My cockatiel lays4 or 5 eggs every few months and they never hatch. I have a Male cockatiel with her and thought ive noticed them mating but when I candle the eggs I see no signs of baby chicks even after 4 weeks of them sitting on them.
How do I soo mt female from laying sho many eggs.
She is 3 yrs and he is 5 yrs old.
Hi Vicki,
The first thing to do is remove the nest box or whatever they are using as a nest. If they do not have a cockatiel nest box, that may be part of the problem. I’m not sure how long this has been going on, but a female cockatiel should not be set up for breeding until she is at least 2 years old. If she started breeding when she was younger, this can also be part of the problem. Captive raised birds mature at a much younger age than in the wild. But even though they may be able to breed, they are not mentally mature enough, and their bodies truly are not ready. In the wild, they breed when the days are longer, food is abundant, and they have a safe place to nest. We provide this perfect environment all year, so birds will over breed in captivity unless we make changes to stop them. The nest box should always be removed after a clutch of eggs, whether they hatch or not, and the parents rested for several months. At most, the pair should only be allowed to have two clutches per year – which is one more than they would have in the wild. So whether or not you want these birds to breed again in the future, go ahead and take the nest away and rest them for at least 6 months. You should limit their daylight hours to 8-10 by covering the cage early each evening. Rearrange the toys and perches in the cage, or if they don’t have toys, get them some. Don’t feed any fresh foods right now. Move the cage to another place in the room at least every other week, and make sure it is in a busy area of the house. These things can help disrupt the pair enough for them to stop breeding because their environment is no longer ideal for breeding. If the female doesn’t stop laying eggs after these changes, you may need to take her to an avian vet for a hormone shot or implant. You can separate the pair, but a female cockatiel’s hormones can be triggered just by hearing her mate.
Next spring, if you want to try to breed them again, then reverse everything above. Make sure they are on a nutritionally balanced diet like pellets or our Nutri-Berries, Avi-Cakes or Pellet-Berries. A seed mix does not provide the nutrition they need. If they are on a seed mix now, this can be another reason the eggs are not fertile. In addition, offer them dark leafy greens, chopped veggies, multi grain bread and cooked eggs with the shell washed, crushed and cooked with them. These foods along with a quiet, private place for the cage, and longer days will encourage them to breed. If they try again and the eggs are still not fertile, then I would not breed this pair again and assume that one of the parents is not fertile.
Thank you for asking Lafeber,
Brenda
