# Advice with two young cockatiels (brother and sister)



## sfr8as (Nov 20, 2016)

Hi Everyone,

This is my first post on here, it's so good to have a community I can ask about my beautiful birds.










I recently got two babies (Lily and Daisy, 7 weeks old - they are now ~12-13 weeks old), they are brother and sister and were inseparable from the beginning, I was initially going to only get one, but because they were so close with each other, I had to get them both.

I have them both in the same cage and everything was fine for a few weeks, but now it seems as if they are trying to mate each other. I work from home, so I'm here a lot and can see them if they try to mate, I always grab Daisy (Initially I thought he was a girl) off Lily. I am really worried that:

1. They are brother and sister, they shouldn't inbreed. Right?
2. They are bonded with each other, but I think I should separate them? Will this be bad for them? I could put them in two seperate cages right next to each other?

I guess any other advice would be much appreciated, I love these two babies, but I really would prefer them not to have any more babies, I've already got 4 tiels in my house 

Cheers for your help,
Sean


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## roxy culver (May 27, 2010)

Definitely do not let them breed. Inbreeding is very bad, especially between siblings.

Hormone control is gonna be a lifesaver. How many hours of darkness are they getting right now? http://talkcockatiels.com/showthread.php?t=32330 check out this sticky for more info on hormone control.

If hormone control isn't working, you can use separate cages. They will be fine next to each other and can spend out of cage time together.


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## sfr8as (Nov 20, 2016)

Thanks Roxy, much appreciated, I will look into separating them 
Cheers


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## roxy culver (May 27, 2010)

And remember, it takes about two weeks for hormone control to take full effect so it is a process.


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## ParrotletsRock (Oct 8, 2013)

If they do happen to mate and you do get eggs, they do not have to be allowed to hatch.. an egg is just an egg, it is not a baby until it is incubated. You can swap out fake eggs for the real ones if necessary. I have a small flock of budgies who are all siblings and their mother, one pair mates and lays eggs once in a while and I just give her marbles to set on and they are happy!


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## Vickitiel (Oct 10, 2012)

Hi, welcome to the forum. Your babies are adorable!


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## tielfan (Aug 31, 2008)

Cockatiels are very enthusiastic about incest, in fact they seem to prefer it over choosing a mate who isn't related to them. You can expect to spend a lot of time playing hormone police.


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