Too many cockitiels in 1 nest box. 9eggs/was 3 babies. What do I do?

Question

One baby was smothered due to no room with three cockitiels in there. Should I take 1 female out maybe hoping the 1female and the male will provide for the rest of the unhatched and hatched babies? I have three nest boxes,but 2 females doubled up on me, don't know what to do,before the others are smothered. I had 3 live babies,but only can see 1 now. Upset here in SC

Answer 1

put the live babys in a diffrent nest box and see if the female will come

Answer 2

At least now you know why you shouldn't try to community breed cockatiels in a small cage. You will have to pull the babies or they will end up dieing in the fight. It isn't about how many nest boxes you have. It is how far apart are they? They need to be two or three ft apart and then they will still pick the same box sometimes.  A friend of mine bred them five pair to a cage. The cage was 6' x 6' x 8'. He put ten boxes on the cage. They were spread all over the sides and back of the cage. He also says that he does better when they are in individual cages.

As long as you are trying to breed them community style, you are going to have disappointments. It will just become part of what you put up with to raise a few birds. My birds are in a cage that is 18" x 18" x 36". (One pair to a cage.) They consistently produce five to seven babies per nest.

Answer 3

I had a singular prob w/ my keets. When babies hatched the other birds in the cage went after them and picked on them, killing 2. I then removed the babies to a box on my kitchen table, covered half w/ paper and had a desk lamp on the other for warmth. I then hand fed the babies and they are the friendliest little things around.

I did remove the nesting boxes to discourage breeding. The others were killing the babies as they would do in the wild for over crowding.

Good luck!

Answer 4

First off, I'm not an expert, and I do apologize if this answer is just taking up space. I did get one of my cockatiels from a breeder, though i'm not entirely certain how your operation is set up.

I can tell you is that were I in this scenario, I would get some gloves, (maybe pet the mother while wearing them so they'd smell like her) and if possible (I'm hoping the nest box you speak of isn't in the middle) expand it.

nest box contraptions aren't exactly built to withstand storms or burglary, so (from what I'm picturing) it shouldn't be hard to move an end wall. you can probably fill in the rest.

I'm sorry if this is totally useless, but I do have a knack for working out this type of thing, so you can email me if you think i might be helpful (it's enabled on this thing)