Me, a grandma????? OH NO!!!!

[Logan]

Roger and Milly have been extremely "lovey dovey" lately, but the last thing I expected was an egg! Well, last night, we noticed that they had been tearing up the paper in one corner of the cage, and sure enough, Milly has laid an egg!

I have no nest for her, but she's sitting on that thing, and I simply don't know what to do! After almost two years of having them in the same cage, this has never happened. I guess there is no question as to whether Milly is a girl anymore! Some of you might remember when I adopted her, they told me her name was Willy and that she was a male. After reading up on males vs females, I was convinced that I had a Milly, not a Willy, and now I know for sure.

Where is Popcornbird when I need her?? What to do, bird people? We are not in a position to be breeders, but I do hate to take the egg away from her. Will she lose interest in it??

Help me if you can!!!

[Sara luvs her Tinky]

WOW...

I (of course) have no advice... but I am excited for you!!

Are you gonna keep the little baby bird? I think it will be REALLY cool to watch a little baby bird grow up on Pet Talk..

Popcornbird is gonna go nuts!!

Can you show us a picture of Milly sittin on her egg!?!?!

[Logan]

I'll be glad to take a picture, Sara, when I can find the camera!!! On the advice of another bird person at another site, I tore up some tissue and placed both (yes, now there are two) eggs in a plastic dish so that they are off the floor of the cage, and safely nestled in soft tissue, rather than shredded newspaper. She is quite angry with me so I don't know if she'll go back down there or not. Roger is in the nest right now, tearing up the tissue, even more, but Milly has not sat back down on them. I don't have the heart to take them away, plus from what I understand, she'll just lay more if I do. If God wants them to have babies, I guess that is what we will allow to happen.

The eggs are so sweet, a very pale orange/pink color.

[Sara luvs her Tinky]

, I tore up some tissue and placed both (yes, now there are two) eggs in a plastic dish so that they are off the floor of the cage,

THIS IS SO EXCITING!!!!

Mommy Milly..... you better go sit on them eggs so we can see some BABY BIRDIES!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[DJFyrewolf36]

I know how you feel

Our Finches laid eggs for the first time last year...hatching three babies. they have since had SIX MORE! We adopted out four of them and kept 5 (two unfortuneatly didn't make it). Hopefully your birds will take care of thier babies better! I know handfeeding finches is a royal pain, and doesn't always work right. What kind of birds do you have? (Im relatively new here...)

[wolfsoul]

Oooh, PCB is going to be mad when she finds out she missed this!

Maybe try finding a tiel board that could help? Or email a tiel breeder?

[luckies4me]

Originally posted by wolfsoul
Oooh, PCB is going to be mad when she finds out she missed this!

Who cares! EDIT: I didn't read all of Wolfsoul's reply before I responded lol. I thought she was going to say PCB would be mad for her intentionally breeding her tiels. My bad.

I used to breed tiels. What advise do you need. Can you show me a pic of your cage set up? I wouldn't advise taking the egg away UNLESS you know there is no viable life in there. How to tell? Easy! If she can let you take the egg out, very gently hold it up to the light. If there is more than just yolk inside it's a viable egg and you should let her sit on it. Make sure she keeps it warm or the baby will die. Tiels make great parents, most of the time. They also tend to mate for life, for unless one of their babies ( expect more eggs) is a female or male I wouldn't seperate them and please don't. It can make them really depressed. I have fostered a lot of birds here for our Exotic Bird Rescue and the negative effects are just horrible, and I know first hand as we bred tiels for about 15 years.

Nest boxes (wooden ones) are fairly cheep and can be found at just about any pet store. Most cages have the option of attaching one to the outside or they are fairly easy to hang on the inside as well. If you need more advise on this let me know. We just got two new breeder tiels so are expecting babies in about 6 months. The girl is still too young now to breed. I would take the tissue paper out. Try to get some Aspen shavings. Don't use corn cob because they are very protective of their babies and since corn cob has a tendency to grow mold and fungus and birds poop a lot (especially when creating a nest and they "save" everything) I wouldn't suggest using that. Paper towels are also a good option and can be changed everyday. Something that Milly can snuggle into and helps keep the eggs warm are a good idea.

Just please don't take the eggs away, please. I would be really sad. Tiels bond SO storngly to their eggs and mate, and babies. Once the babies are born, in a few weeks, if you need any help on hand rearing in case anything should go wrong please let me know. I have years and years of experience handraising tiels.

Any questions I would be happy to answer.

[luckies4me]

Originally posted by Logan
She is quite angry with me so I don't know if she'll go back down there or not. Roger is in the nest right now, tearing up the tissue, even more, but Milly has not sat back down on them. I don't have the heart to take them away, plus from what I understand, she'll just lay more if I do.

Both parents take active roles in the raising of the young. The male will feed the babies, but after they are born and about 6 weeks old you have to watch to make sure he does not pluck all their head feathers out, which is a sign of him trying to be dominant over any babies. If this happens you need to remove the male until they are weaned or hand raise them. But I wouldn't worry. We have only had two males who have done this. Roger should make a wonderful dad. Just try not to disturb them this much. He will feed them as well.

And no matter if you take the eggs out or not, she will always lay now. No matter what. Even if she has not mated.

[Logan]

Thanks, Cass. I have no intention of interfering with nature on this one, for sure. I just went to look for a nesting box, but the pet store where I got both of them didn't have one. She is not on the eggs, still, but I can tell she has moved them around again. Should have gotten the shavings when I was out! I'll do that tonight. Is she going to be upset that I keep touching the eggs? As you can tell, I am a novice at this!

By the way, for whomever asked (sorry I can't remember who), Roger and Milly are darling Cockatiels!

[trayi52]

I raised some a long time ago, my mermory is so bad. I raised them and finches. Dern when you get old your memory just flys right out of the window! Cass don't the male even sit on the eggs too? or am I mixing them up with the finches?

I do remember with the finches I used to cut up knitting thread in the bottom of the cage and those little finches would work like crazy carrying it up to the nest.

I do seem to remembe nesting boxes for the cockateils, Whew! Amazing how you just sort of mix everything up! My advice, Dont' get old!

I think one of the birds that ann has is one that I raised. I am just not sure. I sure did give a lot of teils away back then. I think I supplied Wayne County with them.

The one I have now I got at a petstore and for awhile I thought it was a female but no, it wasn't little stinker of a boy!!

Ashamed men aren't like some of these birds, help sit on the eggs!

[Tonya]

OOOOH! I am so excited! Pictures! How long does it take?! I want wait! I've never been involved in baby birds. We're all going to be Aunties and Uncles, right?

[luckies4me]

Originally posted by Logan
Thanks, Cass. I have no intention of interfering with nature on this one, for sure. I just went to look for a nesting box, but the pet store where I got both of them didn't have one. She is not on the eggs, still, but I can tell she has moved them around again. Should have gotten the shavings when I was out! I'll do that tonight. Is she going to be upset that I keep touching the eggs? As you can tell, I am a novice at this!

Some get upset, but most don't. This is her first time so she is probably going to be a bit protective. She, or they for that matter, will start putting their wings out and hissing, especially after the babies are born. They aren't cute babies, just to warn you lol. They are born totally bald and their crop is really the only thing interesting about them at that age. It just sort of sticks out. They are especially ugly when their pin feathers come in, but once their down (the first layer of feathers that keeps them warm) comes in they look a bit cuter.

One of our girls Pancha, would lay her eggs under our couch. That was HER couch lol, her nest. She would run out from under the couch as soon as anyone came near it, hissing at you. What a funny girl she was.

[luckies4me]

Originally posted by trayi52
Cass don't the male even sit on the eggs too? or am I mixing them up with the finches?

Yes they do. They do the feeding as well.

[momoffuzzyfaces]

CONGRATULATIONS GRANNIE!!!
I can't stop grinning. I keep seeing an entire chorus line of baby Rogers and Millys all chirping ZIPPITY DOO DAH!! and wiggling their feathered bums. TOO CUTE!!!!

[trayi52]

Your right Cass, those are some ugly babies. I always thought they look like little old hairless witches with the big ugly crooked nose.

I thought the men done half the work, amazing human men just walk around and pass out cigars!!