# Mating birds....what next?



## Joe_1974 (Feb 28, 2009)

Hi - I have 6 cockatiels in a slightly large cage with 2 nest boxes (one on each side). I just noticed a couple of days ago that 2 of my cockatiels were mating (normal grey male and a female lutino). I have never bred cockatiels and hence have a couple of questions?

1. Do I need to separate the mating pair into a separate cage?
2. None of the cockatiels (including the mating pairs) have ever gone into the nest boxes. Is that normal? When should I expect (if at all) for the mating pair to start using the next boxes?
3. Do I need to put the nest bedding into the nest box? Or should i just leave it on the floor of the cage and expect the mating pairs to take the next material into the nest box?

Thanks for helping me out...
Joseph


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## srtiels (May 1, 2009)

Joeseph...Hi, and welcome. 

I can help out as to the bedding. Pine or aspen, and at least 3" deep *in* the box. Avoid cedar, which is very aromatic. If bedding is dusty, sift it to get rid of excess dust. (click on pix's for a larger veiw)

A lttle more info needed: 
Do you have equal amount of males and females. 

And what are their ages? Minimum ages varies by poster, by I will not set up anyone under a year old. 

And are the potential pairs unrelated? 

Do you know the background of any of the pairs, such as colors of the parents? many times if genes or splits (hidden genes not shown) are not compatible all offspring will be normal greys.

What type of lighting do you have? If breeding inside full spectrum (Vita lights) is recomended. This lessens the chances of reproductive problems (such as soft-shelled eggs, egg-binding, egg peritonitis) with the hens. And in *rare *instances seizuring with the males.

If the cage is large enough, with 3 possible pairs it is best to have 1 more box hung than amount of pairs to reduce fighting over nesting sites. This is called colony breeding. Also, *important* (either cage or colony breeding) is to have a night light or low lighting on during the night. This is important once the pairs start to incubate the eggs. if something spooks them during the night and they leave the box they are less apt to return to the box til daylight. Also, it is best *not* to cover the cages.

Cage breeding is pairing up each pair in an individual cage with 1 nest box hung. It is each breeders pererence on how they prefer to breed tiels. I prefer colony breeding, but each of my pairs were originally bonded and cage bred. This allowed me to learn how well they were as parents. Once bonded they stayed together in a large colony situation.


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## tielfan (Aug 31, 2008)

Here's an important question: do you want baby birds? Are you prepared for all the things that can possibly go wrong and the extra responsibilities they'll put on you?

If the answer is no, then step 1 is to take down those nestboxes! Some parrots sleep in their nest hole year round, but cockatiels only use them for breeding and having nestboxes in the cage helps to stimulate the breeding urge. Step 2 is to either separate males from females, or take steps to lower their hormone levels. Limiting the amount of light to 12 hours a day or less tends to be the most effective technique, but there are other things that can be done.

If you DO want baby birds, then keep an eye on this pair to see if they start showing an interest in the nestbox or if they start setting up housekeeping in some unauthorized place. It takes a while for their hormones to get up to the right level for actual egg laying, but if they're really interested in breeding then they should start looking for a nest sometime soon.


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## seaofdreams (Dec 29, 2009)

Mating doesn't always necessarily mean that they are going to have babies. I know that sounds strange but my pairs mate all of the time even though there is nowhere suitable for them to lay eggs in the cage.


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## srtiels (May 1, 2009)

Mating doesn't always necessarily mean that they are going to have babies.
---------------------------------

*Good point, and very true*. Tiels can mate for years with no eggs resulting if there is no nestbox or stimuli to encourage them to take it to the next level, which is starting a family.


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## Joe_1974 (Feb 28, 2009)

Thank you for your replies. I just found another pair mating yesterday. But none of them seem interested in exploring the nests i have provided. Could it be that the cage is overcrowded (6 birds)?


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## seaofdreams (Dec 29, 2009)

It would certainly depend on the size of the cage. Do you have any photos? If not, what are the dimensions?


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## Joe_1974 (Feb 28, 2009)

Hi All - Thank you all for your replies. Sorry I took so long to get back.

It looks like my birds just like to mate. None of them till date have shown any interest in the nest boxes (not sure if it's because the 2 nest box have no bedding in them yet).

@srtiels - I don't know the background of my birds. I just bought them from a bird market in India. Its very difficult to get detailed information about the background of the birds. Here is what I know.
2 - Normal Grey cockatiels (one confirmed male; the other suspect female)
2 - Lutinos (one confirmed male with black eyes and one confirmed female with red eyes)
2 - pieds (one confirmed female; the other also suspect female) 

I doubt if any of them are related. Difficult to tell. I bought them at different times from the same bird market (with many shops).

I don't use special type of lighting. Just normal light that comes through the windows during the day and normal tube light during the evenings.

I asked about the nest beddings at the bird market and they told me its fine to use cotton or dried grass. That's what they use. I am not sure where to get pine shavings in India.

@seaofdreams - I'll revert with the cage dimensions in my next post.

Once again thank you all for your replies.

Joseph


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## srtiels (May 1, 2009)

*2 - Normal Grey cockatiels (one confirmed male; the other suspect female)*
The last pix shows the underside of an *adult* females wing will look like.

*2 - Lutinos (one confirmed male with black eyes and one confirmed female with red eyes)*

On the confirmed male, shine a light at his eyes. If the pupil is black and the iris is brown then it is a clear pied.

*2 - pieds (one confirmed female; the other also suspect female) *

If the pieds are *under 6-9 months* old, and are lightly pied birds...meaning more dark colored feathers to the wing flights and body you may be able to sex them. Look at the underside of the wing. below are some not so great pix...but what you want to look for is the lower feathers closest to the body. If they are solid color with no spots/dots then a male. If they have spots/dots then a female. This does not work when a year or more old because the hens will also molt out the spots on the lowest feathers closest to the body.

As to bedding if others use dried grass that should also be fine too.


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## Joe_1974 (Feb 28, 2009)

Thanks srtiels.

I was always confused using the spot patterns under the wings to confirm gender. For example one of my birds (she looks like 'Flame' from seaofdreams' album) is a confirmed female and she has spots under her wings that extends from the tip of her wings to her body). On the other hand, one my normal greys (suspect female but not sure) has spots only from the tip of her wings to half way. I always thought the females had spots going the full length of their wings.

The lutino (at least that's what I thought he way) has black eyes, but if i shine a light on his eyes, it appears red. On the other hand my female lutino has red eyes (visible even without a bright light).

One way I check if my lutino (with red eyes) is male or female is to check for light yellow stripes on their tails and wings (going the full length). My lutino (with black eyes) has no such yellow stripes.

Maybe you are right, my male lutino is after all a clear pied (i never really understood what a pied is - i just thought spotted cockatiels are all pieds).

Joseph


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## srtiels (May 1, 2009)

_*I always thought the females had spots going the full length of their wings.*_
_*-----------------------------*_
Nope...with normal greyfemales *only* when they are young. When they are adults females they will molt out the spots on the feathers closest to the body.

As to your lutino male that has red/wine color *only* to the pupil area and the iris.color part of the eye is dark/brown then he may be a clear cinnamon pied. When cinnamon the pupils will reflect back a wine color.

Since the female lutinos eyes are noticably pink/red their is a possiblity she may be a lutino pied. Pied will make a lutinos eyes appear to be a paler bright pink/red. And when looking at the wing flights many times they will be a solid butter yellow with no dots on the solid yellow flights.

When you see the word pied...think of yellow. Pied=yellow. So if a bird has some solid yellow to the body, wing flights, and some tail feathers it is a pied. The more pied (yellow) the heavier the pied. Heavy means LOTS of pied, and light pied means not much yellow areas.


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