Hi,
You need to keep these birds far apart – in different rooms would be best. She is far too young to lay eggs – she should be at least 2 years old. If her hormones are triggered and she tries to lay eggs, she is at a high risk of becoming egg bound and dying. A female cockatiel should never be around an older male until she is 2 years old or older. Many serious cockatiel breeders who breed show birds, do not start their birds breeding until they are closer to 3 years old. While she may look full grown, she will continue to develop physically and mentally for a couple more years. I’ll give you some changes to make to discourage egg laying. Please make all of these changes, and keep them apart – a female cockatiel’s hormones can be triggered just by the call of a male.
You have made the very common mistake of thinking a bird needs a friend. These are a wild species, regardless of being captive bred, so they are driven by instinct. In the wild, when they are young, they interact with other young flock members. Once they have reached maturity at around 3, they will choose a mate. From that point, other flock members are rivals. The mature birds will only have physical contact with their mate. Once they have a nesting territory during breeding season, rival birds that get to close will be chased away, or killed if they do not leave.
With a pet cockatiel, you are the bird’s companion, but ideally not viewed as a mate. You can try to avoid a mate type bond by never petting the bird below the head & neck – the body is a place that only a mate would groom. No snuggling or cuddling with it. Even without a mate bond, it’s natural for a pet bird to only like one person. This is not a domestic animal – they are not wired to please humans, but they will accept a human as a companion if they do not have a bird to bond with. Right now, the male views the female as a nuisance, and does not want her to compete for your attention. While he may show some interest in her in your absence, you do not want this – not only because of her age, but because if he forms a bond with her, you will find that you are the one he starts to attack. Birds do not have friends, period. Once they bond with another bird – and they will almost always eventually choose another bird over a person – they will lose interest in being a pet, even if the bond with the other bird isn’t a true mate bond. If you want your male to remain tame to you, you need to keep the birds apart. The male may also be a danger to the young female right now. Not only because he might trigger her to lay eggs, but if she rejects his advances, he may kill her, or he may kill her to keep her away from you. Just let him be a pet, and a one person bird – this is entirely natural and more common than a bird that lets multiple people handle it. And keep that young female away from him for her protection.
To try to keep the young female from laying eggs:
Keep in mind that to lay eggs, she needs longer daylight, warmer weather, abundant food, and a quiet, private environment. The goal is to reverse these conditions.
She doesn’t need a male present to lay eggs, but she is less likely if you keep him away from her and ideally do not have her where she can hear his call.
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.
If 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 let them roam around, this mimics searching for a nesting site.
When you handle her, limit any petting to only the head and neck – do not pet a bird 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.
When she is out, if she presents herself for mating, distract her with toys or food to get her mind off of mating.
Thank you for asking Lafeber,
Brenda
