BellaOnline Forums Home and Garden Birds hey mavis guess what!

hey mabis guess what well remeber how i told you that i got a new pair of tiels well after a week and 2 days THERE WAS AN EGG MY FIRST EVER TIEL EGG!

to this day there is now 3 eggs so far she is laying 1 egg every second day and dosnt mind me going to check them out even though she isnt tame she will happily go out the box will im looking in it then when i go she is in there again.

they have started nesting them but the male is hardly ever in the box for long periods of time like the female she is in there nearly all day and night but he just goes in for maybe 10minutes at a time and in there 5-6 times a day, i thought that they take turns in incubating the eggs?

will post some pics of the mother and the eggs soon maybe tomorow!

thanks for all ya help mavis!!

Wonderful news! Good luck with them. <img src="/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />
The male is probably in there more than you realize.

So upset i have bad news my tiel who have layed 4 eggs have abandoned them i think? i have only seen the male in the box 1 in 2 days i have not seen the female in there at all.

im very upset as i think they have abondened them!
do you think that me going in there daily to check on the eggs has upset them?

Hi Phillip - since Mavis is feeling a bit off I thought I'd pop in.

Have they gone back to the nest yet?

There are many reasons why birds might abandon a nest. An overeager owner is definitely one of them! It's so exciting we want to check in all the time, but it can have sad consequences. If at all possible you should leave the birds alone except to feed and water them. You also want to leave them alone as much as possible after the hatch for the first week or so. Parents have been known to stop feeding their babies (or even eat the babies) when stressed.

New parents or first time parents also may not have the hange of nesting yet. It might take 2 or 3 clutches for them to figure out what to do. I'm still working with a pair of macaws that were great breeders, but their owner never let them incubate their own eggs - consequently we've had two clutches already where the female sort of has the hang of it, but not well enough to be successful. (We lost 4 fertile eggs letting her try, but in the long run it's better for her and them).

Has anything changed around their nest? Loud noises like nearby construction or anything like that? Environmental changes can make a difference to some birds as well.

Hope that helps some.

no none of them changes have occured, the only thing i can think of is daylight savings?

i see the male go in the nest but not the female, when the male goes in the nest he stays in there for about 3-5mins each time.

the reason i am concerned is becuase i dont no if the eggs can survive 3 days (i tink) wiht out incubation, do u no if this is true or not?

i tihnk when i go in to change their food and water i will go no were near the box just let it be or maybe should i go to check the eggs are ok? im so confused im not sure what to do!

plaese i would really like 2 no if the eggs still have a chance of hatching?

it seems like the male is still interested but not the female.

this is also their first clutch of eggs but they were doing so great until 3 days ago!

It really depends on whether or not she was actually incubating them until now. Many birds will lay a clutch of eggs and incubate them all together. Others start incubating day 1/egg 1 and have staggered hatches (which doesn't bode well for the last chick born). I haven't raised cockatiels so I'm not certain about their habits. If she did start incubating them then they are probably not going to survive. If she was simply laying a clutch and not ready to incubate there is still a chance they could hatch.

At this point I would just leave them alone for a while and see what happens. Try to give them as much privacy as possible.

Take heart, if they're happy enough together to lay eggs eventually they'll probably be successful.

About laying clutches ...

Let me give you an example. I raise ducks in addition to parrots. They will lay 1 fertilized egg a day in a nest. They will do this for 15-25 days. On the 25th day she'll go to nest and start incubating. We've had clutches of 21 babies being born. So, fertilized eggs can be left alone for several days/weeks depending on the species and ambient temperature (if it's too hot there may be issues, but cold is not).

ok well thank you for your adivce im not going to remove the eggs i wil wait and see what happens.

but i think after another 2 weeks if nothing happens ill give them and break and let them try again.

thanks for all your help.

is there anyway i can encourage her to incubate the eggs?

Not that I know of.

man im so confused!
i dont understand while the male still goes in the box but the female dosnt!!

im getting so angry, ive been reading on the net day and night trying to find an answer.

the only question i wanna no is why does the male go in the box to check the eggs?

do yout think that i take the eggs out and let them start again becuase once he sees that the eggs are gone they will mate again?