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My pretty little Fiona is being a stranger then normal girl today. She has spent all day in her nest and when I went in to check on her she had no egg but was fluffed up and behaving like a mad women. I was worried about egg binding and took her gentling in my hands and saw her vent was swollen. I don't know if this is her inheat or if she is in trouble. My boy Rocko is oblivious and just sit and swings with no concern about her and no interest so ia m thinking she isn't in heat but he is also very young just 8 months old. I have her laying on me right now she is happy to have the one on one attention and has her rump on a heating pad that seems to bring her a small comfort right now. Has anyone had this happen to their bird? what is it and what can I do to help her?

Silly me I have been reading and I see now this is somewhat normal in the spring. I think my male is to young to mate and she is frustated. she is now perched and being her silly self, I am so stressed i don't know what I will do when they actualy start breeding

dont mean to sound harsh but that cage is way too small for 2 birds and why do you have a nest box in, your hen is much too young to breed, I wouldn't even consider breeding a tiel till atleast 3 years of age, the males age doesn't matter too much but good father birds do come with maturity(young males will neglect feeding the hen or taking care of the brood) but are certainly able to breed before they are mentally mature.

I am shocked to hear that you feel my cage is small. It is HUGE with it's depth and all, in fact our breeder had a smaller cage by far for his pair and they stay in it all day. Our top opens and my birds have free range of the house so all in all they are spoiled I think. The size up from our cage is a huge parrot cage and my two don't need anything with bars that strong lol.

I never wanted to breed my birds I bought Fiona and wanted only one bird. She however bonded with my daughter and since my daughter is at school for most of the day Fiona cried while she was gone so I bought Rocko.We bought him when he was a baby in pin feathers so I didn't know his gender. My plan was to have a friend for Fiona and never breed at all.

With four children two snakes, 4 gerbils and a 50 gallon fresh water fish tank the last thing I want is more babies to worry about. The nesting box is more of a hideaway, a place to get away from the kids and I like all my pets to have a place to get away. If Fiona does lay eggs I plan on removing them and replacing them with false eggs so we don't have babies, I know that sounds harsh. My worry with breeding is losing her, or having a egg hatch and losing the baby after my children see it and fall in love. Removing the eggs seems like an easy way to avoid one issue but I still worry about the other. My friend lost her female because she was egg bound and that is scary to me.

young hens run a higher risk of becoming egg bound their bodies aren't ready to lay, it's like a 13 year old female human giving birth.

How long does it take for them to start laying eggs? She is about a year old give or take a month. I bought her from a pet store not a breeder so I am not to sure about her age. She hasn't laid any eggs before and has never acted like this before either. She is eating well and voiding well. Her vent is clean, she is just sitting with her rump up and acting like she realy wants Rocko to pay attention to her but he is being a silly man and singing on his swing.

Suprise suprise this morning my little girl laid her first egg( that I know of, I am starting to think she is older then I was told since 1 year is young to lay as I have been reading). When we got back fromt he aquarium hours later there were TWO! She is still being weird and won't let me even gaze into her beloved nesting box. When Rocko tries to get in and help she nips him untill he leaves. She is staying on her beloved eggs and being a devoted little hen. I hope she doesn't have anymore I don't want her poor body being drained. I have given her some special treats including a hard boiled chicken egg(she loves these) and I hope this helps her rebuild her strength. When she came out to eat I convinced her to visit with my husband and I was able to get a picture of her new additions. I had planned on taking her eggs away but I think I will leave them since she is so devoted. I doubt they are fertalized since my male is so young and dopey. Any advice on what I can expect? I was thinking of maybe giving her false eggs next spring to keep her from going into heat, has anyone tried this and do you think it is a good idea?

cockatiels usually become sexually mature around 1 year old, like humans it can vary a little bit(some at 8 months others a little older) but that said it's still not healthy, I can only assume your bird was egg bound since(if I read the post right) she laid two eggs in one day, tiels typically lay one egg every other day till their brood is set, I doubt that hard boiled egg will help her tiels share parenting responsibilities, with her rejecting the male she wont have the support and will likely become thin as a result, another concern is a lack of calcium.

another problem that arises with tiels is that they can lay continuously for years, once they start it's tough to get them to stop, read down through the posts on this forum, infact the post right under this thread titled "excessive egg laying" is a typical one, they also dont have a "season", they'll usually lay whenever food is plentiful and the daylight hours right, they do have hormonal periods where they become nippy but even males go through this, I dont believe it plays much role in their egg laying and breeding.

also being that this is her first clutch if anything should happen to hatch she probly wont take care of it properly and it's not uncommon for them to abandon a single chick if there are no other eggs to hatch.
I breed budgies, my pairs first clutch of 6 eggs 4 chicks died off one lived for 2 weeks then the younger of the two passed and she abandoned the oldest one, the chick didn't take to hand feeding since his eyes had opened, breeding any bird takes alot of work, knowledge and commitment.

I think she laid one egg in the night actually and then we just found it in the morning, Then the next that we found at after 8 in the evening would have been 12 hours or so later. '

My mother has finchs and they breed like mad. No problems and no losses since the first two chicks fell from the nest. I guess you are right I am dumb about this. I leave all my animals to themselves and their instincts. I have read a few books on Teils and they said a egg with it's shell is good for breeding teils, or molting teils to help with calcium. I see that you think me a fool maybe you could offer advice on what you feel I should do?

Well my bossy little girl finaly let henpecked Rocko in to babysit. She is eating her egg treat and so fresh greens behaving well. I hope this means she hasn't rejected him. They get along so well I hope it was just that she wanted the eggs to herself for a bit. I know when I had my first babies I didn't want my husband around us I wanted it just them and me.