# Cockatiel Twitching/Bobbing Foot a lot - possibly egg bound?



## RileyBoo (Jul 24, 2011)

Hello,

My Tiel is 1.5 years old, female. She is having her first clutch of eggs (non fertile) and so far has had 4 very healthy looking eggs, 48 hours apart. She is "due" to have another one today I suspect.

She is an extremely healthy and active bird, eats a lot, have her on a pellet based diet with some seed and millet as treat and she loves to have veggies. When she started laying eggs, I gave her a cuttle bone and vitamin drops in her water to keep her healthy, but today I noticed that she is twitching her right leg. It's almost like she can't keep it still. It bobs up and down and almost seems to surprise her at times and she is pecking at her feet a lot more than usual today. 

Since she has been laying eggs ' been eating and drinking plenty of water, and she's been sitting on them in her cage about 90% of the day. She has very large, loose droppings about twice a day (when she decides to come out of her cage) and is given dark, quiet and calm conditions for at least 12 hours a day.

Do you know what could be the cause of the leg twitching? Could it be the vitamins? Or could she be egg bound? Any advice would be appreciated!

Thank you
-Angela


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## lperry82 (Aug 2, 2010)

Hello and welcome to the forum Angela

Hope some one with more experience will help you

Only thing i can think of she may have cramp if she is sitting a very long time 

Hope to see some pics of her


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## srtiels (May 1, 2009)

*Could it be the vitamins?*

Possibly. When giving a pelleted diet you should never supplement with vitamins, and additional calcium is not needed. A roxicity can build up from the vitamins, and calcium can impair kidney function.

If a hen is egg bound it is imobile and will huddle in a corner and will not move even when you try to pick her up. If she is moving around she is not egg bound. Also if she is pooping she is not egg bound.


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## RileyBoo (Jul 24, 2011)

Thank you both for your advice.
I will take away the cuttle bone and stop putting vitamins in her water for now and see if that helps any.

As for pictures, here are a few taken in recent months.. hopefully I did it correctly, I'm new to forums.

I hope she stops laying eggs soon, we wanted to go away overnight but don't want to leave her if she's in this situation. How many eggs do cockatiels normally lay in their first clutch?

Thanks again


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## lperry82 (Aug 2, 2010)

I wouldnt take away the cuddle bone 

Oh my she is gorgeous  just like my lucky, Lucky laid 5 for her first time  
but it could be 4-8 
There is a member on here who has laid 12 lol


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## RileyBoo (Jul 24, 2011)

Thank you  She's my little boo! I tend to get over-worried when I notice the slightest difference in her behaviour, my boyfriend thinks I'm crazy.. I probably am!

Well I really hope she's like Lucky and stops at 5. 12 is quite a lot, yikes!

How long do you suggest leaving the eggs with her?
I've read in some places until she gets bored and in others I've read 6 weeks whether she's bored of them or not..

edit: after looking at your signature, you have such a lovely flock! Cockatiels are such beautiful sweet birds. I wish I didn't live in a condominium building so I could have more than 2 feathery friends!


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## lperry82 (Aug 2, 2010)

What you can do is replace them with fake eggs so the real ones don't start and smell,
i got mine from ebay.

Thank you


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## Mentha (Jul 11, 2010)

lperry82 said:


> cuddle bone


Sorry to hijack but when I read "cuddle bone", I envision my birds using the thing as a pillow or something. lol

I know it's a long shot, but have you checked for mites or lice? The reason I ask is I was battling mites with my birds and they are really hard to see. My birds would twitch when they got bit.


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## lperry82 (Aug 2, 2010)

lol i always say cuddle bone ha ha :wacko:


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