Thanks for that information. It's very helpful. You have done the right thing for the egg, so far. What would be best is if you have a clear plastic, approx. shoe box size, storage box like you can get at KMart, etc., that would be ideal. You can line it with several layers of plain white paper towels, leaving the lid off of course. You want them to be able to keep their egg/s safe but you do not want to encourage further laying if possible. You don't want to give them anything that is semi dark or private as a true nest box would be. Because they are pet store birds, they should never be allowed to actually hatch any eggs. Pet store birds are good pets but they are not breeder birds, genetically speaking. Aside from the genetics, most of these stores get their birds from just a few, mass producing breeders and regardless of the time span, there is always the possibility of the birds being related. To allow them to attempt to hatch a clutch is just asking for all kinds of heartbreaking results. And since you have no experience with the babies, it's another reason to not allow it. If they should hatch any and if they should not care for them properly, which is a high likelihood with pet birds trying to be parents, (plus yours are really too young) it would take an experienced hand feeder to first recognize instantly that there is a problem, then be able to step in immediately and hand feed the chicks, every 2 hours around the clock. Handfeeding is not something you can learn by reading about it. It takes hands on training. For a novice to attempt it is to end up with dead babies. Now, for the sex thing; if both your birds are what we call Normal Greys and if one of them developed a yellow head after the first molt, then you probably do have one of each gender. However, the fact that you saw them engaging in "sex" is no guarantee. It's not at all unusual for Tiels of the same sex to engage in sex play and even to masturbate on perches, toys, your hand, whatever is handy. Since we can't know for sure, you are going to have to proceed as if you have one of each and you are going to have to proceed as if the eggs are fertile. They either are, or they are not fertile at the time they are layed. If you have a male and if they were successful in mating, the eggs were fertilized before she layed them. Since she is so young, she may only lay the one. Or, she may lay one every other day, up to an average clutch size of 3-5 eggs. (If she should happen to lay more than that, you have another bad situation which will have to be dealth with.) It is critical right now that you insure she has a never ending source of calcium. She must not be allowed to run out of cuttle bone and she needs other calcium rich items in her diet; green leafy vegetables, hard boiled or scrambled eggs, veggies, etc. She is digging into her calcium reserves to make shells for her eggs. If she runs low, her body will rob it from her bones. The dangers of that are obvious. If she runs even lower, she will not be able to make firm shells and she will not be able to pass them. That means she will become egg bound, and/or have an egg rupture inside of her. Either of those is a life threatening emergency and without immediate intervention from a well qualified avian vet, she will die. They will both be very protective of the egg/s and they must not be taken away from them until they have grown bored with them and you are positive beyond any doubt that they are no longer attempting to incubate. The reason for that is, Tiels are what we call "opportunistic layers". If the eggs are removed too soon, they will continue to attempt to replace them, leading to the serious stress on her health as described. What you need to do is to hard boil (very gently to avoid cracking) the eggs, cool them back to the slightly warm temperature they were and return them to the "nest". You don't have to do this right away. You can wait a few days to see if more eggs appear. It's best to do it after there is at least two eggs or more. That way you don't have to remove all at once. You can boil them 1 then 1, or 1 then two, etc. Put a tiny dot on each egg with a Sharpie or similar so you will know which have been handled. Serious incubation will probably not start until the final egg is laid. Be sure to mark your calendar so if she misses a day, you can be pretty sure she is finished, than you can start boiling. I'm going to give you several links to what I hope will be some helpful additional information. Some about basic Tiel care; others about the problem at hand. I always suggest that folks print out all the information and keep it handy for future reference. I hope you will find this helpful but if you have any further questions, don't hesitate to ask. Patricia
Life After Weaning - Your Companion Bird and You
To let you see what you would be up against with handfeeding.
To let you see some of the dangers associated with in breeding, immature parent birds, etc.
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