# Cockatiel re-sitting on eggs... what do I do?



## erin_merrill (Jul 10, 2010)

My female cockatiel, Kiwi, laid 5 eggs about 21 days ago… She stopped sitting on them for a few days and I thought she was going to abandon them, (I don’t think they have anything in them, but I’m not sure) and I was going to take the eggs out. But now she has started sitting on the eggs again and she has been sitting on them constantly. What should I do?


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## Berdnerd (May 20, 2010)

I think just leave them in there until she gets bored of them. She'll replace them if you take them away too soon, which isn't healthy for her little body. Is there any chance they could be fertile (does she have access to a male?) I wouldn't imagine the eggs would be viable since she stopped sitting on them for so long though.


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## Jenny10 (Feb 27, 2010)

Have you candled them to see if they were fertile?

Of course for there to be any chance of them being fertile your hen would need to have mated with a male?

Hatching should take place about 17 to 21 days after incubation, so I would have thought if they were fertile they would have hatched but the hatching time can vary slightly.

To candle the egg all you need is a good strong torch and then place the egg on the torch so the light shines through the egg, if fertile you would see blood vessels and at your stage it would be quite a solid darker mass, if the egg is clear they are infertile.


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## Berdnerd (May 20, 2010)

Jenny, in the US torches are called flashlights (though I think torch is a much cooler and superior term!), and torches are big sticks with fire on them that people used in castles in the middle ages and in caves and stuff. Whenever I read about people candling eggs with torches, I picture a skeptical American misunderstanding and holding an egg over a giant flame to see inside...

Okay, sorry for derailing!


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## dude (Mar 29, 2010)

Berdnerd said:


> I picture a skeptical American misunderstanding and holding an egg over a giant flame to see inside...
> 
> Okay, sorry for derailing!


Bahahahahaha, Funniest thing ever !

Torches does sound way cooler.

I think of disco lights when someone says flash lights.


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## erin_merrill (Jul 10, 2010)

Kiwi does have access to a male,I got him a few months ago. I have not actually seen them mating but it could have happened.... I tried to candle them and I didn't see anything like veins or anything and they look the same now as they did the first time I tried.... So I am pretty sure they aren't fertile... I'm just not sure why she would have left them alone and then just started to sit on them again... this is the first time she has ever laid eggs for me...


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## Ezzie (Jan 19, 2010)

Just off topic because i know nothing about eggs and what not, We have the same name


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## erin_merrill (Jul 10, 2010)

Thanks for all the posts... I guess I will be waiting awhile before I can take any eggs out... when I looked in this morning I found that there is now a NEW egg!! Maybe that is why she started sitting on the old ones again.... she was waiting to lay a new one.... Now to wait and see if I can find the new one and mark it.....


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