Stressing about possible babies!!

[Mare]

Chip and Jellybean have been setting on their three eggs for a couple of weeks now, I'm waiting for my informative books, should be here by Tuesday but in the mean time I've been researching on line, lots of YouTube videos and THEY got me even more stressed out!

I suppose I need to take some deep breathes and take it as it comes..breathe in..breathe out..

[Mare]

Words of wisdom will be appreciated.. . I realize most folks don't breed birds, this will be my first venture and it scares the HELL!..out of me!!

[Mare]

..hello..?..

[LunaLovebird]

Don't know a lot about breeding. I assume you have all the stuff you need though? If they're first time parents, there's a high chance that some won't make it, or they'l get kicked out of the nest. Do you have a heat pad and hand raring stuff for if that happens? How is mamma bird eating?

[Mare]

Thank you for the comeback, Luna. No, I'm not prepared for much, not yet. I'm heading to the city tomorrow and will pick up supplies that I know/think will be needed. I have a heating pad, mama is young and I don't know how much she knows but she eats well.

[LunaLovebird]

How young is she?

[Mare]

She's around a year, which I've learned is pretty young but Daddy is several years old and between the two of them they are doing a pretty good job of taking on the egg setting patrol. They seem to be amazing parents, thus far. Jellybean will sit on them 10-12 hours, Chip will spend half that time on half the eggs and when one is out eating and stretching, the other is on the eggs! Super good parents..so far!

[LunaLovebird]

The risk with her being young isn't just to the babies, but to her. It can be detrimental to her health, and harmful to future breeding success (if that's your plan). 12 months isn't that bad from what I've read, but you would have been better to hold them off until she is 18 months and gone into it a little more prepared (things can go pear shaped rather quickly). H

Regardless, it's good that they seem to be doing well and have the parenting thing down pat so far. You will need to keep an eye on Jellybean and what / how much she is eating. Tiels, as I'm sure you know, are prone to binding. She'll need plenty of calcium, so if she has no mineral block that she is using, perhaps scrape some cuttlebone onto her food.

[Mare]

There was never a "plan" of breeding cockatiels, it did happen, though. I didn't know that they are prone to binding. She does love to chew on the cuttlebone bone. Thanks for the advice, Luna. I think we need more cages..!

[LunaLovebird]

Yeah, it's how it goes sometimes. Silly birds sure know how to surprise us and keep us on our toes. Cockatiels are very prone to binding, much more so than other birds. I only know this because lovies are also fairly prone to it, and it's mildly terrifying. It's very good that she's chewing the cuttlebone, though. One less thing for you to stress about until you start getting hatchlings. I do see some more cages in your near future, haha.