Is she going into labor?

[Bird-Mom]

She has been standing like this for about 30 minutes now. Her breathing has picked up and become a bit heavy. When she used the bathroom it was like water. Is she getting ready to lay an egg?

 

[camelotshadow]

Hope someone can give you some advise but hard to tell anything from the photos.
Wasn't she breathing heavy the other day? Is she eating?
Is she squatting or straining?
Guess a warm steamy shower can't hurt.

If she continues the heavy breathing you might want to take her to a vet as she might be sick.

I hope she is alright.

 

[Bird-Mom]

No, that was one of my others. This one is my breeder. She's been in the nest box for a while now so I'm hoping

 

[sunnysmom]

I think yes- she's about to lay an egg but that's just guess.

@Monica ? @Beanurita ?

Physical Signs

• One sign of imminent egg laying is the female cockatiel will have very large and smelly droppings. A bird defecates and expels eggs out of the same opening, the vent, so droppings will sometimes be retained in the bird until the egg is laid. A cockatiel that is ready to lay an egg will seem heavier. Her vent area and lower abdomen will bulge and feel larger because of the egg. It will feel firmer as well. A female cockatiel may also fluff up her feathers for more body warmth right before laying her egg.

Behavioral Signs

• You will notice the cockatiel's behavior change as she becomes what's called "broody" right before an egg is laid. She will vocalize more, often making screams and whimpers. She will often squat either in her nest or along the bottom of the cage. Her wings will tremble. Female cockatiels close to laying their eggs will act anxious. The need to find a proper nesting area will increase, and the bird might shred newspapers at the bottom of the cage or try to find hiding places in her cage or aviary. A once sweet-natured female may turn protective and unfriendly during this time, because she's feeling uncomfortable and territorial. She may also start drinking more water because eggs need a lot of water during their formation

 

[Beanurita]

Look at the bum........does it look like there may be an egg bum.....swollen vent area? Has she been in the nest box more often lately? Has she been mating a lot lately over the pass week or so?

How old is she??? The only thing I can tell from the pics is that she looks to is still be a baby and hasn't gone through her first molt yet! She is WAY to young and her life is seriously more at risk if you are allowing her to mate! She shouldn't even have a nest box until she is at least past a year old!

 

[sunnysmom]

I'm sure you're aware of this but something to also be cautious of:

Signs Of Cockatiels Being Egg Bound (from aboutcockatiels.com)


These are a few signs that your female may display, keep an eye out for them;

• Depression
• Sitting at the bottom of the cage
• Labored breathing
• Lethargic
• Straining
• Lack of droppings
• Fluffed up appearance
• Poor appetite

Something to note with this is, we noticed that one of our females was suffering when trying to lay an egg. The strange thing was that she had laid eggs before with ease and all our cockatiels have an awesome diet. The only thing we changed was that we were putting a little vinegar into the water. On studying the cause of what might be the problem, it became clear that the vinegar was counteracting the calcium supplement that we were giving

 

[Bird-Mom]

@Beanurita Hahah! Well, she thanks you for the compliment, but she's 5 years old.
Her vent didn't look fully dilated. She's got a nest box and been eating a lot of her cuttlebone. I also feed a supplement. This is a planned breeding, not unexpected. Her previous owner used her as a breeder.

@sunnysmom thank you for the info I do know about egg bound, but I've never had to deal with it. As always I am keeping a close eye on her. I peeked in on her I'm the nest box and she looked okay.

 

[Beanurita]

@Beanurita Hahah! Well, she thanks you for the compliment, but she's 5 years old.
Her vent didn't look fully dilated. She's got a nest box and been eating a lot of her cuttlebone. I also feed a supplement. This is a planned breeding, not unexpected. Her previous owner used her as a breeder .

Well m glad she is not a baby! That grey face is deceiving! I would keep and eye on her at this point. If she doesn't lay tonight check her vent and you may need to call an avian vet to get her in. My tiel (Sugar Oct 1997-July 2011) didn't lay any eggs till she was 9 and sometimes her dimenur change for almost 24 hrs before she laid.

 

[Bird-Mom]

She is a normal grey so she is very grey, such a cutie
Do you think this is normal? It's like water. She's eating and drinking.

 

[karen256]

The dropping is a little watery, nothing to be worried about by itself, as she's probably feeling a little bit stressed out.
The fact that she's able to pass the dropping means she isn't egg bound, but it also doesn't mean she can't become eggbound.
It's hard to tell from the photos if she's about to lay. Is she spending more time in her nestbox? Is her abdomen bulging? With my GCC, it becomes apparent that she's going to lay about 2 days before she actually lays.
If she does become egg bound, it can quickly become life threatening. But it's a tough call as to when to see the vet as it's also best to avoid stress and keep her in a familiar place if possible.

 

[Bokkapooh]

Have you physically handled her to view her body? Does she have an egg in her or is this a sign of an underlying illness?

 

[Bird-Mom]

I can't handle her. She's not tame at all so I didn't want her jumping and falling all over the cage and possibly break the egg if there is one.

 

[IceTiger]

damn....the more I read this page the more I am getting nervous lol. This thread makes me feel like a father going crazy because the wife is about to go into labor

 

[Bird-Mom]

Hahah, well I wouldn't worry too much about eggs unless you plan to breed. Is Castiel a male or do you just think he is?

 

[IceTiger]

Castiel is a male yes, but I would never breed. I wouldn't breed birds. I have no idea what I am doing and honestly I don't have the space nor the time to run a shop, running a day care for budgies and also be a fiance lol.

 

[Bird-Mom]

How is taming him going?

 

[IceTiger]

oh we hit this brick wall currently. He will eat out of my hand. He will let me hold my hand next to him. He will even let me put it against him and he will sleep against the hand. He will lick and nibble my hand, but he will not in hell step on it. I used psychology, I used youtube videos, I tried to kind of trick him into my hand. It's hit a wall. I am unsure if this will go further or we are going to forever be stuck at this point

 

[Bird-Mom]

That sucks, I'm sorry. Something about birds their size that just don't like us holding them. I hope the babies I get will be tame. I'm afraid I will put in so much effort and have them just act the same way as the petstore birds.

 

[IceTiger]

Yeah I don't know what to try anymore really. I ran out of options with Castiel. I guess he just won't get further. somewhere in my brain it clicked that maybe I can still get him to that point, but with a tiel. If I have a handreared tiel and Castiel sees that when he is on my shoulder and I play with the tiel and it's having fun, maybe it will convince him to be eager to try it too
No not likely. It's not like you are going to shove them into a small cage and sell it off the minute it's grown up enough to leave. Feed it by hand and spend time with it and I honestly can't see how it will end up like pet store birds. Pet store birds are mostly just from people that makes breeding an income. They push as much and high as numbers as they can. Not all of them, but a lot of them do.

 

[Bird-Mom]

I got mine from a chain petstore so that's probably the case with them. Sometimes I find Tramp to be pretty noisy.