Cockatiel Question

[Doyle'sMommy]

For those of you that have multiple cockatiels...

Do you house them together, if so do you house 2 females or 2 males or a male and a female? I know Prinny could start laying eggs whenever and I really don't want to encourage that- it scares me honestly. But someone told me if I get another girl to eventually house her with (granted they get along) that they would start acting like mates and start laying eggs like crazy. But if I get a boy and house them seperatley and just let them have time out together and cages close by do you think she would start laying eggs? And someone also told me that if I get another cockatiel that I will lose her as a pet, do you think this is true? She still really wants to be close to Doyle (and of course he isn't interested) and we are really thinking that another cockatiel would make her happy. I just want to do what's best for her. I need some help with this...

[Stickvilla]

I have two tiels....

Freyja is definately female.... has already laid eggs.... twice, one the first time and three the second, the occasions about 2 months apart...

Tweety's sex is unknown ... but he/she is not very friendly up close with Freyja... more jealous of Mommy time than anything...

They are housed in sperate cages.... but near each other...

They do contact calls all the time...to me and each other.. and get upset if one can not see or hear the other tiel....:excited:

They both are very loving and bonded to me and wonderful fids......

They keep each other company when I am busy doing other things.... they are just not quite sure how to act with each other... Tweety had not been around another bird for over 5 years when I got him ... and got Freyja 3 months later (she was initially trying to preen Tweety all the time but now just tries to guard her scritching/luvin time with me with Moma).... so bird companionship is still kinda new to Tweety...

Neither tiel is clipped.. and they fly around together in the bird room several times a day with no problems between them during thier cage "out" time.... the only problems is when trying to love on just one at a time ... have learned to give scritches with both hands at the same time..:lol: ... coordination is NOT one of my strong points...:shhh:

The choice is really up to you..... another tiel may or may not get along with Princess..... or Princess with another tiel.. it is just a crap shoot when it comes to that....

Personally.... if you get another tiel .... I would house them seperately .... especially at first..... and after quarrintine supervise thier time together....

Hope this was some type of help..

[Tiki]

I have 9 tiels who all share the indoor aviary with 2 Princesses and Chaska. Two are girls and 7 boys. The girls do lay eggs from time to time but infetile. What is really funny is when the boys try to mate one of the girls, the other tiels get jealous and break up the illicit liason! :catfight:

Maybe Doyle will come around and accept Princess. Give it some time.

[tielfan]

Cockatiels are notorious egg-layers and some hens will lay even if there isn't anything that remotely resembles another bird in the house. Others won't lay even though they're surrounded by other tiels. There's a lot of luck involved. You can also work to minimize the risk by such tactics as not giving the birds anything that resembles a nest.

Getting a new tiel has never made any of my existing tiels become any less tame, but none of them have pair-bonded which might make a difference. My fourth tiel wasn't tame when I got her, and having three other birds around has probably slowed the taming process. But she is making progress, and the other night she almost decided to use my head for a landing pad. She was close enough for her wingtips to brush my face before she changed her mind and went somewhere else.

Some tiels will get along and some won't. Mine squabble frequently but they have a really big cage and all the elbow room helps keep things peaceful overall. It's more important for them to get along well in a smaller cage since there's less room to run away from a fight.