# Surrogate Tiel Mommas?



## SoCalTiels (Oct 8, 2013)

So I got a new pair yesterday, and they are set up in a smaller quarantine cage in another room with their nest box attached. I wouldn't have given them the box in the new environment, but they were currently sitting on four eggs when I picked them up. The trip home itself went smoothly, and had no mishaps. They got into the new cage just fine, the nestbox they were using before was brought with us carrying the eggs. All day yesterday, they sat on one perch and just watched the room and I figured it was no biggy.

Today, same deal. Birds sharing the same perch, sometimes going to eat, but not much overall movement and the nextbox has been ignored. I know pairs can ignore the eggs until the clutch is full, then they'll begin to incubate them all at once. They were already at this step, the guy had to chase Asher from the nextbox when I was picking them up. 

If the eggs are already in process of being incubated, how long can they sit untouched and still be viable? I candled the eggs and we have four with a solid network of veins and one that has nothing, so theres something alive there. I just don't know if it can be much longer. And is this complete disregard for the nestbox the sign that they're abandoning the clutch? They haven't even gone in to investigate anywhere near the entrance. We have a ladder leading up to it.

Here's where I had an interesting idea, and I wanted to run it by you guys to get a general notion of 'its a good direction to go' or 'woah chick, stahp. you crazy'. I'm prepared for both. I just got these guys and they just had a clutch wean within the past couple days, so this is a rushed double clutch anyways. Should I take away the nestbox for now and let them acclimate to their new surroundings? Breeding isn't an issue or something I want to rush them into at all. Would taking away the nextbox they have eggs in currently have any detrimental effects on the pair?

The idea of taking out the nestbox to let them calm down seems like a good option to me because they just bred anyways and a break wouldn't hurt. But the issues of the eggs, I don't want them to die either. And I know they would if I kept the box on the cage and the pair just ignores it. Its starting to seem like the move upset the breeding pair enough that they have no interest in the eggs anymore. 

So my mom was joking around that we should give the eggs to Mango, who has been sitting on her clutch of infertiles so diligently that I feel so bad they won't hatch for her. And we were thinking about it. Would it work? Taking the abandoned eggs and giving them to a surrogate mom to incubate them? Mango hasn't stopped caring for her four eggs since she laid them. If we gave her the nestbox, do cockatiels incubate eggs that aren't theres? They'd have to with anyone using dummy eggs, right?

This is nothing about the parental skill of the breeding pair. I received daily updates from the breeder about the progress and health of the chicks who were all parent raised by these two. I just think the car ride shook them into abandoning their clutch and I'm trying to find option to save it. Any help is appreciated. And sorry if this is so long and rambly, I couldn't quite organize my thoughts in the way I felt satisfied with it.


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## Haimovfids (Sep 19, 2012)

Congrats on your newest edition!

I had a feeling the pair would abandon the eggs. They are in a completely new environment. You did one of the hormonal reduction technics and it looks like it worked like a charm.

*So my mom was joking around that we should give the eggs to Mango, who has been sitting on her clutch of infertiles so diligently that I feel so bad they won't hatch for her. And we were thinking about it. Would it work? Taking the abandoned eggs and giving them to a surrogate mom to incubate them? Mango hasn't stopped caring for her four eggs since she laid them. If we gave her the nestbox, do cockatiels incubate eggs that aren't theres? They'd have to with anyone using dummy eggs, right?*

Please do it!  take a look at this video http://youtu.be/yAUhTPqESdk it's a baby cockatiels first 30 days. But, if you watch, you will see that the owner have one of her cockatiels fertile egg to her other bird which was laying infertile eggs for a couple of years.

I would give her one fertile egg. You can choose which one to give. 

Since your current pair already gave up on their eggs, there won't be a need to replace them. In fact, you can remove the nest all together 

Good luck


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## SoCalTiels (Oct 8, 2013)

I figured they would too honestly, but at the same time, the extra $20 for the nestbox and four eggs is still worth it to me. I removed the nestbox from the cage. Wasn't sure on giving Mango the nestbox itself since it was used by the other pair and they're being quarantined, so I transferred the eggs into the nestbox I have to give to Mango. Hopefully that's okay? She's sitting on them now. I just decided to let her have all three eggs, and if she chooses to abandon them or just sit on one, thats fine too. Not like she's ever actually been a mom before. Loved the video! Thanks for that link.

We have an egg incubator that my moms uses for chickens in her classroom, and we have a quail egg tray that goes inside it. I'd research it more before ever using it for cockatiels, like temp, humidity, if the eggs need to be turned etc, but thats another option here too. Just don't want to lose they eggs if we don't have to.


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## Bagheera (Feb 27, 2014)

Let me know if they hatch and Mango mothers them?


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## SoCalTiels (Oct 8, 2013)

Aye aye captain! If she stays on them and the eggs seem to be developing further, might start a little 'single mom' breeding journal for it but we'll see. 

Because of this thread, all my TalkCockatiel forum ads went from bird cages to human surrogacy websites, HA.


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## Darkel777 (Jun 7, 2013)

You can incubate them artificially using the same settings for quail incubation temp and humidity are pretty universal 99.5 F (37.5 C) and humidity of 50%, but I read that quail racks and most automatic egg turners using a pivot system don't work well for psittacines and the eggs should be turned by hand instead which is what I do. I place an "X" on one side of the egg and an "O" on the other along with an egg number to keep track of them. I turn each once an hour during the day with a 6 hour rest at night. The minimum is 3 three times a day or every 8 hours.

If the eggs sat for two full days without being incubated I highly doubt they will hatch though.


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## SoCalTiels (Oct 8, 2013)

The eggs sat for an evening and the morning, so less than a full day but I know theres a good chance they're out of the running already. I had Mango on them before I posted yesterday, it was more of a reassurance that I made the right move. Even if they don't hatch, it really is okay. I went into this for the pair themselves, so the eggs were just an extra bonus anyways. Shooting for the glass half full if theres even a chance. Thanks for the incubator info! That might work better if they're even still viable.


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## Haimovfids (Sep 19, 2012)

*Aye aye captain! If she stays on them and the eggs seem to be developing further, might start a little 'single mom' breeding journal for it but we'll see. *

The cockatiel in the video I posted were also 'single moms'


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