Cockatiels from egg to full grown.

I documented our cockatiels from the egg to full grown.

We have a pair of cockatiels that have mated. I have documented the whole experience except for a few days due to a computer crash which caused me to lose some of the pictures.

In our experience breeding the cockatiels has been extremely easy. The parents have done all of the work.

We provided them with a cockatiel nesting box that opened from the back. This allowed us to monitor the eggs and the chicks. We lined the nesting box with carefresh pet bedding.

Our female laid a total of four eggs. Each egg was laid about two days apart.
The cockatiel pair began incubating the eggs immediately. The male would sit on them all day. The female would sit on them all night while the male guarded the outside of the box
AND HE GAURDED it well. If you came anywhere near the box he would lunge at you!

During this whole experience we provided our birds with a variety of foods.
Our birds were raised on seeds so changing their diet could be problematic. We introduced new foods in a separate bowl. We provided them with a bowl full of seeds, a small bowl full of nesting food and a small bowl full of pellets and believe it or not plain old cheerios. They ate those cheerios like they were going out of style.
It is also important to provide a cuddle bone for the female. She will need the extra calcium it provides in order to create the eggs.

It is important to monitor the eggs and make sure they are fertile. Click here to see an article about candling eggs.

Of the four eggs that ours laid all were fertile but only three hatched. The babies were well fed by the parents.
Baby birds have a crop. A crop is a pouch that holds the food before going into the stomach. At any given time you could peek in and see that the young babies had full crops. It was very obvious.

The young birds about doubled in size from day 1 to day 2. Look at the pictures below to see the growth from eggs to full grown. From the time they hatched to the last picture was about four weeks.

Day 1 – 1 Baby 3 Eggs

Day 2

Day 3 – 2 Babies

Day 4

Day 5 Three babies

Baby cockatiels about 1 week old

Baby cockatiels about a week and a half old

Baby cockatiels 2 weeks old

Baby cockatiels all grown up!

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