Oops, you're a Girl

[Nozempje]

Freckels was supposed to be a boy and was for the last 31/2 years when almost 2 months ago an egg in the bottom of her cage told me differently, lol.
Now, 2 months and 2 clutches of 5 eggs each later I am very concerned for her health: 10 eggs in 2 months is not sustainable of course.
I have devoted much time reading and educating myself on this subject and have implemented as much of the things I've learned on this forum and elsewhere as is feasible.
A) Have rearranged her cage, have taken away toys she was "mating" with and turned her cage to face a different direction.
B) When it comes to changing her diet I find myself in a conundrum.....less protein, less fat, no extras, mash etc., remove her food dish to indicate food isn't plentiful. According to what I've read all this is a correct course to take but feels so counterintuitive. Her body needs to keep up it's strength so I do give her extra calcium, extra veggies, broccoli sprouts. She has food on top of her cage and in my kitchen as well, both places she can get to any time since her cage door is always open so I have removed the food from her cage.
C) I have limited her baths but since it has been over 100° here for several weeks I haven't eliminated it altogether.
D) I haven't changed her night-day schedule also due to the heat. I could not bring myself to cover the cage with this heat. However, my strategy for dealing with heat is to black out all my windows in an attempt to keep it cooler which darkens everything considerably.
Now about her brooding. I let her sit on her 1st clutch of boiled eggs hoping she would give up when she realized the eggs would not hatch. Did not happen. Instead she laid 5 more eggs so now she sits on 7 eggs. I removed 3 after she punctured one and I accidentally broke 2. No nesting box but I did give her a bowl with some shreds to brood.
E) Much to my chagrin I have even eliminated our scratches and cuddles and only pet her on the head occasionally. She does spend time on my shoulder preening.
She seems to be in great health and acts "healthy" but I can't help worrying about her and whether I'm doing all I should so I hope and would be grateful if someone here could chime in. Thank in advance and sorry for the length of this post.

 

[sunnysmom]

I would try increasing the hours of darkness. I know you don't want to cover her due to the heat which I understand- increasing the darkness by 2 hours could help- darkening the windows should be fine. There is another method which is the opposite- where you don't give them any darkness. It explains what it here: Little Feathered Buddies hormone control

And your bird is very cute. (Those pretty pearl markings she has also indicates that she's a girl).

 

[Nozempje]

Thank you Sunnysmom for your reply and suggestions. I am not an expert on tiel mutations and did not know until very recently that a male cinnamon pearl loses his pearls after his 1st moult. Freckels has been a girl all along judging by her pearls lol.
In the last year I did wonder about her sex every once in a while just because of her behavior. I just hope that a change in season, fall/winter, will help her be less hormonal. In the meantime I'll do my very best to to help her.
I've even thought to get a male but that would create a whole new set of circumstances/problems I do not really want to have. Perhaps a male of a different species....a budgie maybe? She's had a male budgie friend when they were both babies and they got along great but somehow he escaped when I wasn't looking. I'm still heartbroken over that.

 

[sunnysmom]

Yes, a male would just likely mean fertilized eggs. Two females can be buddies though. Cockatiels are pretty laid back generally. But you should only get another bird if you want another bird.

 

[Nozempje]

Yes, a male would just likely mean fertilized eggs. Two females can be buddies though. Cockatiels are pretty laid back generally. But you should only get another bird if you want another bird.

I would love to have a buddy for Freckels but I hesitate to get a girl for worry that I'll have 2 egg layers to deal with. That's why I'm thinking male Budgie/Bourke/Parrotlet. Freckels is pretty laid back but I think I would prefer to get a "baby" bc my chances that all would go well might be better.
Around 5 am today I heard Freckels make several of her "air expelling" noises indicating that something semi frightening/strange was going on in her cage. As soon as I turned on the light I saw an approx. 2" black creature run at top speed along the baseboard and disappear. Don't know what it was but the 1st thing that came to mind was a tiny bat. Since Freckels was on her eggs I took her, "nest" and all, into the kitchen which is very familiar territory for her. It was still dark so she stayed where I put her and didn't come to see me until 11/2 hrs later. Her eggs are still in the kitchen and she is not so I'm hoping that this might be the beginning of her separating from them. She's been in her cage and she did look for them for a moment but didn't freak out and is now peacefully sitting in my lap.