Angry hormonal male

[Lillemor]

We have two cockatiels, siblings, 14 months old.

The female have now 4 eggs (fake of course), but are not so interested in them. She is in and out of the cage as she wants during daytime, and are laying on the eggs when she wants to.

But yesterday evening the male started with a strange behaviour. He started hiding under the paper at the bottom og the cage, laying on one egg. Today he has been laying on all eggs, chasing the female around if she comes to close, and now when she is laying on the eggs, beeing aggressive against her.
Right now he is calm, but are screaming a lot.

What should we do?
Remove eggs since she is pretty uninterested in them Separate the male and female? Other suggestions?

 

[Tiel Feathers]

I would probably remove the eggs and make sure there are no areas in the cage that they can consider a nest. He might become aggressive with her, so keep an eye on them. He should calm down once the eggs are gone.

 

[Lillemor]

Thank you.

We are a little afraid that the female will lay new eggs if we remove these too early.
She has been out of the cage for 3 hours today, together with the male, not checking on the eggs once, but the moment I put her back in the cage, she started laying on the eggs again. (And after 10 minutes the male chased her away, and took over)

 

[Lady Jane]

After removing the fake eggs just put them back if the female lays more eggs, one at a time to replace one egg laid. If you have any nesting material remove it. News paper can be used as nesting material. It seems as though putting eggs in the cage has confused your cockatiels.

 

[Tiel Feathers]

If he starts being more aggressive you will have to separate them. How long ago did your cockatiel lay her last egg? If she’s not interested in them when away from the cage I would probably remove them all and take measures to discourage egg laying and nesting behaviors in both birds. Is there anything that can be considered a nest in the cage? How big is the cage?

 

[Lillemor]

It seems as though putting eggs in the cage has confused your cockatiels.

Thank you
I apologize for my poor english, but I don't quite understand what you mean with this.

If he starts being more aggressive you will have to separate them. How long ago did your cockatiel lay her last egg? If she’s not interested in them when away from the cage I would probably remove them all and take measures to discourage egg laying and nesting behaviors in both birds. Is there anything that can be considered a nest in the cage? How big is the cage?

Thank you
Last egg was layed on thursday. There is nothing in the cage that can be considered to be a nest.
The cage is 70 cm wide, 50 cm deep, and 80 cm high.

We have taken measures to stop mating/nesting (redused daylight, no nestingsites, less seeds), but I guess it wasn't enough.

 

[sunnysmom]

Thank you
I apologize for my poor english, but I don't quite understand what you mean with this.


Thank you
Last egg was layed on thursday. There is nothing in the cage that can be considered to be a nest.
The cage is 70 cm wide, 50 cm deep, and 80 cm high.

We have taken measures to stop mating/nesting (redused daylight, no nestingsites, less seeds), but I guess it wasn't enough.

As long as your tiel isn't a chronic egg layer, laying eggs is natural and not really an issue (although a bit stressful for the owner.) It sounds like you're doing the right things to try to minimize things. Is this the first time she laid eggs?

 

[Tiel Feathers]

Sometimes no matter what we do, our birds will still lay eggs. It’s fine if she lays a normal clutch once or twice a year. I think your cage might be a bit small for two tiels. The length and width are more important than height. If she’s not distressed or missing her eggs you can take them all out. If she is still interested, you can leave them in. When was the first egg laid, and she had four of her own? Usually a hen will not loose interest until 2-3 weeks from the first egg. I put all eight dummy eggs in right after the first egg, and take them all out at the same time when my bird gets bored.

 

[Lillemor]

As long as your tiel isn't a chronic egg layer, laying eggs is natural and not really an issue (although a bit stressful for the owner.) It sounds like you're doing the right things to try to minimize things. Is this the first time she laid eggs?

Thank you
She layed 4 eggs in june also, but at that time she didn't accept the fake eggs, and did not nest at all.

Sometimes no matter what we do, our birds will still lay eggs. It’s fine if she lays a normal clutch once or twice a year. I think your cage might be a bit small for two tiels. The length and width are more important than height. If she’s not distressed or missing her eggs you can take them all out. If she is still interested, you can leave them in. When was the first egg laid, and she had four of her own? Usually a hen will not loose interest until 2-3 weeks from the first egg. I put all eight dummy eggs in right after the first egg, and take them all out at the same time when my bird gets bored.

Thank you :t)v
According to the vet, the cage is big enough since they mostly play outside.
The first egg came october 4th, and she layed one egg evry 48 hours to 10th og october. We replaced the real eggs one by one.

 

[Monica]

Do you have a picture of their cage setup at the moment?