Can a broody hen incubate a cockatiel egg?

[schatze]

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

Thank you very much. I talked to the man next door, and he's decided to not go through with it. These aren't my eggs, they're his, I'm only the owner of the chickens and incubator, and I don't have the time to dedicate to newborn cockatiels; it's like having a human baby but less room for error! Thank you again!

 

[Rosa moschata]

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.

If "being rude" to a person prevents unnecessary suffering and death through botched handfeeding of baby birds, so be it.

 

[schatze]

If "being rude" to a person prevents unnecessary suffering and death through botched handfeeding of baby birds, so be it.

See previous posts such as from everyone else in this thread on how to effectively answer a question. Reading the complete thread shows the question was already very helpfully, informatively, and politely answered. If you don't see how you were being rude, nothing can help you with that.

 

[Rosa moschata]

You were about to incubate eggs and then "presumably" allow your neighbor to take the babies back and handfeed them -- only to find that that wasn't in your neighbor's plans. Had you gone through with incubating the eggs, the result would be day-1 babies requiring lots of care, but "presumably" no one interested in providing it. If being rude helped to prevent that needless suffering, so be it. You feeling cranky about my response is less important to me than the damage I've seen from inexperienced people "curious to try" raising small altricial birds from day-1.