Strange Cockatiel Behavior

Cockatiels are wonderful, friendly pets. Their colorful faces, crests, and cheeks make them popular cage birds, alongside the budgerigar, or budgie parakeet. Unlike the larger parrots, cockatiels are not too loud or noisy, and are easy to manage. Owning a cockatiel can be a big responsibility though, not only for feeding and care, but also understanding natural cockatiel behavior.

I owned a female cockatiel years ago. When I first got her, I thought she was a 'he' since she squawked and whistled a lot, but with a different voice than that of my parents' cockatiel. We thought that one was a she, but later realized that it was male. He had a yellow face with orange cheek patches, and solid gray and white feathers on the rest of his body. Mine had a grayer face with very little yellow, almost a brownish/greenish hue, duller cheek patches, and barring patterns on her front and tail feathers.

One day, my bird started wading in her water cup and making this funny little warbling squawking sound. She would also take sips of water and then spit them out. We still thought she was a 'he' even though commonly, the male birds are more flashy than the females. She started attacking me and anyone else who got too near the cage, even though previously she was quite docile. It probably happened when we started putting vitamins in her water, because she was a skinny and had been abused and neglected. For a few days, my cockatiel would wade in her water and make those weird sounds, and get aggressive with anyone who approached. My mother thought the bird was 'psychotic' and 'whacko' while my dad thought she was just going 'spastic' over water and needed a refill.

Then, while I was doing my schoolwork one morning(I was homeschooled), I heard my mother say to my bird "Well now I know why you were acting so weird - you laid an egg!"

Curious, I got up to see a tiny egg in my cockatiel's cage. Then, my mother wrote a note, I think to my father, and it included this "Stupid bird laid an egg"

We thought that maybe she had mated with my parents' bird, but it turned out that she had not, and she was not 'stupid' as we assumed. Cockatiels are known for laying eggs with or without a male present. Other birds, most notably the chicken, lay eggs even if they are not fertilized by a rooster. It's perfectly normal and it does not mean that your bird has any form of mental problem - it's just an instinct. Cockatiels like to have babies and the mothers will even call for a male to mate with them. It's the squawking/warbling sound that my cockatiel made.

If your bird exhibits the symptoms I mentioned such as the squawk/warble, or the sudden aggression when previously she never bit or attacked you, then make sure you have plenty of calcium-rich cuttle bones and mineral blocks for her to chew on. Eggs have shells made of calcium, and the calcium they use is taken away from the cockatiel's own system. If enough is depleted, the eggs will start having softer and softer shells, and it will be difficult or impossible for your cockatiel to get those eggs out. That condition is called eggbinding and is potentially deadly. If you think your cockatiel may be eggbound, like if she's walking funny or stiffly, then take her to the vet right away.

Don't take her eggs, because she will just keep laying more and more to replace them, at the cost of her health. Another thing to avoid is rubbing her back, since that simulates sex and encourage egg-laying due to the male standing on top of the female while mating. Just let your cockatiel sit on her eggs until she abandons them, which shouldn't take more than three weeks after the last one is laid. Soon, your cockatiel will be her old friendly self again.

So your cockatiel is not acting strange - she's just acting like a normal cockatiel.

Cynthia Kiesewetter, "Incessang Egg Laying in Cockatiels." North American Cockatiel Society.
Jackiepea, Collywoble, ERHS_Finch, "How Do I Stop My Single Female Cockateil From Laying eggs?" Blurtit.