Hi, I was given today a pair of cockatiels with cage, nesting box and their eight eggs as their prior owner was not able to care for them anymore, but i noticed they have not gone into their nesting box at all since being transferred from one home to mines. Is this normal will they eventually go back to their nest or should I incubate the eggs within the next 24hrs?
Hi,
Breeding birds will almost always abandon their eggs or even their chicks if they are moved – even if moved within the same room. But in a new home, it is unlikely they will resume incubating the eggs. The eggs would cool very quickly and within hours they would no longer be viable. I do not recommend incubating cockatiel eggs as they are not a rare species by any means, and the chicks are almost impossible to keep alive when hand feeding from day 1. You would be setting yourself up for heartache. And if you do not already own an incubator, it would be a wasted expense. The best thing to do is remove the nest box and discard the eggs. If you still want to breed the birds, you can return the nest box in 6 months. The nest box should be removed after every clutch and the parents rested for 6 months, even if the eggs do not hatch. Forming and laying eggs take a toll on the hen’s body, and she needs time to recover each time. In the wild, they only nest once a year. But lacking natural signals that end breeding season, in captivity you have to control how often they breed or risk losing your hen. Some males will die from exhaustion when allowed to breed and nest too often. It’s also very important that the parents are being fed a nutritionally balanced diet like pellets, and not a seed diet. They also need dark leafy green, chopped veggies and an egg food. The egg food can be a commercial dry egg food or you can cook an egg with the shell washed, crushed and cooked with the egg. This should be offered daily from the time you return the nestbox until chicks are weaned.
Thank you for asking Lafeber,
Brenda
