The eggs as said may not be fertile, so please don't get your hopes up on it...
You would not have been aware the bird was pregnant because it only takes 2 days for the egg to be made and laid, basically after copulation occurs it takes 10 days for the body to sort everything out, and start the egg production, on the 8th day production of the egg would start and on the 10th day it will be laid, so technically a bird doesn't get fat like we do when we are pregnant or about to give birth, however if inspected closely and once you get used to signs and symptoms you can roughly guess when a bird is going to lay, the vent (bit where it poops from underneith, will get swollen, and the poop a couple of days before the egg is due to be laid may also go solid and completely white like a chunk of chalk, also just after or on the day an egg is to be laid you may find that the poop may get really brown/black and smell like hell, this is normal...
You should expect 1 egg to be laid every 2 days and the mother may not start to sit on the eggs until she has laid a minimum of 2 eggs but usually 3 , after she has started sitting on the eggs properly it takes 18 to 21 days before the first eggs hatch, usually you get a couple hatch togather and then the rest hatch every couple o days,. the hen will probibly lay 3 to 5 eggs however it is not unusual for them to lay more than 5 eggs,.
I have found however that usually when an egg is laid on the floor of the cage most of the time they will not sit on them, your best bet is to buy a nestbox from the store and add it to the cage if the cage is big enough, eggs laid on the floor of the cage are liable to bacterial contamination and you have no way of keeping the clean if she is sitting eggs on the floor,
I would add the nestbox to the cage and when you have seen her going into the nestbox and spending a bit of time in it you should then add the egg, this will encourage her to lay the rest their, however she may reject that 1 egg anyway and start laying more,
Once the nestbox is in and the egg is in place leave them alone apart from food and water,
If the eggs hatch (check nestbox at around 21 days or listen for the crys of the birds or signs of eggshell outside of the nestbox, ) you will then need to feed a rearing food called eggfood, this will give the birds and chicks a good diet and help them with the rearing,
If you feed eggfood before she has finished laying until the chicks hatch the cock bird may get aggressive as he may want to mate again and the hen won't be ready, this will also endanger the hen and any eggs or chicks,. buy some liquid calcium if you can and follow the instructions for egg laying birds, do not get it wrong as if you do it can make the eggs shells to thick and your bird could possibly get eggbound (means it can't pass the egg out of the canal) and if it is passed then the chick may not be able to hatch out of the shell as it will be to thick for the chick to break ,
Please keep us updated on how they get on but usually even first time parent cockatiels make great parents
Good luck with them :)
Need any help or want any advice ask away and I will do my best to help you :)
Katie
Oh and also a warning sign to look for is the bird refusing to sit on a perch or walk about much and her back end slowly lifting and down, if the bird does this for half a day then she is probibly eggbound, which can be potentially dangerous, not going to worry you too much but it is a common thing with tiels, if this happens warm her up , put a heater or a lamp over her cage and surround the cage on three sides with towels to keep the heat in, this will help her pass the egg, the warmer the better but around 35 degree Celsius usually does the trick, do not exeed 37.5 degree Celsius as a temperature... if she hasn't passed the egg within a day you need to get her to the vet, not going to go into all the ins and out of things that can occur, just wanted to help you in case she does get this symptom,.
If however she does get eggbound then please email me on
[email protected] and I will get into touch with you asap, the sooner you spot the signs the better her chances are! If I don't reply to you within a few hours then make yourself a member of
UK Birdkeepers Message Board (Powered by Invision Power Board) and start a post in beginners section , call the post mrssittingduck.. then a member their when they spot the post will ring me up and get me to come online to help ;)
Just don't fuss about the cage for long periods as the birds need peace, quiet and stress free, just keep a watchful eye without interfering with them :)
Really do wish you the best of luck with them,
Regards
Katie