# Kiko and Mimi having their first eggs. And already a lot of problems.



## helenita (Dec 14, 2014)

Hi everyone,
I'm new here, so I'll try to elaborate our problem.
On Dec 22, my female (Mimi) cockatiel layed her first egg, then 2 days later another one, then again one. So by today she layed 4 eggs. 
The biggest problem is that yesterday Kiko broke 2 of her eggs. Initially she was not letting him to go inside the nest box, so when she was out he went in and we thought he was nesting them. After that we noticed that she did not want to go inside, when we looked in the box, the eggs were broken. I think he ate them. 
Today she layed another egg, but while she was moving around or trying to chase him, she cracked another egg. 
So I decided to remove the fresh and healthy egg from there and left only the cracked egg.
At this point I don't know what to do. I'm desperate, because we were waiting for so long time for them to have babies, and now it turns out that it might not happen.
Please advise me what to do.
Any comment or advise will help.
Thanks.


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## Haimovfids (Sep 19, 2012)

Aww. I'm sorry things aren't going so smoothly as planned. Have you seen these birds mate before? When an egg is cracked and you can see the yolk, the first thing you should do is remove them. I think the best thing you can do is to remove the male from the cage and let the hen have the eggs and let her care for them herself. A single cockatiel can raise up to 3 chicks by themselfs. It's also possible that she can give up on them later in the growth stages from stress so make sure you learn how to hand feed and start co-parenting at 2 weeks old to prevent her from giving up on them. Please keep us updated.


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## helenita (Dec 14, 2014)

Haimovfids said:


> Aww. I'm sorry things aren't going so smoothly as planned. Have you seen these birds mate before? When an egg is cracked and you can see the yolk, the first thing you should do is remove them. I think the best thing you can do is to remove the male from the cage and let the hen have the eggs and let her care for them herself. A single cockatiel can raise up to 3 chicks by themselfs. It's also possible that she can give up on them later in the growth stages from stress so make sure you learn how to hand feed and start co-parenting at 2 weeks old to prevent her from giving up on them. Please keep us updated.


Thanks for your reply. They were mating for the last 6 months, almost every day. But they never layed eggs. Only when we bought a special nest box two weeks ago, she layed eggs. 
Today I noticed that Kiko changed his behavior towards her, and she let him go inside the box a couple of times today. Maybe he starts realizing that he will become a father. She was outside for some time to eat, and he was inside the box. I've checked the eggs later and they were fine, except of the cracked one. I repaired the crack, but I don't think it is a good egg. I will keep it there for the moment, if she will lay more I'll probably remove it.
One other thing is that Kiko became very aggressive towards us. He tries to bite us every time we touch the cage or want to look inside the nest box. But I assume it is something normal while they are nesting.

I'll keep you updated on what happens next. Up untill now she wal laying one egg every 2 days. So she should have one tomorrow. I'll let you know if that will happen.


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## Haimovfids (Sep 19, 2012)

Oh wow! That's outstanding progress from your first posts. I have never heard that happening. I guess miracles do happen! Aggression is 100% normal with breeding birds. Even my tamest bird was aggressive with me. It's their natural instincts and it will go away after the breeding process. I can't even say how glad I am that they are sharing the nest box now! Even though there is a slight chance of the eggs hatching, there are stories that repaired eggs did hatch. 

Okay. So the first egg is not cracked, right? Can you candle the eggs for me? Candling eggs is when you shine a light from the side of the egg to see if the egg is fertile or not. If you have a flash light, you can take the egg to a room that's not very bright, and shine a light to the side. Can you tell me what you see? If it's fertile, you will see veins in it.


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## helenita (Dec 14, 2014)

Hello everyone.
I want to share our joy. Today Kiko and Mimi's egg hatched. It's a nice chick. 
I had a quick look at it, because did not want to disturb them too much.

Now, lets hope that they will take good care of him.

Just a quick review. they had in total 4 eggs. As I was mentioning in my previous posts Kiko broke the first 2 eggs, and the third one was cracked. So they had only one healthy egg. I repaired the cracked egg, but 2 day go they had thrown that egg out of the nest box. I assume they knew it was bad. So today I've heard a noise, and when I looked inside, SURPRISE. A little baby.


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## Chipper&Trillie (Sep 1, 2013)

congratulations! lets hope they will be good parents to the little one.


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## helenita (Dec 14, 2014)

Chipper&Trillie said:


> congratulations! lets hope they will be good parents to the little one.


Thanks. In the next few days I will not touch the nest. But in a week or so, I'll try to take a picture and share it with you.


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## Haimovfids (Sep 19, 2012)

Do you know what color the babies feather is? Why don't you want to touch the nest box? You need to check daily for problems like chick dehydration or if the parents are feeding the baby enough. Also check if the poops look like they're normal or have indigested seeds.


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## helenita (Dec 14, 2014)

Haimovfids said:


> Do you know what color the babies feather is? Why don't you want to touch the nest box? You need to check daily for problems like chick dehydration or if the parents are feeding the baby enough. Also check if the poops look like they're normal or have indigested seeds.


Hi, I've looked today at the baby and the skin color is pink with yellow feather. He looks so funny, like a tiny dinosaur. The baby looks bigger comparing to yesterday. Yesterday he was laying, today I noticed that he can keep his head up and he looks as if he is sitting. The reason why I don't want to touch the nest box is that parents get really nervous and aggressive. So I'm afraid that they can harm the baby. I did not pay attention to the poops, bu next time I'll look at that also.

Thanks for your reply, and I'll follow up with new updates.


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## Haimovfids (Sep 19, 2012)

Everything you mentioned so far sounds like he is very healthy. Good job!


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## helenita (Dec 14, 2014)

Hi everyone,
As I promised in my previous post I took a picture of the baby. He looks way more bigger that on first day, and I noticed that he started making some steps. So, he's trying to walk.
So, please have a look at the baby and let me know if you have any concerns, or maybe you notice things that I missed.










http://talkcockatiels.com/photoplog/index.php?n=5329


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## Haimovfids (Sep 19, 2012)

So far he's looking really good! Pink skin, good crop, standing on both feet...all normal :thumbu:


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