breeding cockatiels age both 2 yrs old same batch

Question
I have two birds from the same batch,they have mated and my female has layed eggs at the bottom of cage. Help me now what am i suppose to do.I was told the would not mate but the have and I was a litle shocked to see 4 small white eggs at the bottom of their cage,I tried to place shredded up papper towls at the bottom w/the eggs on top but my female keeps rolling and burying them. Are these eggs at a lost or can I still save them?

Answer
Hi, Michelle.

You really don't want 2 birds that are related to breed and produce offspring.  Would be the same as you having children with your brother....could result in medical problems with the babies.  Eggs laid on the cage bottom is not the ideal situation.  Whether these eggs can be saved or not just depends on a lot of things.  

If these eggs were recently laid (like within the last 7 days) and you don't want babies, you can remove the eggs, boil them for a few minutes, let them cool, then place them back under the bird.  Then let the birds abandon them in their own time (they won't hatch).  Your female may still lay up to 2 more eggs for a full clutch of 6, so you may want to wait a couple more days before boiling them so you capture the full clutch.  She's likely finished laying if it's been more than 2 days since the last egg was laid.

Eggs laid on the cage bottom sometimes hatch, but sometimes don't.  Therefore, the chances of these eggs hatching is 50/50.  Babies might arrive with no developmental problems, but any babies that hatch might have developmental problems since the parents are related.  The survival rate of babies hatched on cage bottoms can go either way.  Problem is eggs/babies often can't be kept warm enough when laid on the cage bottom, not to mention eggs becoming contaminated/babies becoming ill from coming into contact with feces, etc.

Visit my website for more information on eggs/babies, including how to handfeed if this becomes necessary.

www.angelfire.com/falcon/birdinfo/index.html

Related birds sometimes mate, sometimes not.  Just depends on the individual birds.  If you don't want these birds to mate/breed, you need to keep them separated.

Chrys