My bird laid an egg and I'm not sure what to do..?

Question

I have two cockatiels, and the one that laid an egg was the one I thought was a male.

I'm not sure what to think now, if they're both females or one's a male and one's a female. Therefore, I don't know if the egg is fertilized and if I should be worried or not.

The reason I know which one laid the egg is because I had them separated when it happened. I hadn't noticed before but this bird was trying to build a nest for the egg.

My questions are:

-How long should I keep them separated?

-Should I go buy a nesting home?

-How can I determine the gender of my birds? (The one that laid the egg has bright orange cheeks and is very vocal. And the other one has light orange and is very quiet.) I'm assuming you can't always rely on the looks, or personalities to determine gender. I guess I'll have to get my birds checked for gender.

Does anyone have tips for me and/or a website I could go to for help?

It's very much appreciated. Thank you!

Answer 1

Well how long have the birds been "seperated" the chances are that the eggs is not fertile.  But I would suggest that you call your local veternarian one that is trained in aviary medicine would be a good start.  see what he/she suggests, or you can call a local reputable bird breeder and see if they are able to s*x birds, anyone that has bred birds for a long time and knows what they are doing can feel the pelvis of the bird to determins the spacing of the pelvis.  but if the bird in question is young then it could be falsely determined to be a boy.  you can try to buy a nesting box for her, she may or may not be receptive to it, she likely wont be.  I might just suggest that you get a wash cloth and fold it up and put the egg on it in the same place that she laid it.  Birds sometimes get confused if you move there eggs to a different place, and she may not nest it if its moved to somewhere else.  you might want to just leave the birds seperated for the time being because the one with the egg is likely still grumpy and going to be very protective of the egg.  Which i suspect is the reason why you seperated them in the first place ?

As for there color I only know of only a few species of birds that you are able to distinctly able to identify the sexes.  Pecocks are one that come to mind and there is a species of parrot that has distinct color diferences that set the males a aprat form the ladies. I am certain there are lost of other types of birds that it applies to also, but I dont know there names.

Good luck, I hope you get lucky and have yourself a new little baby bird and dont forget to call a bird breeder or a vet for your best most accurate advise.

Answer 2

If your Cockatiels are both gray, the female will have horizontal bars on the underside of her tail while the male will have solid black under his tail.  The female will also have spots running the length of her primaries underneath and a gray or light yellow head while the male will have a yellow head and no spots underneath his primaries.  In the other mutations it's a bit more difficult to determine the gender without knowing the genetics of the parents along with their mutations, the only sure way to tell is DNA sexing.

Young tiels resemble females until they go through at least their 1st or 2nd molt and the intensity of the cheek patch is not a reliable indicator of gender (some say males have brighter cheek patches, but that's not always the case, especially with the newer mutations).

Obviously the one who laid the egg is a female.

You don't need to keep them separated as long as they get along with each other, regardless of their gender.

Only buy a nest box if you intend to breed because egg laying is an expensive process for the females in terms of energy and calcium loss so don't breed them unless you plan on actually producing young.

How old are they?  How long have you had them?

Answer 3

Females generally have barring under their tails, males won't.  This is a generally accepted male/female measure.  It can get messy with pieds/lutinos/hybrid birds, but in the standard grey 'tiels, it's pretty surefire.  Let her play mom for a while, if it's only one egg it's probably not fertilized and she'll realize it's not going to hatch.  If she lays more than one in the next few days, then you might have babies on your hands.

Answer 4

If your birds are breeding, more than likely you would have witnessed it. They breed several times before laying any eggs. Cockatiels do not build nests, they use a wooden box with pine chips on the bottom hung on the outside of the cage with access to it from inside. A breeding pair should never be seperated. Both will sit on the eggs and both will feed the chicks. Is your cage large enough to accommodate both parents and 4 - 6 growing chicks? There is a lot of work involved is breeding. You can find many websites with wonderful information and how to care for your birds. Just google cockatiel breeding and start reading. You'll have plenty of time before chicks start hatching.

Answer 5

http://www.cockatielcottage.net/cockatie...

thats the site to see if its a ale or female.

if it is not with a ate the egg can not be fertilized. so you dont need to worrie about a nest. put the together for them to breed.