I think the hens have finished laying eggs now so I can stop looking for new ones. I was expecting four per hen, but Shodu and Teela each gave me five and only Ladybug gave me her standard four eggs. So if all the eggs are fertile I'll have 14 chicks. The oldest eggs should start hatching in about a week.

Ooooo! How exciting.

Wow......... exciting news...
Do you keep some of the babies...or sell?
I've never bred any birds...
Would have liked to when I was younger...but not now...
Looking forward to the post on the babies..

In the beginning I kept some of the babies - that's where Teela, Squeebis, Snowy and Henry came from. But I don't plan to keep any more of them, because I've learned that it's a ticket to incest problems. Teela and Squeebis want to make babies together and Henry wants his mother to be his mate. They drive me nuts lol. I did manage to get Teela to make babies with Azazel, but I have to keep her away from Squeebis for several weeks in advance. Squeebis and Henry can NOT be diverted to a different mate but I've tried. I've got more than enough birds already, but if I want to add to the flock I'm really better off getting an unrelated bird.

Any (positive) update?

I know I have!! (read on different thread later on)

Teela's first egg was infertile but the other 13 were all good. Tomorrow is the earliest date that it might be possible for one to hatch, but I don't really expect them to start hatching for another two or three days.

Yeah, I had my first dates 4 days to early. Made me kind of nervous, thinking something went wrong. But patience on my part paid off!

With cockatiels, incubation doesn't always start when you think it did. Sometimes they spend the first few days just sitting in the nest guarding the eggs, not actually incubating them.

Weather makes a difference too. Cooler temperatures will slow down the development of the embryo and make the incubation period longer. Your birds are outdoors so early-spring eggs will probably take longer to hatch than those from a warmer time of year. My birds are indoors, but I don't try to keep the temperature constant all year long. I don't let it get too hot or too cold, but the house is cooler during the cold parts of the year than it is during the hot season. I let the birds start a little earlier than usual this year so that might slow down the hatch time a little.

I'm still worried about the 3 eggs left in stattlers nestbox. They do seem to get some attention (as they move around when I check the nestboxes) One egg is left alone (or at least that's how it looks like) and 2 of them get some attention but usually feel colder to the touch then the eggs I know get propper 'incubation-attention'. I'm not going to interfere any more and leave the eggs be. At this point I'm like whatever happens, happens

Is this his first clutch? Some birds are slow learners and it takes several clutches for them to figure out how to do it right. Maybe he'll be a better sitter next time around.

My first two eggs are in the process of hatching. I can see the external pip and hear the chicks peeping in the egg, and when I candle the eggs I can see the baby's head in the air cell. I couldn't see dark eyes in one of the eggs so I think that chick might be a lutino. I'll know for sure when it hatches.