# If your cockatiel prefers an open nest...?



## WendyBeoBuddy (Dec 12, 2011)

In giving the finch eggs to Wendy, we have found that she HATES and refuses all nest boxes. yet, when we gave her a saucer to a large pot for plants, and filled it with pine chips, she immediately sat on the finch eggs and stayed on them.

i know this is not natural for cockatiels, what is up with 'her'??


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## SuzieQueue (Mar 12, 2012)

i dont know, i have a hanging open nest and will have to buy another as both my tiels love it, they spend hours in there chewing the sides, chewing the chain, swinging and hanging from it, its the most popular 'toy' in their cage! ... 

oh but neither are nesting .... way to young and hopefully wrong sexes lol


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## WendyBeoBuddy (Dec 12, 2011)

Wendy is actually male. i saw a female i REALLY want i am about to post about so i wonder...


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## SuzieQueue (Mar 12, 2012)

lol i saw 'her' and she is a gorjus pearl, my MsF is pearl female and Champ is supposed to be male, it was he who started first in the nest lol now MsF is constantly in it


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## WendyBeoBuddy (Dec 12, 2011)

she is VERY heavily pearled. i like her! i really need 70$ now!


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## roxy culver (May 27, 2010)

Not sure why some prefer an open cage the only issue with that would be controlling the humidity I would think, but I'm not sure as all my birds use closed boxes (and have never refused.)

Just another thought, because there is no hen for Wendy to mate and make babies with (and which Wendy knows this) he may not want to go in a box because there is no reason to.


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## tielfan (Aug 31, 2008)

Some birds may not be familiar with closed nest boxes, particularly if they were pulled from their parents before their eyes opened. Some birds may have gotten used to pretend-nesting out in the open and don't want to change their ways. And some birds are just "different" because that's how evolution works. A trait that's disadvantageous under normal conditions may become advantageous when conditions change, which helps the species keep going.


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## WendyBeoBuddy (Dec 12, 2011)

There is NO WAY Wendy was NOT hand fed since she hatched. i guess it is possible that she may have been kicked from the nest, parent died, or just regularly hand fed before her eyes opened

Tielfan, that is interesting! thanks for the info, i will keep that in mind. maybe she just wants to sit in the saucer until we get her a mate and the mate sits in the nest box(that we get them) maybe she will go in?


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## DaveZ (May 4, 2012)

Have you tried leaving a nest box in the cage with the top open? My hen Rex, was the same, wouldn't have a bar of a nest box, wouldn't even go near the thing. Then I thought that maybe she didn't know what a nest box was and wasn't adventurous enough to look inside because it was so dark in there so I opened the top right up. She was checking it out on the first day, then the second day she started to poke her head through the hole to see closer what was inside. Then the third day she went all the way in. After that I used a piece of wood to keep the top propped open but bit by bit closed it further and further until it was totally closed. Now she has no hesitation in going in although she will carefully check to see what is inside before diving in.

Dave.


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## WendyBeoBuddy (Dec 12, 2011)

i have well, a very small cage for three tiels. it is two 2' 1/2' by 2' cages with the side panels off and tied together with twisty ties. it sounds very unsafe and bad, but it is very safe, i made sure of it. i don't have a nest box currently as we got rid of it a while ago and have been using a cardboard box for the boys(because they like to destroy it) the cardboard box was a hanging nest box made of that really thick cardboard, i don't know, industrial?? and it had the right dementions, i left the top open because i made it to where it clamped but it was one that you could half open the top and i left that open, the boys went in constantly but Wendy, even if i put millet in the box, refused it.

i am hoping once we get 'her' a mate, the mate will go in the box and she may go in after?

We are working on getting a walk in in home aviary plan set up so we can build it!!!


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## roxy culver (May 27, 2010)

> i am hoping once we get 'her' a mate, the mate will go in the box and she may go in after?


The only issue with this is that Wendy, being the male, is supposed to prepare the nest box for her mate. If she wont do that, the mate wont go in the box because its either unsafe (since Wendy wont enter) or not ready for babies. It'll have to be a wait and see type thing.


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## WendyBeoBuddy (Dec 12, 2011)

I don't even have a girl yet, lol but it will happen once we build their aviary


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## Dreamcatchers (Apr 17, 2011)

Buttercup, my incredible foster mom, would only nest in an open nest for the first two clutches when I got her 3 years ago. I kept the nest box available for her but she refused. Then someone suggested putting millet into the box. I did it before she laid her third clutch last year and lo-and-behold, she decided the box was cool and that was the end of her need for open nests.


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## DaBirds (Jun 21, 2011)

Hm, I'm having this issue with my tiels and it could explain the low hatch rate. My pearl female doesn't like anything over her head. I gave them a nest box when they first showed signs of interest and Picco went into the box to prepare it. Stitch wouldn't follow so he picked a spot outside the box and she laid her egg. I had to make her an open nest so she could raise the chick and only one hatched. They were young and didn't know to feed it so it didn't make it and I had no idea anything was wrong until it was too late.

So when Berry (the first egg of 5 and only one to hatch) was born, I had formula and everything ready and didn't need it because now instinct was kicking in bigtime. But they were still in the tissue box I'd built for them. They would perch over the nest and poop in it. Messy.

This time I tried to give them the nest box again, but I trimmed the sides down to give it a more open feel and shelter them from overhead perching. As soon as I put it in there it was chaos. Picco almost went in after the eggs, but Stitch wanted nothing to do with it so he followed her. I just lifted the lid and secured it open and they are busy raising the only hatching of their latest clutch of 5. "I am # 4" is doing very well.

Lift the lid and see what happens.


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## WendyBeoBuddy (Dec 12, 2011)

I will try that once i get my little girl, now it is just a waiting game


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