[Aly]

All the signs are there..earlier today she was doing the "dance" for Ziggy again while he was whispering loud nothings in her ear...Nothing happened and he still looks rather confused by the whole ordeal..to him it's just practice I guess. She on the other hand was hanging like a bat from the cage door earlier today, she's got an appetite like a pig, she's constantly looking for nest spots, dark places, corners, anything...Her tweeps are super loud around this time too....I know he's not into her, atleast for now but I'm afraid she's getting into her egg laying mode..(just like this time last year)...Her bedtime is 13 hours of dark...not sure if I should encourage them or discourage her...

 

[Bea]

I would be discouraging her, by the sounds of it she'll get into the mood at another time, when Ziggy's older and hopefully has figured out what her little dance means.

 

[Aly]

That's what I've been trying..she doesn't seem to get it but I'll keep doing everything I can. Ziggy is too young so I'm glad he hasn't caught on...I just don't want another empty clutch from her and that's the way it's looking...

What's the oldest a hen can be to breed?

 

[Bea]

What's the oldest a hen can be to breed?

I'm not sure, with budgies it's 3 years, max. 4 years old. I've been wondering about that because i know you want to breed Baby and Ziggy, and by the time he's 1 year old, she'll be 4+ won't she?

I had a quick look on google and i could easily find the minimum breeding age (18 months), but the maximum age was a bit harder. I did find this:

Although it is better to wait until a hen is 18 months old to breed her, cock birds are able (and eager!) to fertilize eggs before the age of one year. ( Like many young fathers, though, they don’t always settle down to their parenting duties at this early age.) ........ so that means you could have chicks from your breeders approximately six months after buying them and can expect them to continue to breed for 8 to 10 years or even longer.

From http://www.cockatiels.org/articles/breeding/breedingStarting.html

 

[xxxSpikexxx]

I would try and discourage her. Ziggy does not know what is going on

 

[Laura]

I am not really sure how you would encourage them to breed if he is not interested I don't think its a case of he is not interested I think its more of a he is to young to know what he is doing yet, I to would try and discourage them I know you really want babies but with him being so young if it happens chances are he will not know what to do and Baby would be left alone with the eggs if he doesn't step up and chances are you wouldn't get any babies anyway if its done to early and he is not ready I would be worried that he would not be mature enough to take on his share of helping her with the eggs and raising the babies at this age.

 

[Aly]

Thanks you guys...I know I should be patient and I swear I have been...this is the only place I can let out my ...eagerness. He is too young and certainly wouldn't want her to end up a single mommy doing all the work. He's constantly practicing his heartwings, banging his beak on things and doing the little hops for her but he's not really ready. If he was he would have jumped at the oppurtunity when she was doing the dance for him. I think she's getting ahead of herself so I'm trying to discourage her from laying unfertile eggs again...Sorry if I seemed to want to rush but that's not the case..just letting out my thoughts...

Bea, I keep getting the dates mixed up since I lost my little journal (moved twice since I got her) but I just counted back when I got Baby and it was 08/11/05...I don't know why I keep thinking it was 2004 (I feel so bad..I should know this)...She was just about 6mths or maybe a little less when I got her so that would make her almost 3 now.