# How long between clutches?



## KikisCockatiels (Aug 16, 2012)

Hello fellow cockatiel breeders! I have a question for you. 

I'm wondering when breeding your tiels, how many clutches in a row do you let a pair have before letting them rest. Also how long is this rest period? I have a pair that had a clutch of 4 eggs (only 3 hatched) in early March, then a second clutch hatch in May. The second clutch had 5 eggs, which all hatched, however the last egg to hatch did so prematurely and the chick passed away at 3 days of age. I hand raised both clutches from 5 weeks old. I then decided to 'rest' them over winter until at least December, before puting the nest box in again. 
However I've noticed in the last few weeks that with winter nearing an end, my pair has started courting again. I've also noticed them mating a few times. I would love to put their nest box back in, but not if it's gonna be too much of a drain on mamma bird, or affect the quality of her eggs or chicks.

What do others do? I've been breeding for a few years, but previously I only had one clutch a year. Thanks in advance!


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## roxy culver (May 27, 2010)

Preventing the second (double) clutch is usually pretty difficult so I let mine have two clutches a year and then rest them til the beginning of spring the following year. Tiels can mate for fun as well so as long as they're just mating, there may not be eggs. You don't have to give them a box if they're mating.


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## KikisCockatiels (Aug 16, 2012)

Thanks Roxy! I often wonder what the wild birds would do, given the chance. They would probably have three clutches in a row if it was possible, but then I would have to wonder how successful the third clutch would be? I'm guessing both eggs and chicks wouldn't be the best quality. I remember someone telling me years ago that she let her budgies and tiels just breed however many clutches they wanted every year because 'that's what they would do in the wild'. I had to explain to her that the 'Outback' was in fact in drought 9 months of the year, and breeding wasn't possible during those months, and that she was going to see her hens start dying if she didn't let them rest. Sadly she ignored me until a few weeks later when she found a dead eggbound hen on the aviary floor 

My main hen (a cinnamon split whiteface) is just too precious to me to risk her health


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## roxy culver (May 27, 2010)

Well and you're right, they only breed in the spring/summer months, which really only gives them time for two clutches. And when food starts to get scarce they can't feed babies. And babies that survive with us because we save them, wouldn't make it in the wild. So they can have three clutches, its just that feeding those three clutches takes a lot out of them. With the right nutrition and lighting a hen can lay all year round with no issue its the feeding of the chicks that tires the parents out.


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## KikisCockatiels (Aug 16, 2012)

Lol can you imagine? It would be like a person having baby after baby, and breastfeeding for years! I'm exhausted just thinking about it


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## roxy culver (May 27, 2010)

Well not really...if the eggs aren't fertilized then there would be no babies to feed, they would just lay eggs.


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## tielfan (Aug 31, 2008)

The usual rule of thumb is to have a maximum of 2 clutches during a 12-month period. 



> With the right nutrition and lighting a hen can lay all year round with no issue its the feeding of the chicks that tires the parents out.


This is srtiels advice, and in general her knowledge is pretty sound. But the conventional wisdom is that chronic egg laying will eventually destroy a hen's health and lead to early death, whether she's hatching out babies or not. I would guess that most people would find it hard to provide the perfect nutritional balance that would allow chronic egg laying without harm to the hen, and maybe that's the reason for the different opinions. 

For safety's sake, I'd stay close to the "2 clutches in 12 months" rule. In the case of a typical double clutch, I'd start counting the 12 months at the time they had the first of the previous two clutches - that would be March in your case. That way they would be having their two clutches at about the same time every year. If your birds are strong, healthy and have excellent nutrition, and you want to transition them to having their clutches at a more favorable time of year, you could probably get away with breaking the rule once. Especially if they have already had several months of rest.


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