Ask Lafeber

Regurgitated Food All Over Nest

Our cockatiels just laid and hatched 4 eggs. It was not planned….too young. 12 month male, 17 month female. We had to build the box when the female tried to nest in our cuboard. Egg was laid the next day. One week from the first chick hatching and I looked in the nest (shredded paper). There was regurgitated food everywhere! I mean tons, meshed with paper and feathers. They are eating eggs mixed greens and seed with some pellets. Good diet, but are they overfeeding the chicks? I switched out the nest material with clean paper, but am worried about all the spoiled food laying around. Is this because they are too young and overdoing the feeds?

Hi,

It’s hard to say what is going on, but if you try to clean it, they are likely to abandon the chicks. Most first clutches fail, even at this stage. So it’s best to leave them alone and hope they figure it out. As for nesting too soon, you can’t allow a pair to nest every time they want to, or they will keep it up until it kills them. In captivity they don’t get the signals that breeding season is over. You have to remove the nest box after each clutch and rest the pair for months. This also means you can’t let them roam the house, looking for nesting sites.

You need to do all of these things to discourage egg laying. Keep in mind that to lay eggs, she needs longer daylight, warmer weather, abundant food, and a quiet, private environment. Your goal is to reverse these conditions.

Limit her light to 8-10 hours by covering the cage early each evening

Do not give her anything to use as a nest – no bird huts or tents, no box, bowl, etc. If she decides to sit in a food bowl, remove it and replace with smaller cups.

Do not give her anything to shred such as paper or cardboard.

Rearrange the toys in the cage frequently.

Move the cage to a different place in the room. Move the cage about once a week, or whenever she shows signs of nesting – settling on the cage floor for example. This disrupts her idea of having a stable place to lay eggs and raise chicks.

If you feed a lot of fresh foods, stop offering any for a couple of weeks, and then only offer them in small amounts about 2 or 3 times a week. You can resume normal feeding later when the birds aren’t being hormonal.

When she is let out of the cage, do not let her get in any dark cozy places and don’t give her free roam.

When you handle her, limit any petting to only her head and neck – do not pet her on the body. Only a bonded mate is allowed to groom the body. We can’t be a mate, so touching the body is off limits.

If there is no metal floor grate, then do not use any bedding or paper in the cage tray – leave it bare and clean it daily.

Thank you for asking Lafeber,

Brenda