Twin Cockatiels

Story by Leon

Tragedy turns to interest – I recently inspected a cockatiel nest to find three eggs one of which was huge! Did the parrots that were in the same aviary lay this larger egg? The two smaller eggs hatched and then unfortunately the cockatiel hen broke her neck after being hassled by a hawk. The babies died, the large egg went cold and the male cockatiel was left without a partner. After opening the large egg tp my amazement I found two fully developed cockatiel chicks in this one egg. My thought then turned to to the poor mother cockatiel in laying this large egg and whether this egg would have eventually hatched if kept warm.

Has anyone ever experienced this before – twin birds?