Cockatiel Eggs - urgent, advice would be much appreciated!!

[ashxo]

This is a fertile egg. If the eggs are infertile, they will be completely clear.

[kbordeau]

If you pm me I can help with breeding questions.

[Monica]

I know for the most part, your questions have been answered, so sorry for any repeats.

1) Lack of a nesting box. Should I jerryrig one for her and put the eggs in it, or would that disturb the process since she didn't actually lay them in it?
It's recomemnded to get a nestbox and put the eggs in the box, as the parents may not be able to keep the chicks warm without one. As another poster said, cockatiels share the duty of raising chicks. If the male is not helping, it's possible because there is no nestbox.

However, even if you give them a nestbox (buy one!), they might decide not to use it.

2) Inconsistency. The mother is comparable to a young teenage mother - no true sense of responsibility. She doesn't seem to get that she needs to sit on these things *all the time.*
First time breeders usually aren't that good... and it's not like she's getting any help from her mate, either... that's expected behavior... especially if you have no other breeding tiels for her to learn from.

3) Parakeet invaders. This one speaks for itself. How can I help protect the eggs?
Generally speaking, I don't recommend housing the two species together, anyways.... the cage you have may be large enough for the two species, but perhaps not such a good idea with a hen nesting. Budgies are just pesky little creatures to begin with.

4) If by some wild miracle the eggs survive, how will I take care of the babies? They can't eat seed, and I have nothing they could eat...
If you didn't have someone to take the chicks, you'd have to allow the parents to raise em.... unless you can get experience handfeeding them, using parrot rearing formula. This can be very stressful and time consuming for someone who is not used to handfeeding chicks... because it *CAN* require handfeeding up to every 2 hours *AROUND THE CLOCK*.... guess who doesn't get much sleep????

I don't know where you live, but right now, here in the USA/Canada, it's really not the time for the birds to be reproducing anyway.

Also, how could I better plan in case she lays more eggs? Is it possible to make some sort of working incubator? Because I definitely can't afford to go out and buy one. Also, is a permanent nesting box, just in case, worth getting?
I wouldn't recommend making an incubator, but a brooder, ya sure. Being as these are first time parents, EXPECT for things to go wrong. You don't have any pairs you could foster the eggs under, it could be a bad idea to transfer eggs if you don't know how to do it right, and if you have no experience handfeeding if the need arises... well, there's only so much you can do.... at least until you learn more and become better prepaired.

Besides a metal nestbox, which is not recommended for cockatiels, there is no such thing as a "permanent nestbox" - only because wood can get pretty dirty and full of bacteria... especially from chicks who keep pooping in the box... so you'd need a minimum of two nestboxes, so you can clean one while the other is in use. You'd also need nesting material.

If you aren't going to be serious about breeding, it's better to not encourage it.

If you have some advice for helping me makes these eggs successful, if it's not too late (this has been going on for about 3 days), then thank you in advance! :)
Learn. Start doing a lot of reading! If you have the time, go to breeders houses and learn from them! Absorb the information as if you were dying of thirst, and retain it! If you are serious about it, get to learning!

[prettypenguin]

"
As far as the harshness, I feel like I've entered a semi-professional bird care environment and so will be bashed with things like "isn't that obivous you shouldn't do that, idiot?" Sort of like the housing two species together. It may be obvious to you guys that separate species should be in separate cages, but to people who just like birds but are not "enthusiasts" it's not obvious at all, it even seems rather superfluous and unnecessary. I'm not a pro, we're tight on money and I have a stressful life as it is, baby birds wouldn't be the best idea even if I had planned it. But I mean, like I said my personality is such that I can't stand to see any shot at life go to waste so long as it's under my supervision. I do not think that they will hatch, but if by some chance they do I know someone who is a bird enthusiast and will be able to take care of them. Just remember I'm a normal person who is seeking advice from people who know the field. Please go easy on the newbies; being new to something is scary enough as it is. "

I feel that we should explain the harshness- it's more because we worry about bird welfare than it is blaming you for anything. I realise that somehow, you ended up with a mating pair and a passel of budgies. The budgies are a danger to the pair & the eggs, so they absolutely must go. As to the pair, I have several concerns:

1) The Female: You describe her as slow and having feather problems, she really should not be breeding, as these traits will be passed to her young. Repeated mating and egg laying can lead to egg binding and death, so keep an eye on her, make sure she gets cuttlebone and lots of good food, leafy greens, egg, a good pellet brand or seed mix- see our feeding forum for help with this. If she starts to lay too many eggs, you may have to separate the pair into 2 cages.

2) The $$- breeding is not for those on a limited budget, even if you are just trying to save this clutch. As Monica said, you already need a cage for the budgies, 2 nestboxes, possibly handfeeding formula and equipment, possibly a separate cage for one of the tiels, and these items aren't cheap. I recommend looking on Craigslist for a small budgie cage, they can be cheap, so at least they are out of the way.

3) Time: As a student, how much time can you devote to the care (read cleaning & feeding) of these fragile little birds? Can your friend devote the time? Have they raised baby birds before?

I think it's really important to look at the big picture when starting something like this, as you want to save their lives, by not really looking into it and seeing what the job entails you could end up killing the babies out of ignorance, and that would be worse than not having the eggs develop in the first place.

[Harrisono]

Haha RXK, your comment was actually the one that alarmed me the most; but I'm glad what I said gave you some clarification, and to all you guys, thats for your concern! PrettyPenguin, thanks for explaining this, I understand where you guys are coming from. To let you guys all know, my heart is in the right place. I love birds and would spend every hour of the day handfeeding these chicks if I could, but like I said, I am a student looking into medicine as a career, so I should be pretty busy for at least the next ten years of my life!

RXK, thanks for the suggestion about checking their fertility! I believe the procedure is called "candling" and I think I will try it pretty soon. And I'll be sure to scrub up like a surgeon before I do it! To answer your question, the female is acting normal, maybe too normal (not staying around the eggs as often as should be done) She socializes with the other birds and eats and drinks. I will watch for problems and take her to a vet if anything arises!

Miraculously, the parakeets aren't being too aggressive since I've last posted. If any aggression is shown, it is usually toward the eggs when mom is away, and even then this only happens rarely; the parakeets show no aggression to the parents themselves. This is why I haven't had as much concern until now, the two species have lived in the same cage together for years and I've never seen them get into a serious fight. And I believe American parakeets are the australian variety. British Budgies = larger and more friendly. Australian (or American) Parakeets = smaller, and with a foul little attitude to match. This could depend on how each individual bird was raised, but as far as I've seen (I got my cockatiels hand raised from the Atlanta bird fair, and saw plenty of parakeets of both varieties) this is mostly true.

I think I may take some pictures of all my birds and post them here, as well as pictures of the nesting situation and the cage itself. From that you may be able to better judge the hen's health, the eggs and overall the whole situation. My plan right now is to candle the eggs - if they're infertile, that's that. If they're fertile and manage to hatch, I'll contact my friend and maybe get mom and dad to feed them, if they won't do it I'll give them to her. I'm trying to figure out some arrangements for the parakeets, I may try craigslist. Thank you all very much for your advice, and I'll keep you updated on what happens to the eggs! :)

[prettypenguin]

Good luck! I have some budgies- it takes time, but they can be tamed.

[RXK]

yes, pics would be appreciated.

Originally Posted by Harrisono

I'm trying to figure out some arrangements for the parakeets, I may try craigslist.

so, you plan on giving your keets away, right? but, just a word of caution on using kijiji or craigslist to give your birds away: you have to be diligent in making sure they are going to a good home when using these sites since you really don't know the people who are going to take them. so, maybe giving them to an animal shelter or your local humane society, so that they can find them a good home, may be a better idea?

[Harrisono]

I meant I would try to find a cage on craigslist, sorry for the misleading wording! We ended up temporarily separating the cage between the two species so that the parakeets are on the top quarter of the cage and the cockatiels get the lower three quarters. I will probably get a cage for the parakeets later when circumstances are better, as my dad just lost his job. :(

The mother has laid two more eggs, for a total of five. She is doing well! :D Her poops are fairly large, which you did say was a good sign, and she is acting normal. The father had some minor injuries from a parakeet fight (he clobbered the parakeet, which is why I made a makeshift separation of the large cage rather than wait to get a separate cage - the situation was a semi-emergency and both the cockatiels AND the parakeets were in danger). Now that the two species are separated both mom and dad are doing fine and dad is healing up quickly. I took some pics and will post them later tonight. As far as arrangements goes, I have an aunt who knows birds pretty well and she suggested I talk to a local specialty pet store owner who could give me good tips about handfeeding. I have hand fed a baby mockingbird before that we found with no nest nearby, but that's a wild bird and it doesn't quite work the same way.

[Harrisono]

Sorry these pictures are so huge!

Here are the eggs. There are only 4 here - She has since laid a 5th one.



This is mom - Twink!



This is dad - Headwig!



This is my oldest bird, Jingles, who I've had for 8 years.


Nuju - parakeet female (got into a fight with headwig)



Sunshine - parakeet female



The cage

[Monica]

The bottom of the cage should be cleaned. The nest should have aspen or pine shavings, or recycled paper without any dust. All of which can be gotten from a store. If using shavings, it may need to be frozen for 24+ hours in the freezer, then aired out.

If the hen wont accept a nestbox, then give her a container of some sorts that could be temporarily used as a nest. An open top container.



The separater should not be wire so that droppings don't go through. I don't know how you would accomplish this with that type of cage.