Cockateil Unexpectedly Laid anEgg

Question
Hi,
We received 2 rescue cockatiel about 2 months ago.  The female was in good shape and the male was thin and undernourished.  They were not raised together.  They are now both healthy and appear happy and spend much time out of the cage and playing with us.  This morning we woke to find that the female had laid an egg on the bottom of the cage.  What should we do?
Thank you

Answer
Hi, Sherilyn,

Just leave the egg where it has been laid.  She may lay up to 6 eggs total.  The cage bottom is a bad place for eggs to be laid and a worse place to raise babies.  You can try setting up a nesting box on the cage, try moving that egg to the box, but she may abandon this egg and/or lay more eggs in the box.  She may also not go near the box since one wasn't set up before she started laying.  

Read more on my website:  www.angelfire.com/falcon/birdinfo/index.html.

What you don't want to do is remove any eggs.  If you remove any eggs, she will lay more to replace what you have removed.  Therefore, just let her lay this clutch and see what happens.  Have you seen the pair mating?  If not, it's possible she could be laying infertile eggs, but with the male present, they could also be fertile.  If these are infertile, she will eventually abandon them on her own.  Allow her to do so versus you removing any of the eggs.  If any are fertile, you may find baby tiels on the cage bottom in about 18 days after incubation begins.  If you put up a nesting box and she lays in it, then you may find baby tiels in the nesting box in this time.    

Looks like you could have some baby tiels in the very near future!

Chrys