# Does my female cockatiel want to lay egg ?



## Skyo (Jul 19, 2010)

I have a trouble with my female cockatiel.. Please watch video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0gmVVxygbvA
You can see at 50th second of this clip.. What's happen? Does she want to lay egg? this sign has appear since 4 day ago.

I need your help! Thank you.


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## Skyo (Jul 19, 2010)

Hi all.. 
today, she laid first egg on cage floor..


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## luther349 (Apr 5, 2010)

leave the egg for 3 weeks. or she will lay another. also look up the proper diet for a laying female that's also very important. you don't what her to keep trying to lay it can be bad for her health. leaving the egg lets her cycle naturally. after 3 weeks and it does not hatch she will lose all interest in it. 

if you don't what her to lay eggs you can also look up ways to discourage it. they very on the bird however.

being you said it was the cage floor it sounds like you did not give her a breeding environment by mistake many owners do.

also your girl looks like a male lol. normally the girls have white heads. also being i saw you have 2 birds if the other is male after 3 week the egg will hatch. so you may wanna get a nest rdy.


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## srtiels (May 1, 2009)

Towards the end it looked like another cockatiel was in the cage. What your hen was doing was trying to get the other tiel to mate with her. If the other tiel is a male and you've not seen them mating there is a possiblity the eggs may not be fertiled. The hen looks frustrated and looks like she has started chewing and shredding her chest feathers.


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## Skyo (Jul 19, 2010)

Thank luther349 and srtiels.
I will follow your advices.
In this cage, i have 2 female cockatiels. I have 6 cockatiels, but only 2 male, so i leave 2 female in this cage. (2 weeks ago, 6 cockatiels in same cage, and 2 male has paired with 2 another females).
My friend gived me this cockatiel because her feathers have problem. I received her 6 months but her feather has no changed.


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## srtiels (May 1, 2009)

_*My friend gived me this cockatiel because her feathers have problem. I received her 6 months but her feather has no changed.*_
*------------------------------------------------------*

Has the hen ever been setup with a male and had babies? If not the shredding of feathers may be due to sexual frusration....due to wanting to go to nest.


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## Skyo (Jul 19, 2010)

My friend have 2 female cockatiels. he get them from pet shop and their feathers wasn't chewed like that. he's too busy to take care them, i think she feel lonely, others female of him didn't play with her, so she chewed feathers herself. What should i do, srtiels..
Thanks so much for your help..


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## Mentha (Jul 11, 2010)

With self mutilation like that, I'd give her access to a male and see if she pairs up and give them a nest box. There is a good chance she will more than likely stop chewing feathers afterward. If you don't want babies, look into getting ceramic eggs to replace any eggs she lays with either ceramic or plastic eggs so she doesn't continue to lay. Follow the advise above about proper nutrition.


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## luther349 (Apr 5, 2010)

yea the other birds may be encouraging her to lay. these and bugies are very ready breeders and does not take much to start them. heck just putting a male bird in works in most cases. but birds can be strange like that. i had a male and female bugie in the same cage she never layed or attempted to mate i guess being i never gave them the environment.

if the environment is not the issue you can try to artificial winter the bird. that means leaving the bird coverd in the dark for 12 to 14 hrs a day. this should make the bird think its winter and not what to lay eggs. this can be done at bedtime and not uncover untill the afternoon. as long as you artificially make her days shorter. 

as for your plucking issue birds tend to do this when there bored or uneasy. try to give that bird more entertainment. 

as for her diet caulcum is very important to any bird but a laying one even more so. if she does not have enough it can become deadly if she keeps laying. eggbound is a huge issue with domestic breeding birds. so give her a mullet and calcume vitamins normally they just go in the water. being the eggs calcume every time her body makes a new one it uses a huge amount of it.


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## Skyo (Jul 19, 2010)

yes, i give her vitamin 3 days/week, and cuttle bone. I'm going to buy more 2 males. 
I'll report when she completes this clutch.
I'm new member. Thank for your reply.


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## Skyo (Jul 19, 2010)

48 hours after the first egg was laid, today my bird didn't lay. I'll check again tomorrow.


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## Skyo (Jul 19, 2010)

my tiel hasn't yet laid second egg. Is this normal ?


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## srtiels (May 1, 2009)

If there was no nestbox or mating with a male it is possible for a hen to lay one egg and stop. 

Regarless, I would keep an eye on her. What you do not want to see is a very swollen abdomen...like in the pix...for several days or more. What this is is egg yolk peritonitis, which if not treated can be life-threatening. What happens is the developing yolk misses going into the funnel of the oviduct and winds up deposited in the abdominal cavity inside the bird. This yolk is sterile, but if in the body too long it develops bacteria, and fluid must be removed from the body and aggressive antibiotic treatment is needed to correct the problem.


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## Skyo (Jul 19, 2010)

@srtiels: Thanks so much. 
Today, she laid second egg. So, after two weeks, she laid second egg. But another female played and broken her eggs. I give her 2 fake eggs then.
I think she will lay thirst egg after two next weeks. Is it true ?


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## srtiels (May 1, 2009)

No...if she is laying 1 egg every 2 weeks this is NOT good. Normally an egg is layed every other day.

Keep an eye on her. 

Also can you post a good clear pix of the egg?


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## Skyo (Jul 19, 2010)

This is first egg pix
















I think it's normal.
I cant find any avian vet near my home. I'll keep an eye on her. 
Tks srtiels.


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## srtiels (May 1, 2009)

Is she incubating this egg? if so by the whiteness of the shell it looks like it is possibily fertile. The shell and shape look great. You can hold a fladhlight flush to the blunt end of the egg where it air cell is. if fertile you will see some red veins inside. if the embyro is small you can see the flutter od a heartbeat.


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