[ryanandvalerie]

So I'm sure this is a familiar story for this forum but I woke up this morning to find an egg on the bottom of our cage. We think we know who the mother is as we have two females but we didn't think our male was old enough to breed yet. This leads me to two conclusions. Either the female is laying without a fertilized egg or the other bird we thought was a female is actually a male. I'm inclined to believe that the egg is simply unfertilized as the two females show nothing but signs of being female. The male is around 7 to 8 months old, we aren't 100 percent sure on the exact age but I was under the impression that was too young to breed. What's even more bizarre is that we have a nesting box set up with the cage and Gibbs, the female we think laid the egg, did not even use the nest box which she frequently goes in and out of. So I moved the egg to the nesting box and showed her it was there. She began surrounding the egg with bedding so I'm not too concerned about it. Now I understand that it can take up to 48 hours to lay another egg and that she most likely will not start sitting until the second, more likely the third, egg. I guess ultimately I should wait and candle the eggs to see if they are fertile? Any thoughts on the situation guys?

 

[roxy culver]

Males are sexually mature at six months old, but not mentally ready to be parents til much later. So they can produce babies, they just may not be very good at caring for them. Have you seen any mating going on at all? Some pictures of your birds would help us help you confirm the gender of your birds. (Plus we just like pictures of tiels lol.) Right now its just a wait and see kind of thing, but sometimes hens will lay off a perch and not in a box (or just lay in the cage versus the box) because they know the eggs aren't fertile and this is their way of aborting the eggs. Why do you have a box up if you thought your male was too young?

 

[ryanandvalerie]

Stick with me here, lol so we put up a nesting box because we rescued a pair of birds from a lady who said that they were a bonded pair. Gibbs, the one we think laid the egg (and verified female by the forum) was in the mood and so we put up a box just as a precautionary measure. Well the more we were around the birds the more we realized the pair was a bondage pair and that the other was most likely a female as well. Or original bird was purchased at 6 months old, is a lutino and hadn't molted to properly sex but based off of actions we believe him a male. I have not witnessed any mating which leads me to believe the eggs will not be fertile.

 

[ryanandvalerie]

The first picture is Athena who has the same markings as Gibbs, tail and all, just much lighter shade.

The second picture is of Gibbs which the forum had verified as a female.

and the third is Rafiki who is the 7 month old lutino we believe to be a male but cannot verify till his first molt I believe.

And finally all three just for kicks...

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[angelmommy24]

How old is Gibbs? I see a yellow mask so Gibbs could possibly be male. athena does appear to be female and your lutino do you happen to know the parents mutations?

 

[xoxsarahxox]

If Athena and Gibbs are a year or older then yes their both females After Gibbs is done with this clutch ( if infertile) and has abandoned the eggs, then I would take down the nest box and start hormone reduction, http://talkcockatiels.com/showthread.php?t=2678.

Rafiki is gorgeous, looks like hes a lutino pearl! Does he sing, do heart wings, or beak bang? if yes then hes most likely a male ( and sadly will lose those gorgeous pearls!)

 

[ryanandvalerie]

From what we were told when a rescued Gibbs and Athena they are 3 to 5 years old. We figured they were both females after interacting with them. Rafiki is the attention getter. Heart wings, beak banging and he hadn't sung yet but he's come close. He loves to split his time equally between both Gibbs and Athena although he trends to favor Athena more.

As for hormones we actually put them to bed around 9 and uncover at 8 so they are covered almost 12 hours a day but Gibbs is still very randy.

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[roxy culver]

Those are male behaviors so it sounds like Rafiki is a boy. Giving a nest box when you don't intend on breeding is never a good idea, as egg binding can happen if you aren't prepared. So I agree with Sarah, as soon as they abandon this clutch, take the box down, as its better for their health.