Fertile Cockatiel Eggs

FERTILE COCKATIEL EGGS FOR HATCHING.
Female cockatiels lay their eggs within one to two weeks of mating. Like many other types of birds, it’s not uncommon for cockatiels to lay one egg every other day until they have all been laid.

Cockatiels are among the few birds that are monogamous and remain with the same partner through each breeding season.

They form relationships early on and, thus, do not spend any time finding or attracting a mate.

Before mating, both sexes get very vocal. Female cockatiels will hold their tails erect, and males will strut with their wings open.

If a male is present and a successful mating has taken place, eggs will be fertilized in the oviduct as well. Females can store sperm in their bodies for up to 15 days, making it possible for 1 entire clutch of eggs to be fertilized from 1 successful mating.

Eggs can be candled about 7 to 10 days after their incubation has begun to verify fertility and development of the egg. At that time you should see a web of tiny red/pink veins starting to become visible inside the shell.

After mating, female birds may lay eggs within as short as four days or even after a month. There are many ways to recognize that your bird is about to lay eggs:

• Female birds prepare to nest and incubate eggs. You will notice them releasing droppings less often. The droppings will be much larger in size as well.
• Just before egg-laying, the bird’s cloaca (opening through which eggs are laid) will swell and have the outline of a round egg.
• The female will start sitting within the nesting box and only emerge to feed and eliminate waste.
• She will be bathing more often and eating soft food and high-energy grains to get the necessary moisture and vitamins for binding the eggs.

On average, cockatiels incubate their eggs for about 18-20 days. This can vary by a couple of days in either direction and is usually no cause for concern.

Cockatiels usually don’t start incubating the eggs until after the second or third egg is laid, with a clutch averaging 4 to 6.  Fertilized eggs will remain viable at room temperature for more ten days as long as the incubation process has not begun. They cannot interrupt the incubation process without killing the chick inside the egg.

Both male and female cockatiels share the incubation of the eggs and it is common to see both of them in the nestbox at the same time. Sometimes one bird will be sitting on the eggs and the other just sitting beside and sometimes each bird will incubate somet of the cockatiel eggs. When one bird is outside the nestbox eating, to relieve him or herself, to eat or drink or to bathe — the other will take over the incubation of the eggs.

The father does a lot of the egg incubation during the daytime when the hen eats and rests outside the nest box. The hen will incubate during the night, while the male usually sits outside the nest box guarding it.

While both parents will sit on the eggs together at first, generally they end up taking turns with the male sitting on the eggs during the day and the female at night. The male will guard the box when the female is inside. This is what he is doing when he comes out of the box and acts the way he is acting.