Hello and Happy New Year to everyone!

Buzby

Registered
We have had cockatiels for well over 40 years now, we had one live to 25 and another to 15 years - they have all been wonderful companions and friends. However, the bird we have now is 14 months old and we purchased him from a breeder and believed he was a male. Although yesterday he laid an egg and therefore he is now a she!
We are worried because many years ago we did have a female tiel who became egg bound and the vet who was trying to remove the egg broke it and we sadly lost her and this has been our reason since then in wanting only male cockatiels - although we know female birds can be just as wonderful. We have read lots on the net and some information seems to be conflicting - can anyone who has experienced similar advise how we can limit the egg laying? Our tiel Bilbo is now Bilbi! Any advice would be much appreciated.
 
Hi and welcome to the forum :)
I keep tiels and have owned the species for errr hmmm over 30 years now. Although I keep greys and amazons I have always had a soft spot for tiels and budgies and have therefore always had a "little dude" flock. Mine are aviary birds some were household pets peope wanted rid of and they have been integrated into the aviary gang.
I only let mine breed every few years these days and stop them breeding the rest of the time.
Just make sure your bird always gets a wide varied diet not just seed but also gets to have other stuff like dandelions (only spring/summer and autumn as after first frost they taste rank!) they also like things like chickweed, shepherds purse, mine are partial to florrets baby leaf salad and go batty for blueberries, apples, pomegranate and some of the other usual stuff like grapes etc.
Egg wise over the years I have had two birds that became egg bound one had the egg successfully removed recovered and the other unfortunately prolapsed and I had her PTS. Thing is this can happen even in wild birds not just pet birds.
If she's laying eggs then leave them you don't have a cock bird with her so leave the eggs with her and she will eventually decide her clutch number (some like a couple some like a whole football team!) then she will go broody and sit them when she has the right number. After a few weeks of trying to hatch them she will decide that they are not viable and leave them and then you can take them away. Don't be tempted to keep taking them away as she will keep laying and deplete her calcium levels. She needs to get through the egg laying season naturally ie lay brood have nothing hatch and she will come out of the cycle and wait till next breeding time if you keep taking the eggs she will just keep trying which isn't healthy.
Egg laying is natural its a sign of a good healthy balanced tiel who is happy and feels safe and secure.
If you keep her indoor then there are a few things you can do to ensure she's always doing well remove any dowel perches and replace with natural branches like apple or willow branches to promote healthy feet that will always remain without arthritis. Make sure she has access to cuttlebone and an iodine block (both inexpensive) Mine also get access to EMP egg biscuit specially formulated for birds you can buy them as little biscuit shapes (abut 30p each) or buy a bag of emp crumbles which is more expensive and harder to come by in small amounts (like anything it does go off.
Other than that .... let her get on with it :)
 
Thank you very much for you reply. Could I ask you for advice regarding the egg she laid whilst sitting on a food dish it dropped on the grill at the bottom and was broken, we removed the egg. The cage has a grill at the bottom and if we line it with paper she does tend to start nibbling her poo and ripping the paper. Have you any suggestions - we did wonder about the artificial eggs and have read that you should replace any eggs laid that are damaged with one of these to stop over production of the eggs. It is also suggested that you put a small lined box or basket in the bottom of the cage for the eggs but will this over encourage the bird? I am just concerned at the moment and want to be sure we do the right thing. I cant find a link via Google to the biscuits. Again many thanks for your support,
 
Put newspaper on the grill and stick a nesting area on there for her.
Its easier to clean a cage daily by just slipping out the sheet that is laid on to of the grill rather than under it. Poop will stick to grill bars as will bits of "wet" food out with the news paper its gone in one fell swoop. Giving her somewhere with a solid base to nest on which is why she decided to lay in the bowl will stop her laying in the bowl and them dropping out and breaking then if she lays on the paper she can just get on with the nest building thing and get it out of her system you would stick a shallow container or a little box in a corner for her to nest in if she wants to to make things easier for you but to be honest its all up to her :)
Name wise .... I wouldn't have bothered changing it by the way ... she knows what she is (as do you now lol) and if she responded to the old name who cares if it had a male sounding tilt to it :besos: lots of people have males named as females and visa versa in the birdie world as very few species can be identified as one or the other :)
 
Thank you again. We have put paper in the bottom of cage and have put a cardboard box lined with tissue in. Bilbo laid another egg during the night and when we checked this morning sadly was broken it seems she may be laying whilst sitting on the perch. We have managed to order some of the dummy eggs which could help as it is suggested you replace any broken eggs with them? She is eating well and seems quite happy as you say we will leave her to it for now. Appreciate your replies.
 
Tissue paper out only use it for yourself just give some newspaper torn into strips. Reason is a lot of tissue paper is bleach treated to make it white and some has additives to make it softer ,

Dummy eggs stick one in a corner some can be persuaded it's theirs and they are real but it should in theory tell her at least where to lay an egg. Dummy eggs are usually used by waiting for an egg to be laid and then swapping it for a dummy when the bird is sitting rather than giving them a nest of eggs to sit that she hasn't laid she's more likely to think someone else is nesting there. Probably because she's young she's laying while standing as you say but in theory she should have attempted to lay in her seed bowl ...... But we are talking tiels here ..... little mischief makers!
Remember no touching her back of stroking down her body as that can encourage breeding behaviour stick to head tickles.
Tiels lay eggs every other day so you shouldn't get another till perhaps Tuesday
 
Thank you. I put in paper tissues are they also bleached? if yes I won’t use them again at all around her, she does like to play with a paper tissue when she is out of her cage.
 
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