Hi Elvina,
You definitely have an unusual situation – what we call the exception to the rules. LOL Please don’t take this as me judging you, but I do need to point out that there couldn’t be more wrong with this scenario. I say this because many owners set everything up the recommended way for breeding, and still do not get any results. That is of course the way things should be done, but sometimes you get unexpected eggs and don’t know what to do, which is what you are dealing with. I know you didn’t want to move them once she laid eggs, but for the benefit of others, if a hen lays eggs anywhere but in her cage, the eggs need to be moved to the cage or a nest box for their safety. This could mean the parents will abandon those eggs, but then you can set things up the right way and give the pair a better chance of success with the next clutch.
If I understand correctly, this pair is on the floor of your home, and not in a cage? It is amazing that they incubated the eggs much less hatched chicks and are feeding them. Is this the first time they have laid eggs? Ten years old is really a bit old to be starting to breed – this is more the age where you would start to think about retiring them from breeding. This pair is certainly determined! I would not change anything at this point, with chicks already hatched. Cockatiels usually do not use nesting material. As for diet, you can add food, but do not stop offering the seeds, or they could end up not eating enough and not feeding the chicks. All you can do is hope the chicks can survive on what the pair is feeding them. You can offer some cooked egg, with the shell washed, crushed and cooked with the eggs. Hopefully the hen will feed some of this to the chicks. It also helps to replace the protein and calcium she lost when forming eggs. The problem with them not being in a cage or nest box is there is no way to contain the chicks once they get old enough to move around on their own. You need to keep an eye on them, and hope all goes well. I’m not even sure what to suggest once they are ready to start weaning and flying. I’m afraid it will be a disaster for them to be free in the home. I think at some point, you may need to move the family to the cage. And once the chicks are weaned, you can’t leave them with the parents and you can’t keep opposite sex chicks together once they are 8-12 months old. The parents will try to breed with them, or the chicks will try to breed with each other, and you should never allow related birds to breed.
While things are going well so far, and hopefully the chicks survive, you need to prevent this type thing from happening again. For one thing, the pair should be rested for six months before you let them breed again. Normally you would do this by removing the nest box and making some changes with the cage and the location of the cage. I’m not sure of your situation or how they nested where they did. But it’s really not good to let birds have free roam of the home – and this is one reason. J They can also get into things or get injured. Birds should always be supervised when out of the cage. I would not recommend breeding the pair again at all. These days, the average age of cockatiels is 8-12 years, due to inbreeding, weak genetics, or poor nutrition. You’re hen is a bit old to be breeding, because laying eggs and caring for chicks takes a toll on a hen’s health. Younger birds recover within a few months, but older hens have a harder time getting back to good health. If you see the pair trying to nest again, put things where they are trying to nest to stop them. I would still recommend confining them to a cage when you are not supervising them. I’ll go ahead and give you information based on the average situation, and you can decide what is best for your birds. I do hope all goes well with the little family.
It’s important to have everything they need and the right environment for breeding birds. The parents should be eating a nutritionally balanced diet such as pellets or our foraging diets – a loose seed mix will not provide the nutrition they need. You should also offer dark leafy greens, chopped veggies and a small amount of fruit. When they are set up with the nest box for breeding, you should start offering an egg food daily. There are commercial egg foods made with dried eggs, or you can cook an egg with the shell washed, crushed and cooked with the egg. You will give them egg food before egg laying and until all chicks are weaned. The nest box should be attached to the outside of the cage as high as possible. The cage should be in a quiet, private area where there are no people around them other than to feed them. It is very important not to over breed your birds. They need to be rested after each clutch whether they hatch chicks or not. You need to remove the nest box as soon as the eggs are past due, or after the chicks have left the box. Otherwise the parents will try to breed again right away. If they are still weaning chicks, they may stop feeding the chicks to start a new clutch, and let the chicks die. They should be rested for 6 months, and only be allowed to have two clutches per year, which is one more than they have in the wild. In the wild, breeding season is once a year, and then the season changes signaling the pair to stop nesting. In captivity, we provide the perfect breeding conditions year round, so it is the owner’s responsibility to limit how often a pair breeds.
In order to discourage breeding, you can start by limiting their light to 8-10 hours by covering their cage early each evening. Do not give them anything they can use as a nest – no box, bird tents or huts, large food bowls, etc. If they sit in a dish, take it away and give them smaller food cups. If they choose a corner of the cage as a nest, hang some toys there to bock the area. When they are out of the cage, don’t let them get in dark, cozy places. Don’t let them roam free and explore when they are out – they need to be with you, on their cage or on a play stand. Limit their fresh foods – you can offer them in small amounts, about 3 times a week. Rearrange the toys in their cage, and move their cage to another place in the room if they show signs of nesting or laying eggs. Move their cage about once a week.
Thank you for asking Lafeber,
Brenda
