My single female laid an egg!

[Aly]

I meant to post some tips on the subject earlier so here it goes. I know it can be pretty scary to find an egg in your 'tiel's cage, especially when you weren't expecting it. It's normal for females to have a clutch sometime during their life. It usually will happen when your 'tiel is happy and comfortable around her environment, therefore making the breeding conditions right. From what I've seen it usually happens more during the ages of one to two, but it can happen anytime. For older hens it's much more dangerous, although being young doesn't mean there can't be complications. Either way, familiarize yourself with the signs and know your bird so you can provide help if and when she needs it.

There are things you can do during this time and after to bring her out of condition and lessen the chances of it happening again. Some hens go into chronic egg laying mode where they are laying eggs clutch after clutch. This becomes very dangerous and a trip to the vet is recommended since she is draining her calcium supply. Also, during this time it's especially important to provide with calcium, phosphorus and vitamin D3. Calcium and phosphorus can be found in many foods. Vitamin D3 is available as a supplement in some foods however the best source is pure sunlight. Short exposures of non filtered (no window) sunlight help the skin produce vitamin D3. Without this vitamin, calcium and phosphorus is not absorbed and distributed properly, therefore they become useless.

So now that she has an egg, it probably won't be the last. There can be several eggs in her clutch, between 3-11. Most first time layers will have a small clutch of maybe around 4 eggs. She'll usually have one every other day until she completes her clutch. You'll know when she's getting ready to lay another as the day before their poop is huge. They hold it and go about twice a day. Also, her vent area may be swollen. Read http://talkcockatiels.com/showthread.php?t=2539 to understand the process of egg laying and know what problems can arise.

She'll most likely not sit on the very first egg, but some do. Most will wait until the second or third, or even until the clutch is complete. She'll sit on them for about 2-3 weeks until realizing their duds. At that time, and only then do you start removing them one by one. You'll know when the time is right. NEVER take away the eggs until she's lost interest. Doing so will cause her to drain her calcium supply by replacing them.

Things you can do during and after this:

Provide 12 hours of dark *night time* to simulate winter (non breeding conditions) Do this during her incubation and after.

Change around her cage location and cage items *perches, bowls, toys, etc*. This will take her a bit out of her comfort zone and bring her out of condition. You should do this about once or twice a month on a regular basis. It's also good idea to do it after you've removed the last egg.

Limit high fat/high sugar/high protein foods such as egg, seed, and millet. Replace those items with healthy things like veggies, beans, etc. Be careful not to take away essential foods in her diet. The idea is not to deprive her, but to make sure food is not available in abundance.

No petting on anywhere but her head. SO many owners make the mistake of rubbing their female's back and she ends up thinking you're her mate. Yes, she will try and lay eggs for you.

Do not provide any nesting material and remove any toys that she might be getting *frisky* with.

Don't let her go searching for dark spots-they're looking for nesting spots. *under couch pillows, book shelves, cupboards, etc*


All these things combined should bring her out of condition. Hopefully understanding what happens and knowing what to do will make it a less scary experience. If you think something is not right, don't waste precious time looking it up online. Call your vet!
Good luck!

[xxxSpikexxx]

Good post :D Hopefully it will help alot of people and tiels :)

[Sophia]

Thanks for that helpful information Aly, it will help owners who do find there selves in this situation! :D

[wend]

Hi well wish I had read the info you gave before> My Maddie is now just a year old and on Sunday eve she laid an egg which we promptly took away and tonight Tues she did the same again so I removed the egg again She doesent seem to be bothered by this and is quite her chirpy self.But now Im wondering how many she will lay. Our last ti=eil Jim Jam Duvet would lay eggs periodically and we always removed hers and she only used to lay one at a time then that was it for months. She lived till she was approximatly 12 years old. So now Im in a bit of a quandry. Anyone out there with any ideas I would be much obliged.

[Gops1979]

Usefull info Aly.. thanks..

[birdluv]

Thanks for posting this. My tiel Jubejube is one years old this month and she laid an egg today. Now l know what to do. :)

[Blazer9131]

My 5 year old just laid an egg tonight, my mom told me she (I didn't even know it was a she!) laid one under the newspaper that lined her cage. Do you know what type of effect it would have on an older bird such as her? We've had her for over 2 years now, and it's the first time she's laid an egg.

We don't know about the previous owner though.

[MaddroxsMom]

My baby is 17 months old now. She has not laid an egg as of yet. If she does not by the age of 2 should I be worried? My tiel is very healthy and happy. Well taken cared of. My son says she is very spoiled. I just say she is well loved. :tiel1:

[Cheryl]

Don't be worried.. its not uncommon for a female to lay an egg and it is just as common for a female to not lay eggs. My females never laid eggs unless they were breeding.

[MaddroxsMom]

whew that is a relief. Thank you for your help.

[BirdyAndWalle]

Thanks for post! It Helped Alot:)

[lperry82]

Now im worried again, What will be the chances be if lucky lays an egg as iv got cookie now :(
Same goes with tweety as she got dobby :(
I know you can buy fake ones but wouldnt that be classed as murder if she laid a real one and i replaced it

[Robin23]

I know this is an old thread, but I wanted to respond to a couple of things. :)

First, tiels can live 25 years or more if well-cared for, so 12 years actually is only about 40 in human terms.

Also, removing a fertile egg within a few days of being laid isn't murder because there isn't even a fetus in it yet, just some multiplying cells (and not even that if mama hasn't begun sitting on it yet). That said it was really hard for me to take the first egg away from my Fergie!

This spring was my first time dealing with tiel egg-laying, and I went the route of removing them the same day they were laid, freezing them to make them infertile, then bringing back to room temperature and returning them to the nest to prevent continual egg-laying. I should have just gotten fake eggs, as one of them was missed in the process and hatched! While I really love the new baby (now 25 days old) and am happy I got to experience the process, I know there are lots of potential complications in breeding, and also know there are LOTS of abandoned and homeless tiels and other parrots needing homes, so I don't consider purposeful breeding to be a responsible practice.

[lperry82]

Lol yeh, just ignore my last post since things have turned out differently

[Hadley]

This was a good read thankyou :D

[Kiki]

SO many owners make the mistake of rubbing their female's back and she ends up thinking you're her mate. Yes, she will try and lay eggs for you.


Oh WOW !!!!!!!!!!!!! :o :wacko:

[Mommajo]

Hi. I'm new here. I have what I thought were a male and female cockatiel. That is until the "male" Chester laid an egg last wednesday. Today he laid another. I don't know what to do. It is on the floor of the cage, on the newspapers. He didn't make a nest or anything. He is sitting on it though. I now know that I shouldn't have taken the first egg. What do I do about cleaning the cage? Should I move food and water cups down to where he is? I am panicking. Do I keep Lucy in a seperate cage for 2 or 3 wks? By the way-I know that 'He" is a 'she' but 'he' has been a "he" for almost a year, so that's not going to change:)

[lperry82]

Welcome to the forum

I think you should give them a nestbox for them but im sure if you move the egg they will continue to sit on them, hopefuly someone more experienced can advise you what to do :)

[csdax]

This is really helpful, and I wish I'd read it MUCH earlier. My tiel started laying eggs at about 4 years old, and has laid them a couple of times since then (she's about 6 now). She's laid 2 each time, a day or so apart, and I've removed them the same day. She's looking like she's about to lay another, so I guess I'll be leaving it there for a while. She's never tried sitting on them, though. Should I leave them for a day or so to see if she tries to sit on them, then wait for her to stop? If I get some fake eggs, should I leave them there all the time?

[DallyTsuka]

they will start sitting by the 3rd egg, leave them with her :)

[Namyi]

Hai I'm new to this forum but I need some help. My cockatiel ( 3 years old ) laid her very first egg today after she had been rubbing her tush on perches for a week.
I tried to stop her from grinding against everything but nothing I did helped.

So I put her in a smaller cager separating her from my 11 months old male cockatiel. They don't hate each other but the female doesn't get along with him either.
She always flees from him as if she's scared.

My main question now is should I let the male and female stay together in the same cage or could they become aggressive towards each other?
And it's best to remove the eggs after she tried breeding right?

[tielfan]

Let her keep the eggs until she loses interest in them. Otherwise she may keep laying more eggs trying to get a full clutch.

Please read the first post in this thread. http://talkcockatiels.com/showthread.php?t=2678 It has a lot of useful information on what to do in this situation, and be sure to ask if you have any more questions.

[green parakeet]

Is it realy true you should never pet a female cockatiel on its back or belly?? :o That kinda seems odd

[tielfan]

You certainly shouldn't pet a hen's back frequently. The reason is that the male stands on the female's back while they're mating, so being touched on the back is sort of a sexual experience for her, which can lead to high hormone levels and egg laying.

Petting a cockatiel on the belly isn't sexual but it's good to avoid it because they don't like it. It's unnatural for them because they don't touch each other on the belly, and they aren't thrilled when you do it.

[green parakeet]

So is it more of a "dont sit there for 10min and pet the back of a hen but 1 pet here and there wont hurt" or is it more like "NEVER pet the back of the hen!" ?

[tielfan]

The official rule tends toward "never" but realistically you just want to avoid doing it so much that it stirs up her hormones. A quick stroke on the back once a week probably isn't going to do any harm.

[green parakeet]

so then the better place to pet a hen is on the head.

[tielfan]

The head and neck are the best place to pet any cockatiel because that's where they like it the most! Head-petting usually doesn't cause hormone problems.

[Jerseygirl989]

I have a question now. Stormy is not even a year old yet. Found an egg today. She was making that noise for a long time since December and I've tried to do anything and everything to stop it. She began last week to do it on people and in her cage. We only petted her on her head. There is a male parakeet in the house.

Now what do I do?

She also has no interest in it at all. She's been eating millet and using her cuttlebone.

I just covered her for the first time, and when I got there she was on the perch looking down at it.

[MistryUnique]

First time posting - thanks for the information! :)

My cockatiels (Fawkes) and (Hedwig) - both "males" HA HA! Have an egg in their cage. We've had Hedwig for a year and 1/2, and got Fawkes last fall as a baby-baby. Hedwig was grown when we got him....and isn't very 'hand-friendly'. Fawkes loves to be held. Now Fawkes is hissing at us, and seems to be the one moving the egg around and occasionally sitting on it. My son found the egg, and said he had seen it the night before and thought it was one of the yogurt treats we had before.

Because I thought we had males....I never considered nesting and egg-laying. I'm becoming very educated after two days of reading online! My son had brought me the egg to show me, so I just put it on a towel in the cage, and Fawkes moved it pretty quickly. I moved it again, and she was sitting on it tonight - but has moved it into another corner again. The cage has a bottom part to clean it, so I don't think the eggs will be very 'warm' if she sits on it. BUT.....my real question is this:

It's been right at 48 hours since the first egg, and she's not acting like she's going to lay anymore??? Is this normal? I've been reading about binding, and she doesn't have any of those symptoms. Maybe Hedwig is a girl too, and there wasn't any breeding? :/

WHAT DO I DO with the egg now? Leave it? Wait....I'm lost. Just someone decide FOR me. :/ HA!

Thanks!

Misty

[tielfan]

Yes, leave the egg until they lose interest in it, which is likely to be 3 or 4 weeks from now.

With cockatiels both males and females incubate the eggs, with the male usually taking the day shift and the female taking the nights, although some pairs may have a different pattern. So keep an eye on both birds for more eggs, since Fawkes might not be the bird that laid the first one.

After 5 days of incubation you can candle the egg to look for signs of fertility. But if someone is home a lot and they haven't observed any mating, then there probably hasn't been any. Cockatiels in breeding mode mate several times a day and they usually make noise while they're doing it. If you make a "male or female" thread and post pictures of your birds, we can try to identify their sex. If you read the first post in the current thread, it describes hormone reduction techniques that can help get your birds out of breeding mode.

If the egg is fertile do you want to have baby birds? If the answer is no, you can boil the egg and return it to the parent(s) when it's cool, or you can replace the real egg with a fake egg. If the answer is "yes" you need to provide a better nest.

[MistryUnique]

Thanks SO much - Yes, I think there has been breeding - they have been driving us crazy the last few weeks - flapping wings, screeching....chasing each other around the cage - not like themselves!!

So it's normal for just one egg? I have checked out Hedwig, and no signs of binding....they were just chasing each other again - but I think it was more of "Hey momma - FEED US! ;)

Misty :tiel1:

[BlueEyedAngel]

I have no clue what to do... We had no clue she was ready to lay eggs.... now we have an egg in the cage and it looks cracked... what do I do?


Help

Thank you

[enigma731]

Welcome to the forum, BlueEyedAngel. Please start your own thread in the breeding forum so that more people with experience will see your question and be able to help you. :)