cockateil egg laying

Question
I am very concerned about out female cockatiel.  Two and a half weeks again she laid 4 unfertilized eggs.  Each was laid a few days a part. I read on the internet to leave the eggs with her until she abandons them. So, I removed 2 eggs and left the other two eggs in the cage with her. She stayed with the eggs. Around two and a half weeks after she laid the eggs, she seemed to be getting bored with the eggs. She became more interested in coming out of her cage and playing, like before her egg laying.   However,just when I felt she was ready for me to remove the eggs, yesterday she laid another egg.  She is back with her eggs. Why another egg so soon. I thought she was done. This is her 5th egg in about 3 weeks. I am worried that she will continue laying eggs. She is now preoccupied with her eggs. Please advise on what to do, and if this is ok healthwise? Is this common? Please e-mail me.Thank you  

Answer
Hello Millie.  Thank you for your post.
It is normal for a cockatiel to lay her eggs a few days apart and she will lay between 6 and 8 eggs before she is done.  Let her sit on all of them until SHE is ready to abandon them.  This will help satisfy her "Mothering Instincts" and she should quit laying eggs.
If she continues to lay eggs, there are a few things that you can do to help break this cycle.  First, you can cover her cage for a few hours a day.  This will help trick her body into thinking that it is night time, and that means time to rest.  You can also lower the temperature in the room that she is in.  This will also trick her body into thinking that mating season is over.
If she starts to lay eggs very excessively, then you might want to consider taking her in for a hysterectomy.  By excessively, I mean several clutches within a 3-6 month period of time.
I have a female cockatiel that has laid clutches of eggs for almost a year and no matter what I did to trick her body, nothing seemed to work.  I talked to my vet, and she suggested the hysterectomy for the bird.  My bird actually sat on 14 eggs for about 3 months until she got tired of sitting on them and abandoned them.  That was a few months ago, and she hasn't laid any more eggs since then.
As far as your bird's health goes, make sure that she has fresh food and water every day, and put a calcium block into her cage.  When her body is depleted of calcium, she will chew on the block.
Also, when she does abandon this clutch of eggs, leave them for a couple of days to make sure that she knows that they will not hatch.  This might also stop her from laying any more.

Good luck and God Bless.
Dianna