# Nesting on aviary floor



## Fran.bath89 (Jun 12, 2016)

Hello everyone I'm new to this site as a member but I have read a lot of threads on here that have helped me a lot with my birds. I am writing this thread to give information for anyone who has had their cockatiel nest on the floor of their aviary.
So I have a mixed aviary containing 7 Chinese painted quail, 9 Java sparrows, 3 canaries,1 diamond dove, 1 red rump and 5 cockatiels.
When my pair started breeding early spring they were the only two cockatiels the other 3 are new additions. I have a couple of bendy wooden tunnels that I set up for the quail with hay inside as they like to hide, my cockatiel pair decided this would be a great nest site even though I had a box up for them (next year I will provide 2 boxes per pair) the first clutch was 5 eggs they were all fertile but I decided to take the eggs away and try to persuade them to accept the box rather than the floor purely out of safety for the eggs and chicks. Then a month later they decided to nest.... In the tunnel again! So I let them keep the eggs and see how they get on. They had another 5 eggs all fertile and then they successfully hatched them all but day by day a chick died. They were doing an excellent job at feeding all chicks had full crops but they got cold I thought perhaps the quail interfered so I set up a boundaries around the nest area with the last chick in the nest but unfortunately this confused the parents and the last chick died. I pushed the tunnels up against the walls of the aviary so there was only one entrance to hopefully or off the cockatiels from nesting in them again.... It didn't work they got in the tunnel and nested there again so I just let them get on with it thinking perhaps one entrance will help them protect the nest better. This time they have been successful!! They had 5 fertile eggs again all 5 hatched but unfortunately the last one to hatch died from getting cold it was pushed out by its siblings very early on it stil had yolk to digest. Thankfully all 4 remaining chicks have survived and are now 5 weeks old!! I had read that normally when they nest in boxes they leave the nest between 5 and 6 weeks of age... Well as mine nested on the floor the chicks left at 3 weeks old! At 4 weeks they were exploring different foods as well as flying and perching! I'm still in shock by how quickly they have developed and feel they may even wean early too. But I wrote this for one reason to let you all know that cockatiels nesting on the floor works perfectly fine! Yes I had a couple of hiccups but they have been successful and the parents have done an excellent job. Good luck to anyone else who's birds decide to nest on the floor


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## devilangel09 (Feb 5, 2008)

My pair have nested on the floor not ideal.ay the beginning as had a trio in the cage so ended up have to removed my odd male and we'll 1 chick survived and is going nicely


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## Fran.bath89 (Jun 12, 2016)

Yea definitely not ideal! I was worried about bugs getting in and eating them like ants and beetles or my quail killing them as quail will kill anything! But I'm glad to hear you have one survivor


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## devilangel09 (Feb 5, 2008)

these are in a cage. my aviary has various nests in for my tiels to choose :~)


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## roxy culver (May 27, 2010)

Three weeks is actually normal for chicks to start fledging. Glad they're doing good.


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## Fran.bath89 (Jun 12, 2016)

I didn't realise 3 weeks was normal I had read every where that it was 5weeks + well at least they are acting normal then lol
Well my new pair look like they may nest soon. I've seen the male going in and out of a tunnel on the floor and looking at the hen but she's so nervous that if I watch she paces. I have 2 cockatiel nest boxes in the aviary and a budgie box that my java sparrows use. Looks like these guys like the look of the floor too! Do you think perhaps they think the whole aviary is a rotten dead tree? The floor is dark bark chips that you would use on flower beds and the tunnels are wooden like what you use for rabbits. Maybe my birds are confused lol. One of the cockatiels has definitely been reshaping the hole of the budgie box as well tho. The hen that is nervous can't fly well she has flight feathers missing on one wing so I have placed a nest box on the floor with a thick knarly branch that goes up to the opening where the perch is. If prefer them to nest in a box it's much safer


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## roxy culver (May 27, 2010)

Tiels are opportunistic about their nests. Since they don't build them, they use whatever is available. And if she has issues getting around, the tunnel is obviously easier for her to get to. Because she has nested there before, they most likely aren't going to change nesting spots now.


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## Fran.bath89 (Jun 12, 2016)

Oh no this hen I have never bred before this is my new pair. My pair that were successful this year are both capable of flying but they are immature in age. Hopefully when we get our new house and build the new aviary I won't get too many birds breeding on the floor lol


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## Zionzion (Jul 29, 2021)

Fran.bath89 said:


> Hello everyone I'm new to this site as a member but I have read a lot of threads on here that have helped me a lot with my birds. I am writing this thread to give information for anyone who has had their cockatiel nest on the floor of their aviary.
> So I have a mixed aviary containing 7 Chinese painted quail, 9 Java sparrows, 3 canaries,1 diamond dove, 1 red rump and 5 cockatiels.
> When my pair started breeding early spring they were the only two cockatiels the other 3 are new additions. I have a couple of bendy wooden tunnels that I set up for the quail with hay inside as they like to hide, my cockatiel pair decided this would be a great nest site even though I had a box up for them (next year I will provide 2 boxes per pair) the first clutch was 5 eggs they were all fertile but I decided to take the eggs away and try to persuade them to accept the box rather than the floor purely out of safety for the eggs and chicks. Then a month later they decided to nest.... In the tunnel again! So I let them keep the eggs and see how they get on. They had another 5 eggs all fertile and then they successfully hatched them all but day by day a chick died. They were doing an excellent job at feeding all chicks had full crops but they got cold I thought perhaps the quail interfered so I set up a boundaries around the nest area with the last chick in the nest but unfortunately this confused the parents and the last chick died. I pushed the tunnels up against the walls of the aviary so there was only one entrance to hopefully or off the cockatiels from nesting in them again.... It didn't work they got in the tunnel and nested there again so I just let them get on with it thinking perhaps one entrance will help them protect the nest better. This time they have been successful!! They had 5 fertile eggs again all 5 hatched but unfortunately the last one to hatch died from getting cold it was pushed out by its siblings very early on it stil had yolk to digest. Thankfully all 4 remaining chicks have survived and are now 5 weeks old!! I had read that normally when they nest in boxes they leave the nest between 5 and 6 weeks of age... Well as mine nested on the floor the chicks left at 3 weeks old! At 4 weeks they were exploring different foods as well as flying and perching! I'm still in shock by how quickly they have developed and feel they may even wean early too. But I wrote this for one reason to let you all know that cockatiels nesting on the floor works perfectly fine! Yes I had a couple of hiccups but they have been successful and the parents have done an excellent job. Good luck to anyone else who's birds decide to nest on the floor


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