Hii
My cockatiel has laid an egg today in her nest box but she is not sitting on the egg. She enters the nestbox and comes back within 15 min and sits on the floor of the cage. I have seen her sitting silently on the floor everytime I enter the room. She has not been like this till yesterday. She used to stay inside her nest box with male.
Is it normal for a bird to sit on the floor of the cage after laying an egg?
Hi,
Is the male staying in the nest box? Usually one parent sits on the eggs during the day, and the other sits at night. If these are first time parents, they will most likely mess up. They are still learning and they need this chance to learn. First clutches almost always fail because of inexperienced parents, but you need to let them make mistakes or they will never learn and be successful parents. As for sitting on the cage floor, make sure she is OK – if she is fluffed and her tail is pumping up and down, she could be having trouble laying the next egg. Egg binding can be fatal so she would need to be taken to a vet right away. Sometimes after eggs are laid or after they hatch, one parent will keep the other parent from entering the box. In this case, you sometimes need to remove one parent from the cage during the day, and then switch them at night. So possibly the male won’t let her back in the box. Also, some do not start incubating the eggs until they have laid several. This allows the chicks to hatch about the same time, rather than each chick being 2 days younger than the one before it. Give them plenty of privacy and hopefully they will work things out. It is important that after they are done with these eggs, or if chicks hatch, after they leave the box, remove the box. Once chicks are weaned, move them to a different cage. The parents need to be rested for 6 months before letting them start another clutch.
Thank you for asking Lafeber,
Brenda
