# Help!



## acm321 (Apr 9, 2015)

My cockatiel pair has been mating multiple times a day for about a week and a half and now the female laid an egg. MAJOR PROBLEM! She laid it outside of the nest box and it fell 7 inches to the bottom of the tray! Is it still viable? I placed it in the nest and it seemd like they are interested. What should i expect? They are new parents and they were constantly in and out of the nest box i provided for them. Any advice will be very appreciated!
Also, should i be prepared to have to hand feed. Based off the fact that the female laid an egg on the floor, i do not think they will be good parents.

PS the egg is NOT cracked


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## tasheanne (Dec 31, 2014)

No idea if it's viable, is it cracked?
I'd say you should definitely be prepared to hand feed even if it never comes to it.


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## acm321 (Apr 9, 2015)

It's not cracked! That gives me hope that it still IS viable! Thank you so much! i will let you know what happens! Do you think she will continue laying the eggs on the floor?


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## shaenne (Apr 19, 2014)

You could try candling the egg to see if it's viable. Grab a torch/flashlight of some sort and hold it under the egg in a dark room, and if the egg is viable you should be able to see red veins, and depending on the stage of development, you may see a chick forming.

You can google "candling cockatiel eggs" for more info and help with this! It's a very cool experience. One of the most exciting things for me about new clutches is candling the eggs and seeing how many have tiny little lives forming in them!


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## acm321 (Apr 9, 2015)

The egg was laid today, in fact, a couple of hours ago... what should I be able to see? Is it too soon?
I know! I am extremely exited, I'm i have always had bird, but never any that had babies. 
I have two pairs, one normal grey, which is the pair that has the eggs, and i have a another pair, a (female) lutino and (Male) white faced grey which have recently began mating. I think the grey pair will only have grey babies, but i have no idea about the other pair!


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## acm321 (Apr 9, 2015)

your cockatiels are beautiful by the way!!


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## amjokai (Jan 9, 2015)

I also had this happen to me. A hen laid two eggs off the perch... the first cracked in half... the second looked perfect so I put it in the nestbox.... She laid one more in the nestbox. The third one hatched into a cute little white fluffball.... unfortunately the one laid on the grate never progressed... I candled it multiple times, if I had picked it up and candled it from the big end where the air pocket was I would have seen that there was a tiny hairline fracture, .... after the baby of the one laid in the nestbox hatched I picked up the egg, and candled it, saw the invisible crack and saw the blood ring,... if you catch it in time Susanne has a way on her website to fix cracked eggs with toilet paper and Elmer's glue... She says its a 50/50 chance whether it will hatch or not... try candled it like I explained and you'll see if it is damaged or if it puts off a reddish glow and with veins then it is fertile...


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## acm321 (Apr 9, 2015)

I candled it and it is completely cracked, like half of the egg had huge cracks and minor cracks branching off of it. Im surprised it is still in tacked.

I feel like the best decision is to remove it before it cracks in the nest. What do you guys think?


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