Ask Lafeber

Question about my cockatiel making strange noise.

Hi,this is Tom from India..I have a pair of lutino cockatiels for about a year and a half now.The hen had started laying eggs about a month ago and she had layed 11 eggs now,and seriously I didn’t know when they actually bred. Several months ago before egg laying the male one suddenly started to make a screech kinda noise often by raising his tail and lowering his head almost daily.And now since few days, the hen doesn’t incubate the eggs rather the male is incubating the eggs mostly and the hen has also started to make strange repeated screechy sounds by curling her body and hiding her face inside her wings on either side and also screeches by raising her tail and lowering her head.
Please do guide me..what behavioral traits are they showing…?

Hi Tom,

Are you sure you have a male & female? When you say she laid 11 eggs, she either laid two clutches back to back or both birds are laying eggs. The behavior sounds like courting type behavior, but it also sounds more like what female cockatiels do. If these eggs are not fertile, I would remove the nest box and make them rest for a while. If it is just one female laying eggs, then she had laid too many eggs and needs to rest before her health is compromised If you know an expert or a local cockatiel breeder, I would ask them for some help and see if they can confirm that you do have one male. If you do, then you can give them the nest box back after a few months. If you end up having two hens, they should not be given any type of nest or box.

Thank you for asking Lafeber,

Brenda