My bird- should she lay eggs?
 

Simply, I want your opinion if whether or not my bird should lay eggs. I am asking this because I don't want the avery to be overcrowded and I'm not to sure how to handle it if they lay eggs. Any suggestions would be helpful.

I don't think you can help if your birds lay eggs or not. But since birds arn't exactly my expertise, I couldn't give you a solid answer. What kind of bird you got anyway that you are asking this?

I thought you meant getting your girlfriend pregnant for a second or two.

Then I laughed.

She is a Cockatiel.

How many birds do you have? How big is the aviary? Do you only have cockatiels in there, or do you have other birds aswell? Regardless, my advice is if she is pregnant, put her in a small cage of her own in a quiet place out of the wind at room temperature. Check to see if she has food and water every day, but do not over pamper her or she'll get stressed from constant irritation.

If you have a lot of cockatiels, my advice is to sell them. You can get up to $20-40 AUS for them depending on their colour (a grey cockatiel will get you around 20, pied and white faces you can sell for a bit more). If you don't have a lot, keep them so you can breed more (although I would advise you buy a couple more of the opposite sex when they're older). I wouldn't worry too much about the size, as cockatiels can cope well in fairly crowded aviaries.

Anyway good luck, cockatiels are always a good bird to breed or tame as a pet. What other birds do you have out of interest?

Thanks for the advice. But I only have Cockatiels, sorry (1 male and 1 female).

The best thing to do would be to keep them in separate cages. I have Cockatiels as well and so far I haven't seen a single egg from them. Mind you, I do not know which gender is which with them, but separate cages is the best solution I can give if you want to be full proof. I am not sure if they are like hens where having eggs at regular intervals is simply part of their period.

Having cockatiel babies can be a huge pain as I pitched in to work at the local pet shop that used to hand rear birds. NO, NO, a million times NO! do not let them lay fertile eggs. It will be hell on earth if you aren't totally committed. I had an adopted cockatiel bird named Jackie. Well, it was Jack at first until she layed five eggs! LOL. I just threw those out and the old biddie was none the worse for wear.

Let your bird choose.

I don't know whether I'd agree with seperating them, these are social birds and prefer to be together. Being seperated may cause them shock, or just upset them.
If you want to rear some, maybe to sell, the parents should be able to look after them to a degree, provided they have nesting materials, the right sort of food for a good diet etc.
Also, depending on the age of the birds, they may/may not be sexually mature or ready for it, really. The time of year may also influence this, or the temperature in the house/aviary for that matter.
It would seem unlikely that they would lay eggs without having been fertilized. Chcikens only lay without fertilisation and year round because they have been specifically bred to do so by humans. In the wild this would be a big disadvantage and a big waste of nutrients for the bird. In captivity, it is fed so it can afford to do this without ill effects.
Because of this reason, I'd assume any eggs laid would be fertilised.
If its too much of a concern, contact a slightly more proffesional pet store clerk, or a vet perhaps.

You better look out as cockatiels are randy little mac daddies. If you keep them together it won't be long before this guy is laying more pipe than Halliburton. What I've heard and seen is that once the male becomes 1 year old or older he's gonna do what my friend in the bird raising business said. Now follow me, this is a difficult scientific concept: A virile and sexually frustrated male in captivity will try with all his might to do what scientists call "getting his swerve on". Shocking, I know, but mommy bird plus hyperhorny daddy bird staring at his dead sexy cagemate equals eggs. Now I suppose you could give them away but there isn't a whole lot of payoff for that or that much of a market. If you raise them yourself it will be very time intensive and unrewarding unless this is a proven breeding pair with a pedigree. I'm gonna go out on a limb here and say it ain't. My suggestion is to give them away or seperate the birds unless you are totally committed to finding a sucker, I mean gracious adopter, of the fertile eggs.

I've never had problems with breeding cockatiels. Like I said, seperate the female and when the kids pop out sell them for 20-40 bucks.

To Used: You can generally tell their sex by the appearence. But with cockatiels its difficult because it really depends on what colour they are. However, females tend to have more markings, but duller cheek patches.

You could always just cook some omelettes.