This color font = Customer
This color font = Catherine (Wind City Parrot)

No problem because I really needed that nestbox. I had to get the one for the cockatiel even tho it's for my conures. I recently moved and their box didn't get packed! They're getting ready for their egg-laying and I'm about to panic, so this is like the one they have. They make the hole bigger themselves. Thanks again for your directions. Lynne

Just in case you get an egg early, you CAN put it in the box, birds cannot smell humans on their eggs, that is an old wives tale.

well, she drops it and it breaks...she's very good with me touching her eggs...let's me pet her too while she's on them, the male also who shares sitting time... but he doesn't feed her -- he sits while she leaves the box and goes out to her dish to eat... BTW, he also doesn't know the "story" - needs a porno birdy flick -- eggs are all infertile, poor little thing...

If you want the birds to bond better, stop petting her while she is on her eggs. You don't belong there at that time.

Ahhh, I had the same issue. A Male Indian Ringneck pet who I felt was lonely so I got him a girl after 10 years of having no mate. She knew what to do but he would not allow her to get under him for the "nookie'. She was stimulated enough to lay a couple blank clutches a year and he would go in and set with her until he got bored. After 5 years of infertile eggs I put her into a breeding program, he missed her for about a week but was happy to have just me again.

My male jenday lost his first and only mate (I had them both from babies) and he used to feed her. After she passed, he cried her name out at night. I got a 3-yr old Gold Cap and he begged to run into her cage - I let him and he wouldn't leave her side. The next year she started laying infertile eggs. He sits with her, is never mean, but doesn't feed her or regurgitate for her like he did with the female jenday.

You're right. They both accept me. And if I hear them fighting, I peak in and they don't mind. I have a special situation with him. It's not exactly night frights, but when he loses a tail feather in the dark, he thinks something is attacking him and freaks out and wants out of the cage (or nest box if, unfortunately it happens there and has) and I have to rescue him and/or her. He flaps like crazy! Because of this I won't leave them alone at night - I get a bird sitter. After her first egg, when I look in, she looks up at me and nudges it toward me to show me. They're both very bonded to me also, as well as each other, so I'm okay. They also let me check them after a week or so to see if they're fertile - I candle them.

If she is laying eggs, do not take them away if intact,

I don't --

she will just lay more which will deplete her body of calcium and eventually kill her.

She needs daily calcium supplements added to her food too.

I do this...

Cuttlebone, mineral blocks, Nekton MSA, scrambled eggs with the shells cooked into them.

They get lots of eggs, but I never put the shells in them -- do they actually chew on the shells? I do add the daily calcium...

If she is dropping eggs before you get the box in, you can put a towel or a lined/padded box under the perch where she usually drops them and collect them, then put them in the box. -- I'll do this if she starts before the box comes, but so far so good!

Let her sit on them until she gets bored or they crack, can take a month. But it is healthier for her.

- always wondered about this, how long to let her stay. I usually do a good 25 days -- but I'll let her stay longer.

Also, if you are not covering the bird cage for 12 hours of darkness a night she will continue to be in breeding mode. With less than 12 hours darkness/sleep she will continually think it is baby making time.

Thank you for this. I try to do it, but wasn't sure. They're actually covered 6 pm to 6 am w/ no trouble.

Cockatiels do suffer from night frights so if the darkness increases them (you will hear thrashing in the night), then get a white noise machine to make a sound to drown out creaks and sounds that may set them off in the dark.

While I have 4 conures, no cockatiels, the male Jenday suffers from what I described above. I have a white noise machine but he likes the air-cleaning machine sounds better! :) The other 2 conures are male duskies, and I have a one 3-yr old African Grey who's up to 40 pp of words, phrases and conversations now. (I wrote them down from the very beginning and charted her progress.) I met Alex in Tucson about 9 years ago and have taught my Hi-Yo Silver according to Irene Pepperberg's program and talk Hi-Yo just like a child. She's exceptionally bright - amazes me constantly.

Just a couple more notes.

I don't know why I thought they were tiels, sorry. Night frights are common to them.

The egg shells, yes, they are edible to birds. You can save your egg shells and freeze (or refrigerate them for a short while) until you have a good pile, a dozen is good to start, then crush them up into chips and put in a very thin layer in a baking dish and bake at a low heat slowly, stir now and then until they just start to darken a very little bit in color. This will sanitize them and you can put a dish of them in the cage or mix in with wet foods.

They have a strong gizzard to crush the shells and obtain calcium from them.

Once your bird starts getting broody (stays in the box) and/or lays her first egg, you do not need to look at it or her, give her 5 days to complete her clutch. She might start looking for him for company and call to him if she does not have you around all the time, I think she has chosen you to be her mate, not him.

It does not always work of course, my male was glad for the company of the new hen but still wanted to be with me, she was not tame (on purpose, I got a breeder hen that would not bond with me) and wanted to be with him, but he was torn between us. If he came to me she would scream for him to come back to her and if he was with her he would look at me, obviously wanting to spend the time with me.

I first got a tame hen, but she was too young to have interest in boys and just beat him up and I ended up with two birds to pet at the same time, one in each hand and it was not what I wanted. So I sold her and got the breeder hen.

About 5 years ago, we put the breeder hen in a breeding environment and Sunshine, my male, was fine after a week. He was happy to be with me only (yes, he accepted my husband but never let him pet him), sadly he (my bird) died this summer. A stroke on Mother's Day, he was 20. I had him since he was 5 weeks old. I am still grieving but he is now buried under trees in a flower garden where the wild birds feed from the 11 wild bird feeders we set up when we are on vacation. He is not alone.