I hoped this day would never come...

[Owlet]

Apollo laid an egg.

I'm ordering some fake eggs just encase but she doesn't seem too interested...

She has a cuttle bone that she does chew... should I get her a mineral block or egg food?

 

[Owlet]

Can anyone tell me how often cockatiels lay eggs? can they lay more than one in a day? or is it one a day? one every few days?

 

[texsize]

Every other day is normal.

 

[Owlet]

And she's raking care of it

 

[Owlet]

should I give her a nest?

 

[Terry57]

should I give her a nest?

My Pisces was a prolific egg layer, sometimes she sat on them other times she didn't. I always put a nest in after the first egg, and/or papers for her to shred for it. In my opinion, because they are obviously already laying, we may as well make them comfortable. I removed the nest after she lost interest.

 

[LaManuka]

I had a cockatiel hen called Kang many years ago, who laid maybe 7 or 8 eggs during her entire 18 year lifetime. I never gave her a nest since I certainly didn't want to encourage her to lay, she just laid them on the bare floor of her cage anyway. She never laid an entire clutch, only one or two at a time, and i replaced them with dummy eggs in an attempt to prevent her laying more, which worked for her. Individual results will vary with this but from my experience with Kang, she would lay her one egg and be happy with sitting on the fake egg substitute for a while before realising nothing was going to hatch and getting back to normal in a few weeks' time. So I hope this is the case for Apollo! 🤞

 

[Terry57]

I had a cockatiel hen called Kang many years ago, who laid maybe 7 or 8 eggs during her entire 18 year lifetime. I never gave her a nest since I certainly didn't want to encourage her to lay, she just laid them on the bare floor of her cage anyway. She never laid an entire clutch, only one or two at a time, and i replaced them with dummy eggs in an attempt to prevent her laying more, which worked for her. Individual results will vary with this but from my experience with Kang, she would lay her one egg and be happy with sitting on the fake egg substitute for a while before realising nothing was going to hatch and getting back to normal in a few weeks' time. So I hope this is the case for Apollo! 🤞

Please follow Mart's advice, Pisces was a pionus and may have been totally different from a tiel in her reactions.

 

[Owlet]

I'll see if she lays more and decide from there if I give her a nest or not. I did already order fake eggs and I'm getting egg food from work.

 

[Owlet]

I also have a vet appointment arranged for the 12th. I intend to have blood work done just to make sure everything internally is good. I'm terrified of egg binding. I've been watching my bird room camera like a hawk since i had to go to work ><

 

[LaManuka]

If she's laid one there's a reasonable chance that a second may follow, but if the behaviour is not encouraged with any luck that might be all there is. You can boil her existing eggs while you wait for the fakes to arrive, this will give them a bit more resilience and reduce the chance of them breaking while being sat on so she doesn't feel the need to lay more to replace them. It also means that if she does break the shell, you won't have a liquid mess to clean up

Wise move to schedule that vet appointment, I think, since cockatiel hens can be a bit notorious for infertile egg-laying. There again, another 'tiel hen I had some years ago called Twinkle never laid an egg in her entire life, even though she had a rooster around for a few years, so these things certainly can be a bit hit and miss. I wish you all the best for the vet visit and hope all is well with Apollo 💝

 

[Owlet]

She seems to be doing fine. She's a little puffed up but in a broody way. She doesn't seem lethargic at all. I found the egg 2-3 hours after it happened. She didn't have it there in the morning and looked fine and then I went in to give them lunch and I was making me rounds and she was on the bottom of her cage which was abnormal. She's never done there. And then I saw it. UGH. She has been laying on it since I left for work. But when I was in there she didn't care for it much, she would come up to her normal perches and let me pick her up and such. I checked her vent and it looks fine but I was afraid to feel it since I know sometimes you can crack an egg by feeling their vent for eggs...

Edit: just checked the cameras and she's no longer sitting on it, she is sitting on one of her normal perches. I think she's sleeping but her food bowl is blocking my view and all I can see is her tail.

I also bought 2 new food bowls because if she's gonna be spending her time down there I want hwe to have easy access to food and water.

edit2: I'm qsking my parents to go in and check on her and take a picture for me. I'm so paranoid! help!

 

[Owlet]

Mom says she's doing good... she was sleeping and just stretched when my mom checked on her.

My mom also moved the camera so I can see her better.

 

[LaManuka]

Since she's not paying 100% attention to the egg at this stage, and if your mom is home, can she maybe boil the egg, let it cool, pop a little pencil mark on it so you know which is which in case she lays another, and give it back to her? Just start it in room temperature water and bring it to a very gentle boil for about 5 minutes, that usually does the trick

 

[Owlet]

Since she's not paying 100% attention to the egg at this stage, and if your mom is home, can she maybe boil the egg, let it cool, pop a little pencil mark on it so you know which is which in case she lays another, and give it back to her? Just start it in room temperature water and bring it to a very gentle boil for about 5 minutes, that usually does the trick

I think it's okay, the fake eggs should be here tomorrow and I don't think the egg will go bad in the mean time. Amazon had 2 different fake eggs, one for like 13$ and the other for 23$ but the cheaper one would take a few days to get here so I went with the more expensive one. It was also a brand I was more familiar with so I'm hoping they're more realistic and not just egg shaped plastic.

 

[Owlet]

I'm still watching her and she hasn't laid on the egg anymore. she went down once, checked on it, and immediately climb back up the cage to go eat.

My dad picked up the bowls and egg food and set them up in her cage for me. So she has that now too. I'm still so anxious.

 

[LaManuka]

Very young pet hens often don't recognise an egg for what it is, and as @texsize mentioned in another thread, generally don't sit on them straight away anyway even when fertile. If she's going to lay another it probably won't be for around 36-48 hours after the first, so unfortunately you do have a little more time to wait to see if another does materialise. But by that stage you should hopefully have those dummy eggs with you, so with any luck that might slow her down and prevent her from laying any more

 

[Owlet]

Speaking of the dummy eggs... should I give her all 7 immediately to prevent further egg laying or should I just replace them with one if she lays one.

 

[LaManuka]

Speaking of the dummy eggs... should I give her all 7 immediately to prevent further egg laying or should I just replace them with one if she lays one.

I only ever replaced one for one as we went along - mind you I only ever had to deal with one or two eggs at a time.

 

[Owlet]

I only ever replaced one for one as we went along - mind you I only ever had to deal with one or two eggs at a time.

I hope that's the situation and it's just a one off egg. It's dark now and she's not sitting on it so I'm hopeful she just doesn't really care and won't lay more.