Ask Lafeber

Cockatiels sits inside the breeding box but no eggs.

A pair of Cockatiel always sits inside the breeding box but never layed an egg. What could be the reason? And what needs to be done?

Hi Naveen,

It takes a lot of patience to breed birds. They do things on their own time frame. All you can do is provide the food and environment they need, and hope they breed. To begin with, both birds should be at least 2 years old. If they are younger, they should not have a nest box until they are 2 years old. They should be eating a nutritionally balanced diet like pellets – a seed diet will not provide the nutrition they need. You should also offer dark, leafy greens, chopped veggies and some fruit. To encourage breeding and to help get them in breeding condition, you should also be feeding them a daily egg food. This can be a commercial dry egg food, or you can cook an egg with the shell washed, crushed and cooked with the egg. You feed this to them daily to get them ready to breed, and continue feeding it until chicks have been weaned. They should also have a cuttle bone in the cage.

As for environment, they need a lot of privacy. The nest box should be attached to the outside of the cage as high as possible. You should only go near the cage to feed them and check on them occasionally. They should not be where they see people all the time.

Thank you for asking Lafeber,

Brenda