Ask Lafeber

Cockatiels, breeding

Hi I have a pair that just paired up, the female is over 2 years old and the male is much older, they have been in and out the nest, the male is a lutino, and I he is a male as he does male behaviors, they laid eggs but they weren’t fertile, so I replaced them with fertile eggs from another pair, they both sit on the eggs at night but during the day they abandoned them, the male use to be a pet and seems to be more attracted to budgies and ppl but, he does like this female, sits with her, and preens, they both go in the box, it just seems like he don’t know how to bird, the female had babies before in her previous home, so she is experienced with this, the male has not been paired up but has being trying in his old aviary home, but non of the females wanted him, what could be the issue?

Hi,

The eggs these birds are sitting on are not going to develop because the parents have to sit on them around the clock. There is no way to tell if eggs are fertile until they have been incubated around the clock for about a week, and then if you know how to candle them, you might see some veins. I’m not sure how you determined their eggs weren’t fertile or that the eggs they are sitting on are fertile, since the eggs haven’t been properly incubated, and thus would not have developed any growth. An egg does not even start to develop until at least 48 hours of around the clock incubation. Mating does not guarantee fertile eggs. Cockatiels need to be at least 2 years old before being allowed to breed, so if this female already had chicks, she was too young. And what happened to her mate? Cockatiels mate for life, so unless her mate died, she shouldn’t have been taken away from it. She may never bond with this older male, and he may simply be too old to breed or he could even be infertile. I would recommend that you do more research on breeding cockatiels, because you can’t just switch mates and eggs around, or let birds breed too often. All pairs should be rested for 6 months between every clutch, whether the eggs hatch or not.

Thank you for asking Lafeber,

Brenda