[tiffanyshaneyfelt]

Hi my cockatiel laid an egg. And she is not wanting to sit on it. What should I do and how can I tell if it's fertile or not? She does have a mate but we have only had them for about a month and wasn't expecting any eggs this quick.

 

[Misstiel]

Do you want them to have chicks? Are you prepared to handfeed if something come up? If so, then is there a box in the cage with them? If there isn't already a nesting box in there, I would give them one and put the egg in there before she lays more. It might and it might not be fertile. I had it where I bought a new male for my female and within 3 days, they were already mating. Usually, the pair won't sit on the egg until there are a few more. That way, they will all hatch around the same time. The female will usually lay an egg every other day until they have a clutch of around 4 to 5 eggs. You won't be able to tell if the egg is fertile until about five days after incubation so you'll just have to wait and see what happens. I hope that helps! 😊

 

[tiffanyshaneyfelt]

We had a couple of coconut nests in there she actually had the egg on my bed but we made a makeshift nesting box till our actual nesting box comes in. We discovered this morning that this isn't her first egg she has laid 2 others that we didn't know about but they were in the bottom of the cage and busted. We also have a incubator ordered just in case.

 

[Misstiel]

Okay, so this first time might not have any fertile eggs, but you never know. Once the box and the incubator come in, you could try pairing them together again and see what happens. If they don't care about the eggs, I would just remove them since two are already destroyed anyway. You could let her sit on the other one, but that might encourage her to lay more. The only way you'd be able to tell if it's fertile is to wait about 5 days after they've been constantly sitting on the egg. If they won't sit on it, chances are it is infertile.

 

[waffletiely]

thats amazing! i would love incubating cockatiel eggs, but unfortunately, we only have 1 tiel so she cannot breed. I agree with the post above, most of the time when the mother lays her first eggs it might not be fertile. If so, when the incubator comes and she has a batch of fresh eggs, keep the eggs inside for 4-5 days before throwing them out because they are "infertile". Embryos takes time to become visible using candling method.

Super excited for you, hopefully you'll have some chicks!

 

[tiffanyshaneyfelt]

Thank you she is finally going and sitting on the nest but she hasn't had anymore eggs as of yet.