Despite continuing the 14-hour nights, Emma is exhibiting a bit of nesty behavior again:

- Sitting on the bottom of the cage with her rear up against the side bars
- Chewing on paper
- Chasing Silver around the cage

Also, Piper is still mating with her.

I was particularly upset this afternoon because Emma was chasing Silver a bit aggressively, and I don't want him to deal with that.

I thought about putting Silver in a separate cage. But, then, I thought that if rearranging the cage makes them less nesty, putting Emma into a whole new cage might stop it. So, right now I have Piper and Silver in the big cage and the small cage is set up next to it for Emma. She hasn't gone in it yet, but I am sure she will when it's time to eat.

I will be reporting on how this goes. Right now, Piper is pacing back and forth on a perch, calling to Emma. However, Piper is not chasing Silver like when Emma actually was laying.

Meanwhile, Emma is sitting here on my laptop. Perhaps keeping her separate will also allow me to bond with her a bit more.

If Piper is mating with her, that will raise her hormone levels. So it's good that you're keeping them apart. Make sure he gets the long nights too to try and reduce his hormone levels.

I will do that.

She's sitting on the floor in the corner of her new cage, her tail up in the air, swaying back and forth. She's been that way for about an hour.

I just wanted to mention that I thought about separating them before, but I hated to because they are so attached to each other. I thought I would give them one more chance, with consistent 14 hour nights, and if Emma layed again within six months, I would separate them.

So, it has now come to that, and I know I have to do it, even though I am sad. I do want to do what is best for Emma.

I am shocked at how quickly this happened.

Put something in that corner of the cage so she can't sit there. It could be a large toy or a food dish or anything really that's safe, too heavy for her to move, and not conducive to nesting. It's possible that she'll just move over three inches and start sitting again, but if you disrupt her often enough it might have an effect.

Well, last night she layed an egg.
I put it in a dish with two fake eggs.
She remained in the smaller cage by herself.

This morning, Piper and Silver had outside fly time. This afternoon, Emma had her turn. She was very active. But, then, I had trouble getting her back into the small cage. I finally managed it.

It's complicated having multiple birds!

No, it's no complicated having multiple birds. What's difficult is having birds of different sexes.

If Emma were a cock then you would probably be singing a whole other song.

Makes me grateful I have all boys. No eggs for me.

Having multiple birds can be complicated under any circumstances. But mixing boys and girls together definitely makes it more complicated than having all boys lol.

Now you tell me! LOL
I love them all anyway.

With 13 cockatiels, I can understand how it's complicated for you Carolyn.

4 birds aren't too bad.

But, I love them all too. I originally just wanted one budgie, Jail Bird, but then I had the opportunity to rescue Teak, then when JB died, Teak was lost without her so I got Beck, and then Beck I thought wanted a budgie friend since Teak could be a little pushy, so I got Mack, who turned out to be Mackenzie, then Mackenzie was a demon seed spawned from you-know-where and hated everything, so I had to rehome her, then when Teak died I was completely shattered, and wanted another bird know to love its owners so then I adopted Beaker, because I read cockatiels bonded closely to their owners and were laid back and friendly. I was so content for a while. Then I met Jaid and he was just a handfed little speck. So fluffy and cuddly. I got him as a birthday present. Then Beck kept pestering the cockatiels, so I thought he wanted a buddy again, therefore I got him a COCK budgie this time, Poppy.

And that's the story of wanting one bird and going through a million. Ta-da.