Breeding Question about Cockatiels

Question
I have 2 cockatiels a positive male, and a positive female. The Female cockatiel has laid her second clutch of eggs and is now sitting on them. They arent fertile, nor were the first clutch of eggs. The female will try to get the male to breed her, she will sit on the perch, low, and her back will be straight, and her tail slightly up. she will then chirp at the male, like she is trying to get his attention. occasionally, the male will look at her, then step closer to her, but then move back to the end of the perch by the bars. I got the male in summer of 2006, then december 2007 i got the female. when the female is trying to get the males attention, he will always look at me, or if i look over and he is by her he will move to the end of the perch then watch me. i read that a cockatiel can be too hooked on a human and think that the human is its mate instead of another bird. but lately, the male has also been going in with the female bird while she is sitting, and he will sit on the latter (they tore it down and made it like a barrier that is diagonal in their box) and the male will sing to her the whistles her learned from us and he will preen her head. occasionally, she will leave and he will go in the box and rub his beak on the inside, and tap. he wont sit on the eggs she has laid thou. he also lets her get closer to him when they are both out of the box, and they may even eat together. but i still have not seen them breed. sometimes, when i am sitting there, and she comes close, he will either flee from her, or will threaten her with an open beak, usually she just puts up with it and puts her head down and lets him attack her head. its not really attacking because he isnt biting, she acts as if he is preening her head. sorry if it is confusing, but its the same thing he does to me when he gets mad and i dont move my fingers away when he threatens to bite. also at times she will chase him around the cage in circles for the longest time. i have been reading though, and i cant seem to find out why the male won
t breed her.. if you could help it would be great.

Answer
Hi Lisa -- so I take it you are TRYING for them to breed successfully and not just be a happy bonded pair without kids?  :-D  

I always have to ask this, so forgive me.  Depending on what your intentions are with the breeding, I really urge you to do a lot of research on the entire process.  Make sure you know what you're getting into.  You need to ask yourself if you're really prepared for all the hard work and possible issues that come with breeding and babies.  Here are some things to think about.

Successful and healthy breeding takes many requirements - proper nestbox with proper nesting material, cuttle bone for calcium for the female, daily fresh veggies/fruits, a good pelleted/seed diet, among many other things - are you prepared to give your birds everything they need to ensure safe and healthy breeding?

Have you read up on the all the things that can go wrong in the process?  Egg binding, egg peritonitis, DIS, incubation, temperatures, splayed legs, etc.?  Egg production and laying are VERY taxing on the female, not to mention incubation of the eggs and brooding of the chicks.  

Are you willing to have someone show you how to properly handfeed the babies in case mom and/or dad reject any of the chicks?  Are you prepared to handfeed these babies every 2 hours for the first few days (not certain of their feeding schedule, but I know the first couple of weeks can be quite demanding)?  Do you have the proper brooder (machine to put babies in to keep them at the right temperature before they get feathers) on hand to keep them in if you decided to or need to handfeed?  Handfeeding is an art form and if done improperly can cause severe issues and death.

Do you have suitable homes lined up for any babies or are you prepared to keep them yourself housed separately from siblings and mom/dad to prevent inbreeding?

Do you have a good avian vet on hand in case of any emergencies?

Also - if your female is under a year of age - definitely try to hold off any breeding as she is too young.

Sorry for all the questions - it's just with all the millions of birds who are sitting in rescues/sanctuaries, who are abused/neglected across the world and in need of good homes - these are definitely things to think about.  

Now, in regard to your male.  You've had the male for 1.5 years... he has likely bonded with you.  If you are able to handle him and such then that's definitely the case.  He's likely pretty confused by the fact that there is a third party that spends all that time in his cage - since he likely saw YOU as his "woman".  :-D  He doesn't seem interested in mating with that female because right now he's closer to you.  Parrots (including) 'Tiels are monogamous creatures and will mate for life.  This might be the reason he's "attacking" her at times - she wants him to court her and right now he's not interested!  He is saying "Back off woman!!".  lol

Here's what I suggest.  If the female is friendly - spend some time socializing with her as well as the male... so that he will start to realize she is part of the flock and will not be going anywhere.  It's likely he just needs some more time to adjust to the female.  You might want to spend a little less time one on one with him if you currently spend a lot of time interacting.  However - don't cut him off... this might be a seriously emotionally trying event for him.  You may want to spend a little less time within his view and then when you interact with him directly, be sure you interact with her too.  (If she has fertilized eggs ever - don't ever keep her out  of the cage for more than 10 minutes or the eggs could cool down.  It's not likely she'll want to anyway by instinct - she knows they need to be sat on almost constantly).  Just keep your eye on him, that he doesn't stop eating or that anything serious ensues between the two in the cage.  

If your home is safe and if they are clipped, be sure you open the cage door (supervise them of course) for some daily out of cage time to stretch their wings a bit.  This is important mentally too.  

If you decide that breeding is something you would rather not have take place, you can remove the nestbox, nesting materials and take other measures to prevent her from being so... "amorous".  

But give him a little more time to adjust to her.  If they seem to be bickering a little... that would be a good time to let them have some out of cage time.  As with most new things do - this is going to take some time for him.  

Here's a good site full of cockatiel info if you haven't found it already:  www.cockatielcottage.com

Good luck and let me know if you have any other questions.  :-)