Cockatiels are easy breeders who can be very determined lol. If they want to have babies and you don't want them to, you'll have to work to prevent it. The desire will be there whether they've had a previous clutch or not.

It seems like working to prevent it is not always successful, though. Or, am I missing something?

I hate to say this but I regret I didn't do my best to prevent the last clutch (lack of experience contributed to it). I hate to think about rehoming my older babies but seems that I will have to closely work on it when the younger kids grow older.

It's true that trying to prevent a clutch doesn't always work, but in many cases it does succeed. Experience helps the human learn what works and doesn't work with their birds. You have to be diligent and take action early in the process - I've had some clutches that I didn't really want because I didn't take action soon enough, but now I know that I shouldn't delay.

A few days ago I gave Emma a bowl and put her eggs into it. She's happily sitting on them in the bowl.

However, she doesn't seem to have read the memo about not pooping in the nest. Is this common?

Dianne, it looks like Emma is one of those very determined mamas, like my Trilly... I fervently hope for your sanity that you'll find a good way to prevent her to get TOO determined!

The fact that they don't actually mate can be due to the fact that Silver doesn't know how to do it properly. Does she offers to him? You know, when they stay low with the tail a bit higher than the rest of the body.

Many (almost all) of my boys don't have the foggiest idea of what they are supposed to do, so maybe yours don't mate because Silver hasn't got a clear idea of what to do.

I recently had to apply the 72 hours of constant light, it was a bit stressful for everyone involved but it seems to have worked a little bit. I did it together with other things so probably the positive effect was all combined. I am about to write a post about Trilly's cure so maybe you can find something interesting and applicable to your own situation.

My feeling about Silver is that he doesn't know what to do yet. Or, he just isn't into Emma in that way.

It's funny when I think back on how Piper knew exactly what to do, at about six months old.

Yesterday I tried to give Emma a couple of sunflower seeds while she was sitting in the bowl. She took the from me, but then dropped them like she wasn't that interested in them.

Emma layed (is that the right spelling?) another egg. She is chasing Silver away from the seed dish. I fed him on top of the cage last night.

I don't remember - have you tried hormone control with her?

I still have her on 14 hour nights. I'm not doing anything else. Should I be? I think she's set on this clutch. She has four eggs.

Stephanie mentioned restricting food. I haven't done that because I don't know how much I should give her. If someone could give me guidance about what amount of pellet and seed i should give her as a "reduced"
amount, that would help.