Older Cockatiel Laying Eggs

[Lullx]

Some of you know that back in October I rescued my handsome little man, Phaedrus, from a neglectful household. Well, I also rescued a female cockatiel (who just so happened to be lutino, just like my girl Lucy), but gave her to my mom, who wanted a companion once she saw how much my flock had helped me emotionally.

I was told by the previous owner that the cockatiel, now renamed Judy, had laid eggs (obviously not fertile). We have no idea how old she is, but she looks kind of rough, like she's older.
When I was visiting downstairs, I noticed that Judy was displaying mating behavior, and warned my mom that she might lay an egg soon, and to let me know if she does.

Well this morning, I woke up to a text message from my mom, saying that Judy laid an egg! She later sent me a message saying she took the egg out of the cage.

I live upstairs from my parents in my own apartment (they're my landlords), so I went downstairs to help her with this situation. I poked two holes in the egg and we blew the insides out into the trash, and boiled the shell a little to hopefully flush out any remaining egg. I plan to look for wooden beads or plastic eggs that are similar in size to replace this real egg, and for future use.

I also made her some hardboiled chicken eggs and instructed my mother to crush up the shells and put them in Judy's food for extra calcium in case she tires to lay another egg. I told her about the dangers of egg binding ):

So now the egg is back inside the cage with Judy. I also advised my mom to cover her up so she gets more darkness (and hopefully more sleep) and to take a stuffed animal out of the cage that my mom put inside to keep Judy company.
My main concern is that Judy continues to eat. She stopped eating to sit on the egg, but was eating when I was downstairs (and the egg was gone). But I also don't want her to lay more eggs and get exhausted, or worse.

Is there anything else we can do to help Judy safely get through her breeding season? Did I do anything that I shouldn't have?
This is my first experience with eggs like this and I worry that I didn't do enough.

I'm currently back upstairs with my own flock but will be heading back down shortly to check up on miss Jude.

 

[Lullx]

Judy laid her third egg this morning ):

She still looks healthy and is getting up to feed herself. She asks to come out of her cage for a few minutes for head scratches, then goes back to sit on her eggs.

 

[RavensGryf]

Sounds like you're doing well guiding your mom through all this . I have boys, and personally have never had a hen who laid eggs, so I have no additional advice on top of what you already know . I think the extra nutrition and calcium during this period is key. I hear of so many cockatiel hens getting into trouble with egg binding. Great to hear it's going well!

 

[JerseyWendy]

Britt, you're doing a marvelous job helping your mom with Judy.

My cockatiel (RIP) also used to lay 'clutches' for me, but she used one of her food dishes. I never bothered messing with the eggs. I just let her sit on them until she lost interest, usually 3 weeks or so, and then I threw them out.

Good luck with Judy, and hopefully she'll take a long break after 'incubating' them.

 

[Kyoto]

Judy is so so cute!! I love cockatiels. You're doing things right. Hopefully it will turn around for you before too long

 

[Lullx]

Is it likely that she's going to lay an entire clutch? My mom has been emptying each egg and putting them back, like I suggested.
It makes me really sad because Judy looks so happy with her eggs. I bet she would have made a wonderful momma.

Thank you for your reassurance, everyone. I hope my little girl doesn't go through this in a few years. I wanted a male tiel for this reason ): Lucy just finished up her hormonal season (I hope), and it was kind of difficult to go through.

 

[JerseyWendy]

Yes, it's possible she'll lay an entire clutch. You could also replace her eggs with fake ones (they will last forever).
DummyEggs.com Dummy Eggs Stop Bird Egg Laying! Fake Falso Faux Plastic Eggs

 

[Allee]

Judy is a very pretty girl. I'm glad she has your mom to care for her and you to help, Britt. Hopefully this clutch won't be too large.

 

[Lullx]

Thank you so much for the link, Wendy! I showed it to my mom and I'm hoping she'll buy some eggs. I wasn't sure where to look for decoys, so this really helps!

Judy is a sweet girl most of the time, but she's quickly become very bonded to my mom and doesn't want anything to do with me. She also hates my older sister, who visits mom often. I take Judy upstairs into my apartment once in a while and she likes to hang out with my birds, but I haven't since she started nesting. I'm concerned that a change of scenery like that will cause a disturbance for her.

We're still on three eggs, and hopefully it stays that way.

 

[SilverSage]

As long as there is no male, there is no harm in letting her keep the eggs. IF there is a male, I suggest boiling the eggs whole and returning them to her once cooled.

I had a Lutino cockatiel as a child (her previous owners named her Chico. Like, really? Ou known he is female, she lays eggs!) who laid over 60 eggs one year. I did everything I could to make her stop, but I didn't know much, so what I did wasn't much. She died at about 4 years old as best we can tell, so I take this issue very seriously.

I wrote and article on handling hormones, please take the time to read it, it goes into detail about how to help settle the breeding urge.

Handling Hormones ? Silver Sage Aviaries