Ask Lafeber

incubating cockatiels

Hi!
I have a pair of cockatiels and the female laid eggs, for the first time, a couple of days back. I read up on how I’m supposed to care of my birds during this period, to make sure they’re safe and comfortable, and learned that the parent birds take turns sitting on the clutch, but with my birds, its only the female that’s sitting on eggs. She’s in the nest box the entire day and only comes out for a couple of seconds at a time to eat and drink before hurrying back in. I’m really worried about her because she used to be a very active and playful bird but now all she does is sit inside the box; i can’t help but wonder that this can’t possibly be good for her health. Is this normal or is there something i should be doing about it

Hi Maryam,

Breeding does take a toll on both the male and female, but of course more so for the female. This is why they only breed once a year in the wild, and in captivity, you need to remove the nest box after each clutch for 6 months, whether the eggs hatch or not. As for your pair, are both birds at least 2 years old? If the birds are too young, they can breed, but are not always ready to settle down and care for eggs. If your male is younger than two, he is probably still not mature enough to want to help. Even when both birds are old enough, they almost always mess up the first clutch. I would wait and see what happens over the next few days. The hen lays an egg every other day until she has 4-6 eggs. I’m not sure how many she has now. The male still may start taking his turn. Since the female is coming out to eat and drink, this is fine. It’s normal for her not to get exercise while nesting. She needs her energy to sit on the eggs, and if the hatch, feed the chicks. But if you find that neither bird is sitting at night, then the egg will not hatch. Let them learn – again, this is probably just going to be a practice clutch. If the eggs do not hatch, remove the nest box and rest the pair for 6 months before giving the nest box back to them.

Thank you for asking Lafeber,

Brenda