Ask Lafeber

Male Cockatiel laying eggs

My male cockatiel was sitting on the eggs and then as soon as he left the eggs 3 more eggs appeared and he seemed to be pushing away the female cockatiel’s eggs away. Why is this?

Hi,

You clearly have two females if both birds have laid eggs. It is impossible for a male cockatiel to lay eggs. The best thing to do is remove the nest box and discourage the birds from laying more eggs. They will literally lay eggs until it kills them. If you decide to get males for these females, you need males that are old enough – at least two years old – and I suggest DNA tests to confirm their gender so that you don’t end up with even more females. And you can only have one pair of birds per cage for breeding. Basically this female stole the nest from the other and wants to get rid of the eggs to make room for her eggs. If you do not take the box away, she may break of eat the eggs, and this is a bad habit that can transfer to her own eggs. Once a hen develops this habit, it usually ruins her for ever being a good breeder. Until you get males and separate the pairs, I suggest making the changes below to stop the egg laying.

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