My female cockatiel wont lay her eggs in her nest box. help?

Question

i have two cockatiels, one female and one male ( or so i suspect him being a male since hes pied but falls under all the aspects a male cockatiel would do and be like) ever since the female started laying the eggs, i have put in a nest box. at first both were afraid but now not so much. she has layed 6 eggs in total right now but all on the bottom of the cage but not in the nest box. i have put the eggs in the box each time i would find one on the cage floor but they still dont go in and incubate the eggs. what is the problem? can anyone tell me why she ownt lay the eggs in the nest box? how would i be able to incourage the eggs being layed in the box?

Answer 1

Birds can be very fussy about nestboxes.  Size of the box, size of the entry hole, shape of the box, it's location, height from the ground and a whole myriad of other seemingly insignificant little things can make a nest box undesireable to a hen.  Try a different nest box - different shape, larger/smaller entry hole or change the location and perhaps your bird will find it more appealing.

Also, it is quite possible that you have 2 females.  "Same-s*x couples" aren't at all uncommon in the bird world. Before you do anything else though, I'd advise having your non-laying bird DNA sexed by your vet to ensure you have a true breeding pair.

Answer 2

change it