Cockatiel - single or a pair?

[Foxberry]

Hello, I have had for about 20 years parakeets , but they never laid eggs. I had heard that if you don't create conditions for that ( don't put the nest), they don't mate. May be it is not so, but my budgies never had chiks. May be I am wrong, and that was due to the fact that my dark-eyed clear female budgie was - fow to say - neither female, more male, something in between. once I heard such suggestion from the vet. My female budgy passed away last autumn in age of 17years. she was the last and the oldest of my budgies.
Now I have decided to take a Corella (Nymphicus hollandicus) - I think you call them also cockatiels . As I am not yet ready to take care of small birdies , I am affraid I can not take a pair. because the owner of the birds says they will lay eggs anyway - either you create them conditions or not. Is it really so? can some expert comment pls?
I am thinking of taking one bird or 2 now. one bird may become very lonely if you have to spend all the day at work and are at home only in evening.. so may be 2 birds is better solution. but how are 2 females living together?
anothr questin is - is it possible to train a femail to immitate sounds and talk? and if it is a pair of femails - is it also possible? Thanks for answers!

[Kim S]

Usually if you dont offer them any opportunity to lay eggs, they wont. But tiels are a bit easier about the opportunity-rule than budgies. Budgies never breed outside a nestbox. If two tiels really really want to, they might. But its a rare thing.

A pair of females is possible. I would not get two males, they tend to keep having territorial issues. They dont really fight, but they wont like eachother either. But if you get two girls and they 'like' eachother, you could get two birds laying eggs. Ofcourse you wont have young but you will have two birds laying eggs.

If you get two tiels at the same time when they are young they will grow up together and even males will be ok with eachother.

Yes, females can learn to whistle just as well as males do. The only thing is, females dont vocalize that much to begin with. So they wont show off what they learn that often. Males will whistle all day long if youre not carefull.

[Foxberry]

Hi I have heard from other people as well & am a bit surprised that that the female - alone or in companion with the other female, can start laying eggs. have never thought it can happen is this a rare case when a female parrot starts laying eggs or it is as a rule always so?

My mind is totally ocupied with thoughts - what birds to take : 1 male, 1 female or 2 females. so I try to gather some info in advance so that my decision is easier. I have to decide til weekend :):) May be someone can give me good advice. I could take one male of course but I am so affraid that he will be lonely..

[Rue]

I have two hens that live together. They are not `friends` per se, since they don`t hang out together or groom each other etc. One female was aviary raised, and part of a pair (the male passed due to old age), the second is a hand-raised hen.

But they don`t fight at all...

The hen that had been with the male hasn`t laid eggs since he died (over a year ago).

Before, when I always had a male and female pair, the hen would lay eggs on the bottom of the cage. But I never provided a nest box and never had babies. I did allow her to sit her eggs until she abandoned them. Not doing so can lead to chronic egg-laying and related health issues in the hen.

[Sekica]

It's possible to have two males, especially if you get them at the same time. I have two male tiels, and I got them at different times, but have no aggression issues whatsoever. They actually bonded, and I can no longer separate them. I got males because I didn't want the tiels to breed. Also, I had a case of budgies laying fertile eggs without a nest so that's not unheard of either. In total, I have five males (3 budgies, 2 tiels) sharing the same cage, all bonded and inseparable so it's possible to make it work if you don't force anything. Also, a long out-of-cage time helps (mine are out 14 hrs a day).

[Kim S]

Even though I am very happy this works out with you Sekica, I would definately NOT advice anyone to keep budgies and tiels in the same cage. When they dont get allong, which they almost always do, the budgies can kill the tiels. Budgies are very agressive little birds when their hormones get fired up.

And yes, all female birds have the ability to lay eggs. If they are kept alone the chances are very slim. But if they get so attached to their owner (or mirror to drag another topic into this) they can look at them as a partner and be stimulated into breeding.

You could start with two males in seperate cages and see how they get along. If they seem to bond you can keep them in the same cage after a while. Tiels are pretty easy, but there is a chance it will go wrong. Thats why I advice wto females or a male and female. Those will accept eachother more easily than two males.

[Foxberry]

Kim S
but another option is to take one male only.. then I will not get eggs for sure

the main thing keeping single bird is to devote much time and love to him, then he will not feel lonely?

[Kim S]

True. Its not a problem keeping a single bird as long as you spend a lot of time on him, and keep him in a bog cage with lots of toys and stuff to occupy him with.

[Foxberry]

Sorry, what means bog cage??

[Kim S]

Ahum... That is a Dutch term we use when we wish to indicate a very large roomy cage.



Haha, no sorry that was a typo, I meant to say big cage