I had an egg-bound Cockatiel and now she won’t lay on her last 3 eggs. The male has been wonderful for now but I don’t see him lasting another 7+ days alone. Not to mention feeding them. I do know how to hand feed babies but not so young. I still would like to try to see if I can do it though. I see a lot of information on feeding but not hatching.
Hi Angela,
I’m sorry about your cockatiel hen. I’m glad she has recovered, but egg binding is a sign that something is not right. Breeding birds need a nutritionally balanced diet, so if they are only eating seed, this is not adequate. If they are not on pellets, or a foraging diet like our Avi-Cakes and Nutri-Berries, then you need to change their diet before you let them breed again. In addition to their balanced daily diet, you should offer dark leafy greens, chopped veggies and fruits, cooked eggs and multi grain bread. You can add the egg shells to the eggs when you cook them for added calcium. You can also give them a cuttlebone for calcium. Egg binding can also be caused by the hen being too young or too old, or laying too many clutches in a row. After each clutch, the nest box should e removed and the parents rested for a few months. Regardless of what happens with these eggs, you need to remove the nest box after they do or don’t hatch or after the chicks are weaned. She should not be allowed to breed or lay eggs again for maybe 6 months to make sure she gets her health back.
Unfortunately there isn’t anything you can do about the eggs. You would need a special incubator and those are very expensive, with no guarantee that the eggs would hatch properly. Then you have to hand feed from day 1 and there is a high mortality rate when the parents don’t feed the chicks to get them started. If the male sticks with it, or the hen helps again and the eggs do hatch, you can try helping to feed the chicks if the parents aren’t feeding them enough. And again, once this clutch is resolved, the hen needs a good rest.
Thank you for asking Lafeber,
Brenda
