# Eggs laid(sorry this is so long)



## hozie07 (Aug 22, 2007)

Well I found the 1st egg the 13th in the morning so im not sure if it was laid that day or the 12th. But the 2nd was laid the 14th , 3rd the 16th and today i found the 4th egg. I have 7 cockatiels, 4 females and 3 males.They were all in same cage but after i found the eggs i moved the males to another cage and last night i moved one of the hens with the males. So there are 3 possible females I am pretty sure I know which one it is because yesterday her" stomach" was a bit bigger .I did not have a nest box for them so i just put one of the concaves from my budgies nest boxes and the hen laid 4th egg there .Today I bought the nest box and transfered the eggs into the nest box .
The problem is I am still not sure which is the mom, if they are fertile, and if so which is the dad.. So if anyone could make any suggestions on what to do it would be greatly appreciated.. I had thought to seperate another hen from the other 2 and then w/e cage had the egg would be the mom ... or it would atleast narrow the possible choices to 2 of the hens.Do you all think i should do this? 
Another question is what should i do about the dad... All the books ive read say that the male also sits on the eggs for some time.. so should i put all 3 males with the female once i find out which is the mom? or should i just let her take care of them herself?
One last thing ... I know hens lay eggs even if there is no male... but would they lay one egg only ? or a whole "brood" at a time?


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## sweetrsue (Jul 8, 2008)

The first egg was most likely laid on the 12th as they usually lay in the evening and produce eggs 2 days apart. It in unlikely that they would lay only one. Once the cycle to lay starts it usually goes on 'till the hen considers the # of eggs to be a clutch. Then her behavior will change again towards brooding behavior. Have any of your hens showed a particular interest in the eggs? The one who laid them will be driven to start sitting. Hens will usually sit at night and if the Dad is a responsible man he will sit during the day. I would not put all three males in with the hen because you will likely have problems with that arrangement.


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## hozie07 (Aug 22, 2007)

No, none of the hens have showed much interest in them.. I saw one coming out of the nest box today and it was the one that i thought was the mom so hopefully it is her .I removed the 2nd hen and put her in another cage . So hopefully tomorrows egg(if there is one) will be laid in the nest box .Then i will have it narrowed down to 1 of 2 hens for possible moms.That leaves the dad.. any ideas what to do about them? Just let her take care of them was an idea.. but it seems like too much stress for her to handle alone.And is bedding only used when the chicks are born ? Or when there are eggs in nestbox too?


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## sweetrsue (Jul 8, 2008)

It would be difficult for a hen to incubate on her own. She would likely follow the natural pattern of sitting at night and not during the day. The hen you said you thought looked pregnant, did she have a bulge between her tail and her legs? If so I would say it is narrowed down even further. The only way to figure out who the Dad might be is once you're sure who Mom is watch who seems to be lovin' her up. The reality is a hen can carry sperm from two different males and can hatch eggs that are fathered by two different males. But if you have a male that seems devoted to your laying hen put them in a separate cage. I hate to complicate things but could more than one of your hens be laying? It's a shame you can't put all the hens in separate cages to be sure.


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## hozie07 (Aug 22, 2007)

Im trying to find a picture of a female cockatiel with an egg still in her.. but not having much luck.. but yea i guess it would be "between her tail and legs" .I went ahead and seperated them even more. So now I have Hen 1, Male 1 & Male 2 in one cage,Hen 3 , Hen 4 and Male 3 in another cage. And Hen 2 in a cage alone . Hen 3 cant be the mom because she was removed prior to Egg 4 being layed.. unless like you said there are 2 hens laying .. but if there are any eggs tomorrow I will atleast be able to tell which hens are laying.. Hen 2 is the one that looked a bit bigger.. So it would be a relief if Egg 5 was found tomorrow with her.I have all the cages touching each other so they can communicate through bars but I have not seen any "flirting".I will try posting pics of my birds and the eggs soon so I wont have to refer to them as a number .


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## sweetrsue (Jul 8, 2008)

Is the one you saw coming out of the box the one you have in the cage with the box?


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## hozie07 (Aug 22, 2007)

Yea and shes the one that looked"plump" so hopefully its her and only her.. then id just have to worry about the mate.. and do you know if i should put bedding in now or only if the chicks are born?


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## sweetrsue (Jul 8, 2008)

It should have bedding now. A couple of inches of pine (not cedar) shavings works well. You're very lucky they still show interest in the eggs. Usually they need to inspect the box, work the box (rearrange the shavings) a week or so before they even start laying.


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## tielfan (Aug 31, 2008)

> hopefully its her and only her


You're getting one egg every other day and that's the normal laying pattern. So it sounds very much as though only one hen is laying eggs.


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## hozie07 (Aug 22, 2007)

Ok I added pine bedding now. The 5th egg should be here tomorrow .So Im just playing the waiting game now I was observing them earlier but i didnt notice any male/female "couple" so they might be infertile but I guess time will tell.


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## sweetrsue (Jul 8, 2008)

If your already waiting on egg #5 you should be able to candle the first egg. I commonly have pairs that only lay 4. Usually they would be sitting by now. Is there a hen that goes into the box at night?


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## hozie07 (Aug 22, 2007)

Nope no hen sat on eggs and its 9:10 pm now and no 5th egg.What is the longest time period there can be between eggs? Should I wait a couple days and then try to incubate them myself if a hen doesnt sit?


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## sweetrsue (Jul 8, 2008)

It depends on if you want to hand feed from day one or not. The usual time between eggs is 2 days. Maybe you have the wrong hen with the box?


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## hozie07 (Aug 22, 2007)

Well i have the time to feed them from day one and ive read quite a bit about it,.. what im nervous about would be the incubating.. I thought about that and since I didnt see an egg I decided to put the 2 other hens back in the cage with the nestbox hopefully they dont fight or anything but Ive yet to see them go in the nestbox.


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