Emma and Silver hang out together a lot of the time. They tend to go to new perches as a pair. I haven't seen much mutual preening or feeding each other.

I have twice seen Emma on the floor of the cage with her tail up against the side. I have put objects in the places she has used. Carolyn, I know you said this was broody behavior. Can you tell me any more about why she does this? Is it a form of masturbation? Is she pretending she has a mate?

If she's rubbing her vent against something it's masturbation. If she's just sitting there, she's basically pretending that she's sitting on eggs. I used to have a male cockatiel who did this frequently.

Ah. I see. Thank you.

Dear Emma,

We need to have a girl to girl talk. You're too young to be a mom, you still have your single digit years ahead of you! Live it up! There are so many more things that are so rewarding and life enriching, like chewing stuff up, becoming BFFs with your human, yelling at the budgies, snoozing in a sunny spot and so on.

SO MUCH MORE FUN THAN EGGS

Just watching out for you, girl.

Sincerely,
me

Everyone loves to yell at budgies.

The bottom of the cockatiel is littered with things I have put there wherever I see her with her tail up the wall.

so is the problem that she is too young to be a mom, but otherwise you don't mind her breeding, Dianne? Sorry I haven't followed your complete story. How old is she?

She's about 1-1/2 years old. I don't particularly want to breed. She was mating with my male budgie, and producing eggs. Of course, the eggs were not fertile, but just a drain on her system for no purpose.

how are you making sure she won't produce eggs with Silver?

I am keeping them on fourteen hour nights, and hoping for the best. It didn't work when Emma was with Piper, though.

I don't think that having a bird of each sex necessarily results in eggs. I think it just sort of happened that Emma and Piper fell in love. I believe there are others on this forum who have birds of both sexes in a cage, and they don't necessarily mate. Perhaps Carolyn or Halmofids can weigh in on this.