# please help worried bout female cockatiel



## mariex4 (May 9, 2009)

hi every one 

i have finaly found out i have 2 males and 1 female cockatiel the light one thatsthe girl ,is eating loads i bought a stick treat and she ate the whole lot ,shes on her cuttlefish sometimes she even gaurds it by sitting on it she ,sometimes has a mad fly round the living room and bloody chewing my wall paper and my shelves made of wood .ive bought a nesting box but shes not intrested in it , could she be ready to lay or not ,ive also one of the males whistles all the time its like a high pitch sound and sometimes she flyes to him ,hes been on her back a few times rubbing himself on her it was so funny .:tiel2::tiel4:


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## Birdlette (Feb 25, 2009)

Hi... Cockatiels usually bond as a pair before they set up housekeeping and lay fertile eggs... sounds like that's what your two are in the process of doing. They are certainly friendly with each other!! However they may mate for sometime before she lays any eggs, especially if they haven't taken to the nesting box yet. Give them time to settle down together and make sure they have plenty of nourishing food... fresh greens, sprouted seeds, carrots, yams, that sort of thing. There is plenty of good advice about what to feed in the nutrition section of this forum. It is good that she has a cuttle bone for calcium as that is much needed for laying hens... the other thing to think about is if you really want the responsibility of babies. You may want to hand-feed them to accustom them to human contact. I used to have to rush home at lunch to feed mine before he was weaned! I didn't mind but it is a thought...


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## mariex4 (May 9, 2009)

it would be nice for babies and to hand rear im a housewife anyway so would have the time to do that i only go out to shop and collect kids im in most the week hardly go out ,i would require a real good site tho as not clued up yet on babys , and want to give them 110% of the care they need, my kids are easy but a baird well or if you know wjhat i need to do and a list of stuff they can eat from veg / fruit ,etc that would be great so do you think there female and male


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## sweetrsue (Jul 8, 2008)

Once you have determined which male she has chosen you should remove the other male to a separate cage. It would not surprise me if the 2 males would fight over the only hen.


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## mariex4 (May 9, 2009)

so what should i do as they all like to fly together ,and the small cage has the nest box in it should i just put joe hes my first in the small one and rosy and jim hes the other baby as the 2 young ones i got of somebody and there the 2 that are getting it on in my large parrot cage and let them out seperate omw this is so comfusing ,i also think the female is moulting as she has some small fluffy feathers coming out the person i got them off said there around 2 months old ,but joe we had him for 3-4 years


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## sweetrsue (Jul 8, 2008)

You should take the nest box down for now. If your female is only 2 months old she's about a year and a half too young. You shouldn't even encourage egg laying 'till she's older. The presence of a nest box could create a situation where your older male tries to get her to go into the box. Egg laying is very hard on the females system. She needs to grow up first.


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## mariex4 (May 9, 2009)

ok thank you for that i will remove it straight away ,should i get another female cockatiel as dont want the 2 males fighting they have tryed t bite each other but stop when i shout so is that becouse theres 1 female i can get one tomorrow hand reared so that be good


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## sweetrsue (Jul 8, 2008)

That would be a good idea.


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## mariex4 (May 9, 2009)

ok ill send some pics of her when get her ,thank you for all your help the nest box has now been removed i realy am greatfull ill prob be on tomorrow thanks again marie xxx


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## sweetrsue (Jul 8, 2008)

That's sounds great! You'll have your own little flock!


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## mariex4 (May 9, 2009)

i know i said to hubby ill have to buid indoor avory sorry for spelling lol


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## sweetrsue (Jul 8, 2008)

Here's a cool link for you then! http://www.finchinfo.com/housing/panel_form_aviary_construction.php If you have it indoors you don't need that safety door thing so it's just 6 screen doors basically.


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## mariex4 (May 9, 2009)

hi again omw please help i got a cockatiel from a person of preloved and she had 4 others soon as i walked through her door she had the cockatiel on her hand and all the feathers on her neck are gone i felt so sick when saw this ive sprayed her with pump spray and put a bath out as she is tame but please is she moulting or can it just of been the others plucking ,shes in a seperate cage as shes very sceared shes shaking but willl gladly come on my hand .ive even put some fresh water out and give her 4 drops of vitamins that u add to water well joe and jim new there was amother girl in the house they were squaking like mad 10 time i had to tell them to shut up


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## mariex4 (May 9, 2009)

hi sweetrsue that site u give abouv was great i think ill have indoor one as then can keep an eye on them more than if they were outside plus its quite cold here in uk blackburn i wouldnt want to be in a nice warm house then go out in the cold lol im selling my fish tanks to get the money for the wood my mum said she would help me build one so thats good i guess it will cost around 60-80.00 for the stuff so not bad going. least also if any plucking in the aviary i can get the poor sould out


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## Mythara (Apr 9, 2009)

If it's the feather on the head/neck that are gone, then it sounds like other birds have been plucking her. Take her to the vets for a check up though, and keep an eye on her to make sure she's not doing it. If you can get her to an avian vet, that would be the best.


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## srtiels (May 1, 2009)

Hmmm...it sounds like what you have is an adult breeder hen. Could the lady give you any more info? Most times this plucking may have been a result of a colony situation and from her mate. 'IF so"...you would need to find out when was the last time she had babies, how many and what type of parent she was.

The other thought is that it was a young bird that was plucked in the nest and still has to grow back in the feathers (???)

Are there any pinfeathers growing in?

Susanne


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## mariex4 (May 9, 2009)

hi the lady never said shes bred she said shes about 1yr old ,what do u mean by pin feathers


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## srtiels (May 1, 2009)

You need to ask her then, because you don't want her to have more babies just yet if she has already had some. 

Here is a pix of pinfeathers. it is a babies head....but will give you an idea of what they look like. You would like to see some of these emerging through the plucked areas.
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## mariex4 (May 9, 2009)

hi on the bold patch i can see just a couple coming through not many tho


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## srtiels (May 1, 2009)

Good sign...which means the plucking has been fairly recent, with no permanant damage since pinfeathers are starting to grow in 

Susanne


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## mariex4 (May 9, 2009)

o thank God so she will be ok ,we let her out seperate from the rest as i feel so tight for her ive got some vit-min drops and some anti-septic plumage spray..........she will be ok wont she


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## srtiels (May 1, 2009)

Please...go lightly on the vitamin drops. Too much and too frequent can be problematic. I don't think she needs the spray.

Do not attempt to set her up until you find out if she has recently had babies. She obviously had a mate, or had a an over agressive male that plucked her.

Susanne


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## mariex4 (May 9, 2009)

o i only sprayed her once they all get done about a month ,the vit drops i only put 4 drops in a week


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## mariex4 (May 9, 2009)

but have clean water daily


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## mariex4 (May 9, 2009)

she seems to be doing ok now tho shes not shaking as much as she did ,so do the males only go for the female when mating, poor think i wouldnt want to be a bird it hurts when my son pulls my hair . is there a site about parasites on birds as she is natting the back of her quite alot im just wondering if shes got anything ,ive also tho noticed some very small feathers come out of her so could she be going through a moult ooooo me and my pets but i love them lol


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