My cockatiel laid an egg...now what?

[max132]

This isnt the first time it happened already, but for the first time my cockatiel is actully paying attention to the egg and its siting on it.
But the egg is not fertilized so theres no point to sit on it, but my cockatiel just doesnt want to get off. Everytime i come near she attacks me. My cockatiel is about 3 years old. What should I do about the egg, but at the same time to make shure my cockatiel would not be sad from taking the egg?

[ekz13]

from my understanding (reading various other posts, etc) you should leave the egg until she looses interest, or replace it with a fake egg, but you should NOT just take the egg and not replace it as this will kick in the drive to continue laying another egg and could either cause egg binding issues, and/or severe calcium depletion which could lead to other problems. As I said this is "regurgitated" info from other folks posting and answering, maybe someone can confirm/add to this from first hand exp.

[birdsnthings]

Make sure your bird has enough calcuium in her diet as she is egg laying.
It is okay to let her have the egg for a couple of weeks if she is paying attention to it. After that you can discard. This may fulfill her motherly instincts but she is going to be protective. Hopefully it will be some time before she lays another one. If you take it then she may continue to lay eggs.

Alice

[max132]

im just worried that she will die of hunger, or thirst. well food isnt really a big problem because ive put some seeds there, but the water is at her cage, and she laid the egg on a table and thats where shes staying.

[CraftQueen]

You should put her and her egg in the cage and shut the door. That way she can get to her food and water easily while tending the egg since she is alone and has no male to feed her while incubating the eggs. Removing the egg will cause more egg laying. A tiel can lay up to 9 eggs or so and will sit for approx. 30 days if they have a nest box. With loose eggs in the bottom of the cage they usually loose interest after 4 or 5 have been layed, realizing they can not properly keep the eggs together and warm. I leave them in the cage for a couple of weeks before tossing. Moving the location of the cage and all the items inside the cage will also distract a hen from laying eggs.

[max132]

well she just left the egg by heself after 1 day. i guss she lost intrest in it.

[birdsnthings]

She will go eat when she is ready and return to the egg.
Alice

[tielfan]

Unlike many species, with cockatiels the male doesn't feed the female. Instead they share brooding duties, with the male sitting on the eggs in the daytime and the hen sitting on them at night. Presumably the wild male gets some time to eat in the late evening and early morning before the hen leaves the nest. Since the hen actually had to lay the eggs she would need more food than the male.

Before you take the egg away make sure that she has really lost interest in it. She might still want to sit on it at night and if you take it away it could stimulate her to lay more eggs than she would have otherwise.

She might also be getting ready to lay another one. Cockatiels lay every other day until they have a full clutch. Just let her keep them all until she loses interest, unless there's one that gets cracked and starts smelling bad.

[rpopebirdz]

Your clutch may end up being 5 eggs. I have seen six once but never again. If there is enough bedding in the cage she will most likely cover the eggs in a few weeks when she realizes the are infertile. It is a compulsion to brood. Ingrained and necessary to her physically. It will make her feel better if she's allowed to try. Sounds kinda silly but I've seen it first hand.

[tielfan]

About 20 years ago my only bird was a cockatiel hen. She laid an egg one day and I took it away from her because I didn't know any better and thought it was cruel to let her sit on an infertile egg. She ended up laying nine eggs before she gave up. If I hadn't taken them all away as soon as they were laid there probably would have been a lot fewer of them. This isn't good for the bird, and she was chewing bits of stone off the fireplace to get minerals. Fortunately she never laid any more after that.