Help: Tiel Laying Eggs

[bouda118]

Hi all, First time poster long time lurker.

I have a hand raised and very clingy tiel coming on 2 years old, ( Prior to her i have always had males ) Shes pretty much out of her cage 24/7 and recently took a liking to an old set of draws i have in my room, She would sit with me most the night than climb up into the draw and put some of her toys in there, The past couple of days shes grown defensive of the area ( not vicious but she doesn't like me near it )
This morning she was going crazy near the drawers which was odd so i took a look inside and she has laid an egg. This is the first time i have been faced with this situation so im not sure what i should do.

From reading around the best way to approach this is leave them be for 11 days to 3 weeks I dont want to take the eggs and make her depressed/Aggressive, Some threads suggested take the egg and replace it with fake eggs ( White marbles ) after she lays a few, Is this the best approach? After 21 days when the egg cycle ends remove them/her from the draw and lock it up for good? Any advice is welcome!

Thanks all

[Wolf]

Well most of the time when they start laying eggs they will lay more than one egg. The normal clutch size , however for a cockatiel can be a single egg or up to around 7 of them and they would normally be laid every other day if there is more than one. I would get a set of dummy eggs for a cockatiel and replace the eggs using them, otherwise you may have to steal her eggs after she lays more than one and hard boil it so that it does not crack or hatch and replace them in her nest, then remove the eggs when she looses interest in them, but not sooner or she will just lay more of them. To keep her from depleteing the calcium in her bones make sure to supply her with an avian calcium and vitamin D-3 supplement.

Since they are a rather opportunistic type of breeder I would probably also remove her nest and try to keep her from finding new nesting areas and making a new nest. I would also look at her diet and try to cut back on high protein foods and place her on a normal bird light schedule instead of the human one that it sounds like she is on. I would also make sure that her wings are not clipped so that her muscles can remain strong to prevent egg binding, which could kill her. The muscles that they use for laying eggs are the same ones that are used for flying.

[bouda118]

Well most of the time when they start laying eggs they will lay more than one egg. The normal clutch size , however for a cockatiel can be a single egg or up to around 7 of them and they would normally be laid every other day if there is more than one. I would get a set of dummy eggs for a cockatiel and replace the eggs using them, otherwise you may have to steal her eggs after she lays more than one and hard boil it so that it does not crack or hatch and replace them in her nest, then remove the eggs when she looses interest in them, but not sooner or she will just lay more of them. To keep her from depleteing the calcium in her bones make sure to supply her with an avian calcium and vitamin D-3 supplement.

Since they are a rather opportunistic type of breeder I would probably also remove her nest and try to keep her from finding new nesting areas and making a new nest. I would also look at her diet and try to cut back on high protein foods and place her on a normal bird light schedule instead of the human one that it sounds like she is on. I would also make sure that her wings are not clipped so that her muscles can remain strong to prevent egg binding, which could kill her. The muscles that they use for laying eggs are the same ones that are used for flying.

Thanks for the response, I have already picked up some Calcium/Vitamin mix for her water so will keep that up. Its extremely hard to find fake cockatiel eggs in my area, Even online most suppliers have told me they are out but will continue to find them. Once shes done with her cycle i will lock down the draw shes nested in and break the habit.

[Wolf]

It is not a habit, but part of her natural reproductive drive and can't really be changed it is either there or not. If the bird is a single bird then the eggs will not be fertile and the boiling only keeps them from breaking and you don't really need the fake eggs. you only have to be concerned if they are fertile as far as replacing them. Most parrots only go through this nesting cycle once a year although a few will do it twice a year. There are even fewer such as budgies and cockatiel that are opportunistic and will breed at almost any time of the year in captivity. This last group, the opportunistic breeders are the only ones that I concern myself with removing nesting materials and closing off nesting sites normally. For the ones that will only breed once or twice a year I let them nest if they choose as I really don't like interfering with normal natural functions. But there is too much of a health risk for those that are opportunistic breeders.

The only real tools that we have to help them with this is paying close attention to what is in their diet and adjusting it according to their needs, the light schedule that they live with as these two things are the main triggers for their breeding urges and a third on is not petting or touching them in inappropriate ways and for a parrot that means that you should severely limit petting them any place other than head, neck, beak and feet. Any other place on their body may stimulate them sexually.

[liz]

I have done well keeping the mated pairs busy and not nesting. I do have a single (I was told a male) that has tried 3 times not to hatch unviable eggs. The last nest I took from it had dry eggs in it and many more outside the nest. No sooner than I took that nest I found it behind the door with another nest. That bird does not give up. I guess I will leave those eggs until they petrify.

[Pajarita]

Well, if she is two years old, she just came into her sexual maturity and, although the breeding season is virtually over, they are still producing enough sexual hormones to lay eggs (I have birds sitting on eggs right now) so what she did and when she did it is perfectly normal. Personally, I don't believe in following any set schedule for anything, I let the birds decide so what I do with infertile eggs is just leave them there until the hen abandons them for good. And I say for good because they don't do it from one day to the next, they start by leaving the nest for a short period of time during the day and they make these periods longer and longer until they go a few days without sitting on them -and that's when I get rid of them.