Only one egg and it did not hatch.....

[jenray61]

My 8 year old cockatiel finally laid her first egg, on mothers day of all days. However, that was the only one she laid. She and her mate have been sitting on the lone egg diligently all this time, but sadly, it never hatched. Will they finally give up and abandon the egg? Should I remove it from the cage? Any advice would be appreciated.

Thanks.

[maxollie]

Hi, Jennifer! Mother's Day was the 13th of May, or around that time, so it hasn't been quite 30 days since she laid the egg. Usually, they will abandon their eggs when "nature" tells them the egg will not hatch. Personally, I'd just leave everything as it is for a while longer. I would remove the box and the egg, and clean the box good after 5-6 weeks. And they very well could abandon the egg before then too.

Welcome to the community. We love to see pics here, so whenever you get a chance why not post some pics of your tiels. Keep us posted on the egg situation, and do come back often to visit. See you around the forums.

[jenray61]

Thanks so much for responding. I'll let the egg be for awhile longer. I just feel sorry for them. I wish she had laid more than one egg so maybe there would have been a better chance of them hatching one.

How unusual is it for a cockatiel to just lay one egg? I was concerned at first about egg binding, but she seems perfectly fine.

And on your advice I went out and snapped a photo of my babies, although not a very good one. My female, Sunny, is on the left and my male, Kite, is on the right. I'll try taking a better photo later - lol.