My cockatiels aren't laying eggs, Why??

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Mike

 

There are now 8 eggs, 5 with yellow, 3 with grey.

When do they finish laying? Will they all hatch?

Do I need a pentorch to do the candling method? I don't have one so can I just use a normal torch?

PITA aren't I

Thanks again

 

I know this is a bit different but I hand raise my baby cockatiels but only remove them from the nest at 3 weeks on the age of the youngest. As at this time of the year (in Australia) its pretty warm I have had a friend make me a wodden holding box with air holes in 2 sides and a mesh front that folds upwards for axcess. I agree that handraising is hard work and you have to be pretty regular with the feeding times and amounts as I have had babies that insist that they are not full when it is very obvious that they have. Be aware that they will take a while to eat from you as the food tastes different and if you watch the parents feed they actually grab the cicks beak and jerk their head around while feeding, which you will not be able to do. I currently have eggs in the nest and the first one hatched today so we can compare.

Mel.

 

Oh wow, how long did you have eggs before the first one hatched? I thought they hatched at the same time. I guess I don't know much about baby birds.

I have been told by a couple of breeders who handraise baby Cockatiels to get two plastic tubs, the same size, put one inside the other and buy a 50watt aqarium heater, stick it on the bottom/side of the first tub, put water in so the heater is submerged, set temp at 26 degrees celscius then put the second tub inside the first, lay the bottom with wood shavings and papertowel on top to absorb the droppings.

This is supposed to be a cheaper alternative to a heating pad and a fish tank that I was originally going to use. It apparently needs a regulator as well as the pad which is $85.00 by itself. The two tubs apparently work quite well, they tell me. Of course I will still need a thermometer to test the temp and make sure that it is right, a couple of degrees either way if it is too hot or too cold to heat the bottom of the second tub but the thermometer should always read 26 degrees where the chicks will be staying.

I hope all that made sense, I know it will be a huge responsibility but i reckon I'm up for it, in fact I can't wait. I was told two weeks was fine to take them from the nest, but I might leave them for longer.

Do you live in Australia too? Let me know if all your eggs hatch.

Thanks.

 

Hi its 19-21days from 3rd egg laid when they should start hatching, Usually 2 will hatch on the same day usually a couple of hours apart the rest will hatch on different days.

The female usually lays 4-6 eggs but 8 or more is not unusual.

Yes you can use the 2 tub and aqarium heater but this method i would not use as they have nowhere to move to if they get to warm.

I would use the tank and heat pad since the pad only goes under part of the tank the chicks can then move to the other side if they get too warm.

When i hand raised mine all i used was a box with a lid i put holes in it and placed a hotwater bottle covered in an old small towel on the bottom but only at one side, I placed plain woodshavings at the side without the heat source thi way it would still warm but would be cooler than the side with the water bottle and all i did was rewarmed the hotwater bottle each time i fed the baby. The towel could be thrown in the washing machine.
I would allow the box to warm up and i checked the towel to make sure it was not too warm before i placed the bird in. She is now 3years old with no problems and is the sweetest most loving bird you would wish for.

I would not recommend this method for more than 2 chicks
If you wait till 3weeks then the temp does not need to be to high and the above method is fine as the more chicks the easier it is for them to stay warm as they use each others body heat.

Mike

 

Well now there is nine eggs but the parents of the bigger clutch have stopped incubating them. I am really upset as I don't know why. I haven't touched the eggs or anything because I knew they were sitting on them. Anyway this is the second day they are out of the box. Does this mean the eggs won't hatch?

Can I incubate them myself if they don't.?

The grey bird is still on her eggs.

 

I would check the grey females eggs if they are not fertile swap them with the eggs of the pair and see if they hatch.

Incubating the eggs yourself is not easy as you need an incubator and the eggs need to be turned every hour.

Sometimes they will abandon the nest if the they know the eggs are not going to hatch.

Mike

 

Hi Mike/Charm,

The male is back on the eggs as of yesterday arvo, I should of mentioned that after laying the eggs, the yellow hen has not sat on them since!!

The male has been the sole incubator since she stopped laying about 4 days ago, the female has no interest whatsoever, is that normal??

Then the male stopped going in there for about two days, so I thought that because the hen had no interest, the male couldn't do it by himself but now he is back on them but won't it be too late?

I did touch them yesterday and the eggs were really cold, I'm not sure they will hatch.

I don't want to swap eggs in case the grey hen rejects them.

Thanks for your help

 

Hi do you know if both birds go in the nest on a night or doe sthe female just sit on her perch?

There is still a chance they will hatch and the male will still look after them evenif the female will not, If he rejects the chicks then you will have to take over on handfeeding here is a link on how to do it correctly its has pictures aswell.

http://www.wingedwisdom.com/ww63e.htm

Mike

 

Hi, Mike, thanks for the info.

I just did the candling method, I took one egg from each nest and put both under a flouroscent light, the egg from the yellow clutch showed a red veiny-like shadowy thing up one end of the egg and the grey bird's egg showed nothing at all, I suppose that means it's not fertilised.

I have never checked whether they both go in the nest, I will tonight. All I do know is that through the day she doesn't go in at all.

Oh, btw, I had to shoo the male off the nest so I could pinch the egg :wink: I hope that's a good sign.

Thanks again.

 

Sounds like your yellow female has the fertile eggs and the grey does not here is a link to a website that shows you want a fertile egg looks like.

What i do with my pairs if there is infertile eggs i remove some of the infertile ones and replace them with fertile eggs from another nest this way the eggs are shared and all stand a chance.

So see how many eggs in the yellow nest are fertile and if she is not sitting on them take these eggs out so say there is 4 fertile eggs in the yellow nest take them out and check the grey nest and if there is 4 infertile eggs swap them with the fertile ones.

This gives the fertile eggs a chance to survive and hatch and will be looked after by the male..

The male not wanting to come off the eggs without being shoo is a good sign he will be a good parent.
This link is for parrot eggs but its the same for all bird eggs.
hope it helps you out.

http://animalscience.ucdavis.edu/resear ... ot/d/d.htm

Mike

 

I swapped the eggs over two days ago and the grey bird and she sat on them for a day or so but now the eggs are cold.

The other two haven't sat on them for days either, not even at night.

Are they dead or can I still save them, I am so disappointed. :cry:

 

If they havent sat on them for a couple of days chances are they are dead now so what i would do is if you can place the pair that laid the eggs first in a cage of there own with there nest box and see if they start laying again as it sounds like the yellow one is putting them off.

Do not be put off or disappointed as things like this can happen especially if they are not happy for some reason....

I had this problem when i had more then 2 birds in one cage but once i had them in seperate cages and in pairs then i had no problems at all at the moment i am giving my birds a break until next spring.

Mike

 

The grey bird is still sitting on her eggs at night but not much through the day, is that because the weather is warm and they don't need to be kept at a warm temp all the time?

IF the three eggs hatch that she is on now, because they are the eggs from the other pair, will she reject the chicks and know that they aren't her own babies?

I am still hopeful that these eggs will hatch, just when I think all is lost the grey hen will sit back on them.

Should I take the other three eggs out of the box that haven't been incubated and chuck them away?

The male stays right on the box that the grey hen is in quite alot so maybe he will help raise the chicks if they hatch.

I hope to God that these eggs hatch, I'm praying they do!!! :|

 

I forgot to mention that they grey bird emerged from the nest yesterday and all her chest was wet, I'm guessing that she was sweating from sitting on the eggs so maybe she doesn't need to warm them all the time.

 

I found some really useful info on breeding on this site:

http://www.bluequaker.com/Art-015.htm

It has some great advice for handraising chicks.

Tell me what you think, if their advice is ok.

Thanks

 

Oh yeah, apparently the wetting of the chest is necessary for humidity in the nest.

Was that why you suggested a dish of water on the ground?

 

Some of the information is goo d some is not all the info on in tha page has been taken from other websites and placed together on one site.

Birds should never be allowed to have more than 2clutches per year as anymore of this puts a real strain on the females body.

Yes the dish of water in the cage allows the birds to have a bath and this will put humidity in the nest, If there is not enought humidity in the nest the eggs will dry out and make it harder for the chicks to hatch out.

Mike