My 12 year old female cockatiel Cipi and her 13 year old buddy Mozart have recently become very interested in each other. They’ve had a platonic relationship for years, but with the coming of the vernal equinox the female suddenly got very horny. She started acting seductive towards the male, who responded in a typical male fashion (I woke up this morning to see them eagerly getting it on.) Cipi has been crouching on the floor of her cage for several days, hissing at me when I come near (even though she’s normally a very friendly bird) and tonight when I fed the tiels I noticed an egg. I don’t know if it’s fertile–given their age it may not be. At any rate I’m a little surprised by this–I guess I thought their libido would have fizzled out a long time ago.
I’ve had cockatiels that bred before and according to my observations the female lays about 5 eggs each spaced approximately 2 days apart. I’ve raised baby parrots so if any of the eggs hatch I will probably help feed the chicks in order to get them tame and friendly with people. Beyond that I don’t know if I’d keep them as pets or sell them.
