I found two eggs on the bottom of the cage this morning. What do I do?

Question

I was given two ,male and female, cocatiel about 6 weeks ago. I've never had a breeding pair, or a bird that lays. I am trying to educate myself . I have a Bluefront Amazon, a jenday conure, a cocatiel that i think was abused and now these other two cocatiel. They were all orphans, their people died or couldn't care for them anymore. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Answer 1

Hi,

Yeah cockatiels need a nest box in order to successfully raise and incubate the eggs and so because they are on the bottom of the cage then the birds will not feel safe enough to raise the chicks. So i would just bin the eggs.

It is unusual though for two eggs to be laid on the same day normally cockatiels lay one one day then miss a day and then lay another on the third day.  

Answer 2

Cockatiels prefer nesting boxes to lay their fertilized eggs in. If the eggs are just laid on the floor of the cage, most likely the eggs aren't fertilized (esp if the female isn't attempting to incubate them.)  Simply just remove the eggs from the cage.  

If you wish to breed these two, hook up a nesting box to their cage for them to have access to and nesting material. Be aware that in nesting, the males tend to become aggressive in nature. However, if you've never owned a breeding pair before, and haven't bred birds in the past as an apprentice, it is best not to try.  Too many people do this without knowing what they are doing, and try to handraise the chicks. This is dangerous to do without experience and proper knowledge as you could give the chick crop burn- caused from the feed being too hot and it puts a hole through their crop. Most crop burn cases end in death to the chick.  

There are too many inadequate breeders as their is, but if you choose to try, I suggest doing a ton of research on the subject and contact a local breeder in your area to ask for help in learning.  

Answer 3

Do nothing with the eggs.  Leave them be for a few days then take them out.  

You can lessen egg laying by cutting down on daylight hours by leaving the cage covered an extra hour in the morning and covering it early in the evening - before dusk.

Laying is triggered by abundant food, daylight hours and nesting material available.  You can control all 3 and it looks like they do not care about nesting material.

Answer 4

if you remove them she'll probs just lay more.

leave them, get some fake ones and swop them over

they wont be fertille.