Ask Lafeber

why are my cockatiel’s eggs empty

hello I’m a beginner in owning birds. now my cockatiels are less than 1 year old and the female laid 2 clutches of eggs both did not hatch maybe because they are not fertile i had 2 cockatiels a male and female but the male flew away from home and wasn’t mating with the female. and the females eggs are all empty no chicks grow in them now i don’t know what to do my questions are: 1)why are my cockatiel eggs fertile? 2)what should i do to makee my cockatiel eggs fertile

Hi,

Cockatiels should not be paired with each other until both birds are two years old or more. You hen is way too young to have laid two clutches already. They were infertile for this reason. You need to wait until she is over 2 years old, and then you can get a male that is 2 years or older and see if they will bond. I recommend that you make some changes to discourage any more egg laying until she is 2 years old. Right now she is at a high risk of dying from egg binding. It can ruin a bird as being a good breeder when you try to breed them too early. She may be capable of laying eggs right now, but she is not mature enough and a male will not be ready, either. The male flew away because he was too young and wasn’t bonded with her, and this is also why he didn’t mate with her.

Keep in mind that to lay eggs, she needs longer daylight, warmer weather, abundant food, and a quiet, private environment. The goal is to reverse these conditions.

Limit her light to 8-10 hours by covering the cage early each evening

Do not give her anything to use as a nest – no bird huts or tents, no box, bowl, etc. If she decides to sit in a food bowl, remove it and replace with smaller cups.

Do not give her anything to shred such as paper or cardboard.

Rearrange the toys in the cage frequently.

Move the cage to a different place in the room. Move the cage about once a week, or whenever she shows signs of nesting – settling on the cage floor for example. This disrupts her idea of having a stable place to lay eggs and raise chicks.

If you feed a lot of fresh foods, stop offering any for a couple of weeks, and then only offer them in small amounts about 2 or 3 times a week. You can resume normal feeding later when the birds aren’t being hormonal.

If she is let out of the cage, do not let her get in any dark cozy places and don’t give her free roam. When you let them roam around, this mimics searching for a nesting site.

When you handle her, limit any petting to only the head and neck – do not pet a bird on the body. Only a bonded mate is allowed to groom the body. We can’t be a mate, so touching the body is off limits.

If there is no metal floor grate, then do not use any bedding or paper in the cage tray – leave it bare and clean it daily.

Thank you for asking Lafeber,

Brenda