cope on her own with the 6 chicks if I do have to remove Noah???
And is that aggression normal towards only the one chick???
He leaves Saffron alone you see

It usually starts with one chick and then gets worse, just keep an eye for now.

I didn't say to remove the box yet, but you are close, as soon as the last one leaves the box, I'd take it out, they will be fully feathered at that point and will be fine.

If plucking starts, on any of the chicks, I would pull Noah. The damage he could cause is worse than the week or two that Meg will be feeding on her own. Sam (Chibi-tori) has several photos of what his hen did to her second clutch, it was horrid. She is better with them now, but the plucking was extensive. My one tiel chick was plucked half bald in the space of 5 hours that I was gone one day, so be vigilant.

I would start leaving seeds, millet, and pellets where the chicks can reach them easily, they will start exploring soon. What the chicks don't eat, Meg and Noah will.

christie wrote:I didn't say to remove the box yet, but you are close, as soon as the last one leaves the box, I'd take it out, they will be fully feathered at that point and will be fine.

glad I asked then hahahah
was thinking of putting them in a shoebox

Will keep an eye on Noah, thanks
He has been such a pest lately
He attacks me every time I go into the aviary, it started about 4 days ago.
He just jumps on my head and I can not look directly at him, he gets really agro then, mongrel!
Today I rearranged a few things (BIG NO NO when it comes to Noah pain in the neck he is!) and he has been making the most horrific sound, a screeching screaming sound
He has done that many many times before but never as long as he did it today and never so loud.
In the end, I got so mad I caught him and chucked him in the laundry in a spare cage, just so I could do my bit
As soon as I put him back in he started his screeching again, gosh I seriously do NOT like that bird!

He's defending his nest, mate and chicks. Not that it is nice to be bitten!!

A shoebox would still be seen as a nest, so that wouldn't work. Just be ready to remove the box as soon as the last fledges, hopefully that will help.

I agree with everyone here. Pulling any new eggs will only encourage her to lay more. My tiel had another clutch while her babies had just hatched, and my first hen laid 17... yes SEVENTEEN eggs in sets of four to five.. I was in a panic.

I finally had to put her (with her mate) in a smaller cage and offer fresh foods less often, every other day... then down to twice a week.. just to get her back out of the habit of feeling nesty.

It's not easy to convince a female that it's not time for eggs yet. Leaving lightly boiled eggs in her way will tease her into thinking she's got some to nurture.. and eventually she WILL lose interest (so they tell me)

My overly productive female stopped laying such large clutches after that first go round. She lays twice a year now.. and that's just fine with me!

oh my goodness 17 eggs

and sorry to hear about your high infant mortality that you wrote about in my other post

Claudia,

I don't know if it would work for you as it did me, but once the first clutch had fledged, or perhaps maybe a little before, Missy started laying a 2nd clutch. At first, I decided to let her finish, but Emi and I then said, no, no more chicks for now. Over a period of time, I can't remember exactly how long, I just pulled the nest, eggs and all and tossed them. Missy then was hanging around in a small travel cage, and lo and behold, she laid 2 more eggs in the bottom of the cage. I took them both and tossed, and after that, Missy stopped laying. As Christie has said, as long as they have a nest, the hen and to some extent the male will want to continue raising chicks. All total, Missy laid either 13 or 14 eggs during that time. Smokey was so worn down from feeding the kids, and he looked like he'd been through hell and high water. That said, I'd pull the box as soon as the last chick has fledged, even if it's still wanting to go back in the nest.

Sam

I will for sure and yes I find my parent birds look worn out
especially Noah has always been on the small and skinny side and he definitely needs some fattening up!
so far so good though................no eggs yet