Worried
My male and female pair of cockatiel birds has recently started going into the mating box. They spent some days throwing the strips of newspaper out the box. To the point that there was hardly any left in the box when we checked.
We bought the pair in December and started placing a sheet at night as recommended by some online journals. The birds in January mating as much as four times daily for about two to three weeks. The female bird laid no eggs. We then stopped putting the sheet at night for about two weeks and they suddenly stopped mating. At about mid March the birds started entering the box and still did not mate. We started covering the cage with the sheet two weeks ago and they immediately started mating again about three times a day. During this time we fed them soft foods on two days per week.
Now they are frequenting the mating box, our cockatiels are not spending much time in the cage. Just to eat and drink water which is visible less as there is less droppings of poop in the cage to clean. I noticed the female bird who is more friendly of the two, is not interacting much as she would eat from us and now she is not as friendly. She is puffing up very quickly and now rocking from side to side and retreating in a corner of the cage when we offer bread or even seeds through the cage. I also noticed that the birds take time in and out of the cage. They both spend time together in the cage at the same time but for the past two days has been taking turns. We are unsure of if there may or may not be eggs. The pair are approximately two years old and have mated and laid eggs previously with their previous owner. Can you help us to understand what may be happening?