Can a broody hen incubate a cockatiel egg?

I have a polish crested who just went broody Sunday. My next door neighbor has a pair of cockatiels who have now laid 2 eggs. I've hatched all of my chickens save 3, which range from silkies to marans in size, but I've never put anything like a cockatiel egg in my incubator. It seems like the incubation period, temperature, and humidity levels are the same for chickens and cockatiels from what I've read online. Would the polish crested simply be too big to set on the 2 cockatiel eggs along with her own? My Polish's eggs aren't fertilized as I have no rooster.

I'd be worried that the cockatiel eggs would be inadvertently broken by the hen.

That's my main concern. It seems so weird having the incubator going with just 2 little eggs in there.

The bigger concern is hand-feeding the babies when they hatch. Are you prepared for the task? You'll be feeding them every couple of hours in the beginning.

That's presumably when I give them back to the man next door. What do the babies eat? Do you simply feed with an eyedropper?

I think before you start incubating, you should know for sure what you're going to do with the babies. If you're assuming the parents will just start feeding babies placed in their nest, be prepared to be disappointed.

schatze said:

That's presumably when I give them back to the man next door. What do the babies eat? Do you simply feed with an eyedropper?

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No.. there's an actual technique to feeding young birds like parrots. if you just try to squirt it in, you risk suffocating them. You also need to use a special diet for the babies, plus, like the others said, you're feeding every two hours or so (you can find lots of videos on Youtube about it). That's why many will leave the babies with the parents for the first few days until the babies are on a schedule of every 4-6 hours or so.

Yep - all the replies here are correct. It isn't an impossible task to handfeed a cockatiel from day one, but it isnt something for the beginning hand feeder. All the supplies you need are readily available in most big pet stores, except the syringe size you will need - you can get those at the drug store or online.

BUT, I wouldn't do it. I have done it with success, but I have handfed finches, too...I used to do it all the time. But that is the key - handfeeding parrots and finches is more of an art than a science - you get a "feel" for what you are doing right and wrong. Unfortunately, there isn't a lot of room for error, cause at worst there is going to be death by asphyxiation and minor problems like infection and digestive issues can occur. And the round the clock care is just that - around the clock. The first few days are literally every hour and a half to two hours, with no room for error - no going to work or sleeping without them...no going to a movie, and if you are going out to eat you better make it back in time!

I loved it when I did it, and it can be a very rewarding hobby, but new hand feeders usually start when the tiels are between 2 1/2 and 3 weeks old.

To your other question - The incubation parameters are the same, and I have incubated hookbill eggs alongside chickens (although the chicken eggs are more forgiving). But once you start, they belong to you - the parent wont take them back unless they hatched them.

I bred tiels for many, many years - if you have questions feel free to message me.

-Beau

There have been quite a few threads about "hatching parrot/finch/toucan/etc. eggs" written by people whose experience in raising birds is limited to barnyard poultry, and frankly, it's becoming tiresome to keep repeating the same "pieces of advice." Don't people research things before getting started? OK, if you don't want to google things yourself, well, you're already on this page -- why not scroll down a bit to see similar threads? Perhaps the next time a new thread comes up, I'll respond by simply pasting the links to all the similar threads that came up previously.

:-/


https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/33400/parrot-hatching-eggs

https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/854858/cockatiel-egg-hatching-trouble

https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/851751/can-a-dove-raise-a-cockatiel

https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/78759/incubation-period-for-finch-eggs

https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/845176/is-it-possible-to-purchase-parrot-hatching-eggs

https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/24506/does-anyone-have-finches-or-hatch-finch-eggs

https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/601929/hatching-zebra-finch-eggs-advice

Rosa moschata said:

There have been quite a few threads about "hatching parrot/finch/toucan/etc. eggs" written by people whose experience in raising birds is limited to barnyard poultry, and frankly, it's becoming tiresome to keep repeating the same "pieces of advice." Don't people research things before getting started? OK, if you don't want to google things yourself, well, you're already on this page -- why not scroll down a bit to see similar threads? Perhaps the next time a new thread comes up, I'll respond by simply pasting the links to all the similar threads that came up previously.

:-/


https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/33400/parrot-hatching-eggs

https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/854858/cockatiel-egg-hatching-trouble

https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/851751/can-a-dove-raise-a-cockatiel

https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/78759/incubation-period-for-finch-eggs

https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/845176/is-it-possible-to-purchase-parrot-hatching-eggs

https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/24506/does-anyone-have-finches-or-hatch-finch-eggs

https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/601929/hatching-zebra-finch-eggs-advice

Click to expand...

Then, there are those of us who do look up the question, don't find it and then ask. My question was can a broody chicken incubate a cockatiel egg, and the question was already answered by more helpful and less angry people in previous posts. There's no need to be nasty nor condescending. Most of us come to this forum for help, not for others to be rude, which you are being in your response.