# Opinions on hatching eggs



## daverohmfeld (Oct 26, 2012)

Note: I do not have cockatiels yet so this has in no way happened.

I plan on getting cockatiels soon. I know its not normal breeding season for them. But once I do get cockatiels, they are of breeding age, I assure they are male and female, they bond, etc. I would like to try breeding. I have owned cockatiels in the past but have never tried breeding them, so I am still doing as much reading and research as possible. I have learned so much off this site so far. I did come across an article on a different site about getting the eggs to hatch mostly on the same day and I wanted to get opinions and advice on this. Here is the process and theory behind it:

As the female lays an egg, replace it with a fake egg. Continue the process of replacing real eggs with fakes until the entire clutch has been laid. Then remove the fake eggs and put the real eggs back in the nest for the parents to sit and incubate. The theory behind this is to have the eggs hatch mostly on the same day. This would help with all the baby birds getting a fair shake at feedings instead of the biggest first and the youngest last, if at all. 

Does this sound like a good idea to anyone? Would this be more work for the parents? If I do end up getting into bird breeding, I do not plan on hand feeding unless a chick is neglected by the parents, so I figured this process might cut down on the possibility of this happening. Thoughts?


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## meaggiedear (Nov 20, 2011)

I'm not a breeder, but I would say the stress on the parents trying to keep up with each chick all at the same time with the same amount and timing on feedings would be overwhelming. 

Roxy or tielfan can confirm or deny that though. They are the breeders.


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## daverohmfeld (Oct 26, 2012)

Yeah, I was kind of thinking the same thing. The theory behind having them hatch at the approx same time makes sense. But in the end, it doesnt work like that in nature. Natures way has worked for a long time now. But I am still curious on the breeders thoughts on this. Thanks for the reply.


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## Bird Junky (Jul 24, 2012)

Hi If having them hatch on the same day was a better idea. Nature would do it that way . Having the chicks hatched as they do allows the hen to give all her attention to the baby on the most important day of its life. Slowly increasing her work load. A Maiden hen would be overwhelmed & may be unable to cope
It is a commercial breeders technique to have large numbers of birds ready for
sale at the same time. They would get rid of hens that couldn't comply...
Will you get rid of your hen if she fails to raise babies en masse....B.J.


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## daverohmfeld (Oct 26, 2012)

Commercial breeding of any type is not something I want to be a part of.


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## tielfan (Aug 31, 2008)

Many cockatiel pairs will arrange for this to happen naturally, by not starting to incubate until several eggs have been laid.

This is just an opinion, not based on any data or observations. But I think it's best to let the parents choose their own incubation pattern, whether it's starting to incubate as soon as the first egg is laid or waiting until later. If they start incubating immediately and don't know that they're sitting on a fake egg, then egg #1 won't hatch when they expect it to. Neither will #2, #3, etc until all the eggs suddenly hatch within a few hours of each other. There is a risk that the parents might abandon the eggs and/or start laying a new clutch before the big hatch day arrives, because several eggs failed to hatch when the parents expected them to.


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