What do you guys think, should I try?

[bug_n_flock]

I would love to have a chick from my Mr. Alex Bird. He's all of 23 years old and incredibly dear to me. In the past couple years he's pair bonded with a sweet hen cockatiel, and they've laid eggs a few times. When they were in the bird room they were extremely dedicated to sitting on the eggs, but I only saw them do the deed once, and then I didn't see them outside the nest at the same time again for a while. Alex especially was extremely dedicated to sitting on the nest.

They are, all of them, in my cabin with me at the moment. It's a long story, but everybody is in temporary housing for probably the next week and then can start moving back into their proper normal setups. Since they've been in the cabin, Alex and Sarah have been playing leapfrog daily. Sarah has been laying, and they've been half hearted sitting(eggs just on cage floor, no nest box right now).

I have my incubator running currently with turkeys and quails should be hatching in another week....

Guys.... Should I? It would be a LOT more work than just leaving the tiels to try and figure it out on their own, but... It would save Mr Alex the work and stress of raising a family while still letting him and Sarah have the fun of trying, and I might still get a chick. But hand raising a cockatiel from the egg, and intentionally setting eggs to hatch that will be "orphans" right straight from the start... I'm conflicted to say the least. What do you lovely parrot people think? Of course I will be deep cleaning and sterilizing my incubator after the poultry hatches either way, but *especially* if I'm then gonna try and incubate precious cockatiel eggs.

 

[bug_n_flock]

I know that the chances of success are not through the roof due to Alex's age. I'm dealing with that with my flock of chickens right now, they're mostly 5-6 year old birds and the fertility rate of the eggs is just .. bad. I set 19 in a first batch of chicken eggs, and I have six that hatched and are in the brooder now. Once hatched they did just fine tho and they're around three weeks old now almost fully feathered. But to put that hatch rate into context, I also set 9 turkey eggs in that batch(8 hatched), and 5 duck eggs(4 hatched). The duck that didn't hatch was an infertile egg(I have two species of duck in that pen so not a huge surprise ), and the turkey that didn't hatch was scrambled in the shell and I didn't notice before putting it in the incubator. The ducks and turkeys are young adults not old birds like my chickens.

 

[texsize]

Why is it a problem to let the parrots care for the babies?

I had two clutches and I did run into problems.
The parents started plucking the babies and I had to separate them.

Guess that’s not a great selling point but the parents usually “figure it out “ just fine.

 

[bug_n_flock]

Absolutely nothing wrong with that, I would prefer it that way given a choice. Just saying that they aren't really sitting on the eggs so they aren't going to hatch this time if I just leave them to it. If they had a nest box they would have fewer distractions and sit more seriously. Thinking about incubating these eggs which might be fertile, but the parents won't sit on well enough to hatch out.

As for a selling point, I probably won't sell any birds that have Alex as a father. But I'll think differently if he hatches out a couple dozen of them in sure lol. But I can keep them all and would keep them all. No need to sell them to me I already want them

 

[bug_n_flock]

To be clear I don't have any intentions of having him hatch out that many kids at his age, I just was saying that within reason, every single one would have a forever home here with me

 

[DonnaBudgie]

Parrots, like "all" birds, are usually amazing parents. I've had budgies only 7 months old start breeding and successfully raising families and no one taught them anything! If Mr Alex and Sarah successfully mate and lay eggs, they will probably make great parents but you need to give them a proper nestbox. Is there some reason why you haven't since it sounds like you want babies? If they aren't taking care of the eggs and/or chicks you can always take over for them but you must be prepared with a proper thermostatically controlled incubator/brooder, hand feeding formula, knowledge of how to do it safely, and a lot of spare time.

If you have to or want to raise a chick or two yourself it's a challenging but very rewarding experience. I've done it three times with budgies, and all three grew up to be happy, healthy, well adjusted members of my budgie and human family.

It's not wrong. It's not cruel. The baby isn't an orphan. But you must know that raising chickens etc and raising baby parrots are very different. A baby tiel is naked blind and helpless and weighs about 2 grams on hatch day. You will need to hand feed him every two to three hours round the clock and its exhausting. If you have commitments like work or school it will be very difficult. I was able to bring my babies and their incubator to work and feed them there. If you can't feed them round the clock don't consider it.

The formula must be the right temperature and consistency and hand feeding technique is very important. Unless you're expert at it, don't use a syringe to hand feed. If you put too much formula into his mouth and he gets some into his lungs he will die. I've couseled people on PF who bought unweaned three or four week old baby cockatiels and their babies died because the aspirated the food when being fed with syringes ges. I never feed with a syringe- I always use a small spoon. It's messier but much safer. I can help you wirh feeding advice any time you want- just ask!

 

[DonnaBudgie]

Do you know if the eggs are fertile? Did you "candle" them?

 

[DonnaBudgie]

Budgies don't not start full time incubation until after the third egg is laid. I don't know about cockatiels.

 

[bug_n_flock]

I have a lot of experience breeding parakeets and hand feeding and etc. I've kept birds for over 25 years and worked in a parrot shop, etc. I am very well aware it's different from raising chickens. Like I said in the original post they are all in temporary housing at the moment, thus no nest box. Their normal setup has a nest box. They used it the first time but the eggs never hatched I'm not sure they mated enough times, I think once the first egg appeared Alex forgot all about his job in making them and all he wanted to do was sit on them. From the first egg. Extra eager poppa. Now I have watched them mate many times but because the eggs are on the floor of the cage they keep getting disturbed off of sitting on them, or I think that's what's happening anyway because they are not very committed to sitting. This is the second batch of eggs they have laid on the cage floor so I am confident they will not sit on them this time either. It's a long story why they are all in here in temporary housing but they can start going back to their normal setups starting next week probably. I put most of that in the original post.

Candling only shows if an egg is starting to develop you cannot candle a freshly laid egg to see if it's fertile before any incubation has taken place, there would be nothing to see. I could crack them open and visually inspect the yolk for the "bullseye" you see in fertile eggs, but that would be hard to see on an egg so small, and seems like an unnecessary waste of a potentially "good" egg if I do decide to try

 

[bug_n_flock]

And I'm a forest hermit homesteader I've left my property maybe 5 times so far in all of 2025 and some of those times were just to walk out to my neighbors place lol. So yes I'm able to provide around the clock care and attention without worrying about school or a off site job.

 

[texsize]

Yes, cockatiels don’t start sitting on the eggs until the 2 nd or 3rd egg is laid.
Mom and dad take shifts sitting, one is day shift and the other is night shift.
But a nest box is a must.

My birds rejected the typical plywood box and used a cardboard box with heavily reinforced bottom.

 

[bug_n_flock]

I plan to let them try again with their nest once they move back to their proper setup, but these eggs they are laying now in the temporary setup cage floor that they are unlikely to sit on, those are the ones I'm trying to decide on their fate. Do I try to incubate them myself with technology, or do I leave them to the fate of just being eggs on the cage floor. I think I'm not explaining clearly I'm just typing this up on a cell phone so I think I'm probably leaving out a whole, whole lot. Alex is an old man bird and while he doesn't act poorly I don't take for granted that today is here and tomorrow might not be, for any of us. And I'd hate to ignore "good" eggs to sit cold and ignored on the cage floor and then Alex and Sarah get in a fight tomorrow and never try again for babies or some other reason why "tomorrow" never comes for trying to get a chick


If that makes sense


But yes half of my hesitation is how much work it is, and how if something doesn't go right it would be the chick(s) who suffer.

The reason I was talking about chickens isn't because I think it's similar. It's because my chickens are old for chickens so they make a good potential fertility comparison as parents as an 23 year old cockatiel rooster. And mentioning how the chicks are doing well after hatching was meaning that, ok maybe the cockatiel eggs have lower fertility rate if similar to old chickens but the chicks that did hatch were healthy and thriving so what does it matter there's fewer of them but they're healthy

Again, hope this makes sense. Cell fone typing isn't the easiest

 

[DonnaBudgie]

I have a lot of experience breeding parakeets and hand feeding and etc. I've kept birds for over 25 years and worked in a parrot shop, etc. I am very well aware it's different from raising chickens. Like I said in the original post they are all in temporary housing at the moment, thus no nest box. Their normal setup has a nest box. They used it the first time but the eggs never hatched I'm not sure they mated enough times, I think once the first egg appeared Alex forgot all about his job in making them and all he wanted to do was sit on them. From the first egg. Extra eager poppa. Now I have watched them mate many times but because the eggs are on the floor of the cage they keep getting disturbed off of sitting on them, or I think that's what's happening anyway because they are not very committed to sitting. This is the second batch of eggs they have laid on the cage floor so I am confident they will not sit on them this time either. It's a long story why they are all in here in temporary housing but they can start going back to their normal setups starting next week probably. I put most of that in the original post.

Candling only shows if an egg is starting to develop you cannot candle a freshly laid egg to see if it's fertile before any incubation has taken place, there would be nothing to see. I could crack them open and visually inspect the yolk for the "bullseye" you see in fertile eggs, but that would be hard to see on an egg so small, and seems like an unnecessary waste of a potentially "good" egg if I do decide to try

I had no idea you've hand raised budgies- couldnt tell from your post. I don't candle until the second week of incubation for exactly that reason. I remove the infertile ones and sub dummies so they don't get tempted to reolace them. My breeding budgies last summer laid 10+ eggs per clutch and I limited them to two or three fertile eggs.

 

[DonnaBudgie]

If you want to save the current eggs so you get a baby or two from old Alex I think that's a great idea based on your experience and staying home. Why not? Raising them wouldn't differ much from raising budgies and you've done that successfully.

 

[texsize]

I have an elderly male Cockatiel named Baby.
He’s 24 years old (approximately).
He is as interested in mating as he ever was.
Whenever I take him out of his cage he wants to mate with my hand.

Use to be he would mate twice each out of cage time but now he can only manage one go.
Age catches up with all of us.
But I got no way of knowing if his……contribution is viable or not.

Caring for the babies is hard work for the parents.
Both mom n dad feed the babies so they gota eat for themselves and enough extra to share.
I can see why you might be concerned about age.

 

[bug_n_flock]

Yup. Got my first bird-a lovely normal green budgie hen from a big box store- when I was about 9 years old. And she was my pet, not a "childs pet" that the parents look after. Named her Tweety and she was absolutely perfect. A few years later I decided I wanted a second bird so I spent my allowance on another perfect sweet pet shop budgie hen. I paid in all coins Alex was my third bird and I got him as a "peace offering" from my parents after Tweety died. She had been sick, but they thought I just wanted more attention for my pet or something? So ignored me when I said she was poorly and needed help.

Alex and I have been thru a LOT together and I consider him as my brother who wears feathers.

When I bred budgies and hand fed by choice, I was a teenager and thankfully went to a non public school that was very tolerant. I was allowed to leave the babies in the main office where the headmistress watched them(she was a total critter person too), and I was able to go feed them thru the day.

The parrot shop hired me on the spot in fact when they heard I was hand feeding budgies. My boss there taught me more about raising babies, and I also did keep breeding birds on and off.

Hand feeding straight from the egg tho is very intimidating I'm not gonna lie. Tho so is the thought of not having a baby from Alex.

I had one budgie pair who would without fail lay six eggs each clutch. Diligently sit on them and hatch all of them out. But only feed 4. So I definitely understand replacing eggs with dummy eggs. I didn't know about that back when that pair was breeding, I was still just a kid, and it was HEARTBREAKING. I didn't breed them very long, maybe two or three clutches before I figured out they were doing it on purpose and I put a stop to that.

Yesterday Sarah and mostly Alex were interested in sitting on the floor eggs and I was hopeful this thread would become irrelevant and they would sit the nest, but they both slept in their normal spots and this morning no interest in the eggs. Tho they are grooming each other and have already played leapfrog. Sheesh, I'm barely on my second cuppa and they're already doing the deed

 

[bug_n_flock]

And yes the strain on the parents is also a very major concern for me. Making and hatching the eggs is the easy part. If they hatch their own family and would let me, I will help raise the babies thru supplemental feedings. And of course watch the situation closely and step in entirely if need be.

I've hand fed since when I was a teenager, but I no longer *choose* hand feeding if that makes sense. I will do it to help out or save a baby, but I don't take healthy babies from healthy parents to hand feed for tameness in the babies. Tho, I haven't bred any parrots at all in several years. Life took a detour and I'm only now getting to where that is an option. That's also how my chickens got to be so old with no younger layers to take over from the old hens. Thus why I'm incubating so many chicken eggs to only get a few chicks. If that makes sense lol

 

[DonnaBudgie]

Handfeeding from hatching is a very delicate procedure but the three baby budgies I've raised had great appetites despite weighing only ONE GRAM at hatching. My husband and I got a technique down that has worked very well. It's absolutely exhausting, however, and I have no plans to raise any more babies any time soon. Tiki hatched last July 7 and hand fed for over three months! His physical and social development was normal but he loved being fed long after fledgling. Another baby, Joey, hatched October 22 and she hand fed for about 9 weeks, so I was feeding baby budgies for about 6 months. During this time we had to drive from Maine to NJ and back five times, bringing the babies wirh us, but they did fine.