Lost my female for no apparent reason

[CWeijers]

I had two cockatiels, both about 4 years old.  I just went to give them water, and found my female dead on the bottom of the cage.  Her wings were spread, and her head was cocked to one side...  When I looked in on them earlier she was fine, and I heard no commotion indicating something traumatic was happening.  She was just...gone.  I have had birds die in the past, but always found them with their wings folded in, but hers were spread.  Does anyone have any ideas, short of taking her to the vet for necropsy, what may have happened? I am so sad...and I know my male is going to be heartbroken.  He is on my shoulder now as my husband takes her out and cleans the cage...I am going to change the placement of the cage so that he is closer to where I spend the vast majority of my time, so that I can be company to him, but I cannot keep him out of his cage much due to my dog and cats, I don't want to lose him too!  He is grooming my hair now...I hope he will be alright....

[KellyNZoo]

A lot of times females die due to egg binding. It's pretty common, sadly, especially given that you had a male with her.. I'd guess that's a good chance it was that. I hope you boy heals soon, but please don't get him another "girlfriend". Try a boyfriend instead, my two boys are wonderfully in love (and no egg binding!).

[CWeijers]

Thank you Kelly, that is what I thought it might be.  She had not laid any eggs for quite some time, but I really didn't hear them mating either, so I thought it just wasn't the "season".  She would lay eggs during mating, but never sat on them, just left them there.  She didn't even build a nest and they had a large cage and even a nesting box(that they were afraid to go into).    Anyway, I do miss her, she was a beautiful yellow...and would always hang upside down on her perch and spread her wings and tail when I said "Is AmberLynn a pretty girl?"  Happy soaring AmberLynn..........

[Moondust]

I know this is an old topic, but I just had to point something out in case anyone ever read this for info, as I was doing

Females lay eggs regardless of there being a male in the cage.  Having a boyfriend vs. a girlfriend doesn't change the susceptibility to egg binding because females lay eggs just as often even without a male present.  It's well-lit conditions  that last for ~14 hours a day that trigger egg-laying behavior.  Without a nesting box you generally don't have to worry about the eggs hatching most females tend to lose interest, so there's no reason to suspect having a male makes things worse.

The wings spread suggests there may have been a seizure.  Some cockatiels are prone to them.  Mine used to have them triggered by any night-time movement, but sometimes they were at random.