# strange behavior



## fillo89 (Jul 6, 2012)

Hi 
one of my couples have a strange behaviour...
they has got 2 yo, complete foods, a big quiet cage and a proper nest box...
they start mating and now i've got 4 eggs...
during the day they stay in the nestbox together but when night comes they get out!
what should i do? is possible to force the female to stay into the nest during the night? i have to put a little light near the cage?? (wich is outside and when night comes it's very dark)

one month ago they have 3 eggs but after 20 days one was infertile and two dead in shell...


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## tielfan (Aug 31, 2008)

It isn't possible to force the female to stay in the nest at night. If she gets frightened during the night she will thrash around and possibly hurt herself and break the eggs. You might want to check the eggs to see if they're viable; it's likely that they didn't survive because they cooled down too much at night.

In any case, leave the eggs in there for now and see if the parents will learn to stay in the nest at night, so the next clutch might be more successful. Put a small light near the cage and see if that makes a difference. Also try to prevent any disturbances during the night that might frighten the parents and make them leave the nest.


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## fillo89 (Jul 6, 2012)

tielfan said:


> It isn't possible to force the female to stay in the nest at night. If she gets frightened during the night she will thrash around and possibly hurt herself and break the eggs. You might want to check the eggs to see if they're viable; it's likely that they didn't survive because they cooled down too much at night.
> 
> In any case, leave the eggs in there for now and see if the parents will learn to stay in the nest at night, so the next clutch might be more successful. Put a small light near the cage and see if that makes a difference. Also try to prevent any disturbances during the night that might frighten the parents and make them leave the nest.


thank you tielfan 
the cage is outside, maybe an animal or some night sounds might frighten the couple... but it's a very quiet zone... if there is a little light are they able to sleep during the night? or the dark it's better?


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## tielfan (Aug 31, 2008)

They can sleep with a little bit of light - wild birds have to sleep when the moon is full after all. So as long as your light isn't any brighter than the full moon, the conditions will still seem fairly natural.


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## fillo89 (Jul 6, 2012)

tielfan said:


> They can sleep with a little bit of light - wild birds have to sleep when the moon is full after all. So as long as your light isn't any brighter than the full moon, the conditions will still seem fairly natural.


I've put the light but during night they are outside...and during the day they are both inside...what should i do?


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## fillo89 (Jul 6, 2012)

They stay together inside from 7am to 9 pm the female get out only for an hour at 6pm


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## roxy culver (May 27, 2010)

How warm is it right now? And have you candled the eggs?


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## fillo89 (Jul 6, 2012)

roxy culver said:


> How warm is it right now? And have you candled the eggs?




Tomorrow i'll candle them  should i leave a light during all the night? When dark comes they get out from the nestbox until the sun is rising...


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## fillo89 (Jul 6, 2012)

During night there are 18-20 degrees (C)


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## tielfan (Aug 31, 2008)

That's a temperature of about 65 F. Much too cold for the eggs to survive.

Probably the best thing to do is to leave the nest up until they lose interest in this clutch. Keep a light on all night and hope that one of them figures out that they need to sit on the eggs at night. It's probably too late to save this clutch, but if they learn that they need to stay in the box at night you might have better luck with the next clutch.


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## fillo89 (Jul 6, 2012)

tielfan said:


> That's a temperature of about 65 F. Much too cold for the eggs to survive.
> 
> Probably the best thing to do is to leave the nest up until they lose interest in this clutch. Keep a light on all night and hope that one of them figures out that they need to sit on the eggs at night. It's probably too late to save this clutch, but if they learn that they need to stay in the box at night you might have better luck with the next clutch.



Thank you tielfan  is possible to make the hen learn to stay inside the nestbox during night?


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## tielfan (Aug 31, 2008)

If the birds are tame, you could put her or the male or both in the nestbox when you see them out of it at night. They might come right back out again, but they might eventually decide to stay in there.

It's more difficult if they aren't tame. We don't normally put food in a nestbox of course, but if you see them out of the nest around sundown you could show them a treat that they like (such as millet spray) then put it inside the nestbox and make sure they see you do it. If they decide to go in to get the treat they might decide to stay in there. Take any leftover food out in the morning, there's no need for them to be eating in there in the daytime.


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## fillo89 (Jul 6, 2012)

Very useful advices!  This forum helps me a lot


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## fillo89 (Jul 6, 2012)

i'm here again... after 15days my couple is loosing interest in the eggs...
1 is infertile and 3 dead in shell...
i removed the eggs today but yesterday they started matings...
what should i do to save eggs and make them hatch?

thank you


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## tielfan (Aug 31, 2008)

Has either of the parent birds learned to sit in the nest at night? If they haven't, it would be best to discourage them from breeding (take the nestbox down for starters) and try again next year. Maybe by that time their breeding instincts will be better developed and they'll incubate the eggs properly.


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## fillo89 (Jul 6, 2012)

unfortunately they haven't learned sit in the nestbox during the night...
the male sit on during the day and the female stay in the nestbox with him... but when night comes they get out...
if i put a little light the male get in and re-start to sit... but the female doesn't sit in anyway...

they mate yesterday so if i remove the nest she will lay eggs on the bottom of the cage?


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## tielfan (Aug 31, 2008)

It's possible that she might lay eggs in the bottom of the cage. But it's also possible that if you remove the nestbox and rearrange everything else in the cage, that will be enough disruption to make them lose interest in breeding. There's more information on hormone control at http://talkcockatiels.com/showthread.php?t=32330


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## fillo89 (Jul 6, 2012)

tielfan said:


> It's possible that she might lay eggs in the bottom of the cage. But it's also possible that if you remove the nestbox and rearrange everything else in the cage, that will be enough disruption to make them lose interest in breeding. There's more information on hormone control at http://talkcockatiels.com/showthread.php?t=32330


thank you


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