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Well my 2 year old tiel waddles laid an egg this wednesday in the bottom of the cage . I always believed my peid tiel was a male . guess im wrong now we have an egg as proof. I know it cant be fertal as waddles is kept in her own cage . But i do have another cinnamon tiel that i do believe to be a male named ace. ace and waddles are both housed in there own seperate cages but in the same rooom. they are never out of the cages at the same time.

waddles is trying to sit on the egg in the cage floor in atemt to hatch it , and is very protective of it. ive read on here not try to remove it as she will lay more to replace it. so what do i do ? wait till she gives up or what?

Tanks Brad

Exactly! Let her sit on the egg until she is tired of it. You can lower her light to less than 12 hours to kick her out of the breeding mode and make her think that it is winter. She may lay more eggs to complete the clutch, but that is fine, let her sit on those too.

Make sure she has pleanty of calcium and let her sit in unfiltered sunlight for 15 minutes daily to help it absorb. After the last egg is laid, she should sit for 18-21 more days before she gives up on the eggs. At this point you can safely remove them and either keep them and let them dry out, or throw them away.

well Waddles laid a secound egg today. She seems very protective of the 2 eggs. she will hiss and lunge toward anyone who aproaches the cage.

That is completely normal. She will not want to leave the eggs because of predators (instinct). Messing with the eggs will cause you to be bitten, so I wouldn't reccomend it! Make sure she has food and water near if she isn't leaving the eggs very often. Her poops should be much larger than normal, which is completely normal for an egg laying hen. Just keep an eye on her and enjoy the process without the worry of chicks.

Well my wife has a friend that says we should remove all the eggs in the next few days so waddles doesnt try to hatch them and go through an emotional break down when they dont hatch. is this a bad idea?

no don't remove them (yet), she'll keep replacing the removed eggs, she could get seriously calcium deficient
Let her sit and she will eventually give up on those eggs
don't know if birds get depressed about something like that, someone else will no doubt be able to tell you........

You've gotten good advice to let Waddles keep her eggs for about 3 weeks, and to ensure she's got food and water close to her "nest." I'd like to add just a couple of things. It's not easy to give many of our birds unfiltered sunlight. If you're in a climate where the daytime temp is lower than 70 degrees these days, you don't want to set her cage outside or beside an open window. Here's what renowned vet Margaret Wissman says on this subject:

Healthy Birds Consuming a Pelleted Diet Should Not Require Sunshine (Unfiltered By Glass or Plastic) for Their Vitamin D. Don't get me wrong. Sunshine is very good for birds, and if possible, pet birds should receive sunlight, not filtered through glass or plastic (which filters out the ultraviolet rays), an hour a week during the summer months, and perhaps an hour a month during the winter.

The uropygeal gland (also called the preen gland) secretes an oily substance that the bird spreads over the feathers. This secretion aids in waterproofing the feathers and helps keep them supple. The secretion also has precursors of vitamin D that are spread on the feathers during preening. When the bird's feathers are exposed to natural sunlight (or full-spectrum indoor lighting), the secretion is changed to the active form of vitamin D, which is then ingested when the bird preens. Vitamin D is necessary for a bird to properly utilize calcium, which is necessary for strong bones, normal eggshells, muscle contractility and more. However, if a bird is eating pellets, vitamin D is added to them, so providing a bird with sunlight shouldn't be necessary. (This excerpt is item 16 in the list at this link: http://www.exoticpetvet.net/avian/20facts.html )

I'm curious why you don't let your 2 tiels be together. I think keeping them separated has a MUCH greater chance of causing depression for both birds than your preventing eggs from hatching ever would. Tiels NEED a partner IMO. Even a same-sex partner is much better than being alone, especially with another tiel close-by but separated. It's so easy to gently boil fertilized eggs to ensure they won't hatch. I hope you'll give this some thought as you're watching over Waddles so closely these next few weeks.

Good luck to her!

MFids wrote:...Could ya *PRETTY PLEASE* tell that to Tomi Girl! ... she's still a loner! She needs some lessons in étiquette!

We're all different I have one pretty girl who also prefers the single life. She's in the flight with many others, and one handsome dude has been wooing her for 2-3 years, but she shows no real interest in him. When he wanders away for a few days, she seems every bit as happy with no head to preen on command

I wanted both my tiels to be in the same cage after i quarantened ace my youngest bird when i got him, But my wifes friend who advised removing the eggs said i shouldnt put ace in waddles cage as waddles had this cage already for a year and ahalf before i got ace. I did have both birds out of their cages some but ace would walk up to waddles and wadddles woud hiss and peck at ace then run away from ace. so i didn t push the issue of them bieng play buddies .

anayway im not goig to let the eggs be removed yet. i think i will wait some more and see what happens in a few weeks. my wife thinks they will rott and waddles will be upset.

They will not be good if they break, but they will not smell if they are still whole. There does not seem to be a depression after the eggs are given up on, but they do notice the egg being taken if they are nesting and instinct will tell them to replace the egg.

do you know, the link that Monica posted, I read a bit of that thread and Sam mentioned that he reckons his tiels noticed when he had boiled the eggs
Well, d'ya know what?
I reckon Meg and Noah did too cause that egg was cold when I removed it, so had not been sat on!!!! they are smarter than we think

Well waddles laid her third egg this sunday . How many eggs will she probaly lay to complete a clutch, before she stops?

She could have known, but she also could have been done with that clutch since you removed the box. That tells her that there isn't a good place to raise young.

A clutch of tiel eggs ranges from 3-6 eggs normally. Larger clutches are not unheard of.

all of three eggs waddles laid have been on the cage floor ,she has never had a nest box .