# wat do i do



## ronina (Sep 30, 2008)

a friend of mine just gave me her 2 cockatiels a month ago and i really dont know anything about them but she had to get rid of them in a hurry. i came home the other night and the girl was sitting on the bottom of the cage, ON AN EGG! i had no idea they would do that just in the bottom of the cage without a box, like i said i dont know anything about birds. wat do i watch for wat do i need to do?


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## sweetrsue (Jul 8, 2008)

If you want them to have babies you need to get a nest box. You should also do a little research and learn how to hand feed. You may have to if your parent birds are inexperienced. If you don't want them to breed you need to give them shorter days, fewer fresh greens. Both are triggers to breeding.


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## Renae (Feb 9, 2008)

Do you know how old they are?


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## allen (Aug 25, 2007)

ok i have seen where some have used a shoe box for a breeding box but they do require some nesting material i use torn up newspaper here is a link to kaytee hand feeding formula there is a video on there that explains about handfeeding if you look at the sticky that shows how to setup a brooder it shows what you will need to hand feed as well
http://www.kaytee.com/companion_animals/birds/hand_feeding/


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## tielfan (Aug 31, 2008)

It's very likely that she will lay some more eggs. Tiels usually lay one egg every other day until they have a complete clutch. Average clutch size is 4 to 6 eggs. Keep an eye on her when another egg is due, because if she has a problem with egg binding (when the egg gets "stuck" inside and she can't lay it) it's a dangerous medical emergency.

These eggs may or may not be fertile. If they're fertile you'll have to decide whether or not you want to let her hatch them out. But do NOT take the eggs away from her in any case, because taking them away can stimulate her to lay more to replace the lost ones and this is a big strain on her. If you don't want baby birds there are other things you can do, like replacing the real eggs with fake eggs or boiling/freezing the eggs to kill them and then putting them back in the nest.


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## allen (Aug 25, 2007)

is the other cockatiel a male


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## sweetrsue (Jul 8, 2008)

If you are going to let her go ahead you need to make sure she gets lots of calcium. I always put a cuttlebone and a mineral block in my breeder cages. I also add cooked quinoa seed to thier beans and rice. It cooks up just like rice but is very high in calcium. It's pretty tasty too! I tried it.


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## Carrie~Anne (Apr 19, 2008)

First step is finding out if one of these birds is a male. Do you know if one is a male? Or have photos to help us identify the birds? If they are both female, then the eggs are infertile and you can just leave them on the bottom of the cage.

Secondly, if one of the birds is a male, and you have no idea of the birds' background, I would do everything I could to make sure no eggs hatch. These two birds could be siblings for all you know.


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