"Hello my name is Elise Viera and i have a male and female cockatiel. it looks
to me they are ready to mate. my female has never layed eggs. i have a self made
shoe box (just out of curiosity) the male knocks on it and the female peeks
inside but she wont go all the way in i think its too small for them. right now
i cant afford a nesting house so would it be ok to hang a basket its made from
what looks like wood but could be paper but it can hold there weight. its my
sons old Easter basket. if i put a cloth down in it do you think they will mate?
they like to sleep on top of the box already have in there do you think its ok
to do this with the basket?? please get back to me as soon as possible. thanks
so much.. Elise"

I commented under the other heading.

To make a long story short. What you are proposing is unsafe for the birds.

I am sorry to say that you do not have the experience needed to breed birds based upon your questions.

What you are proposing will foster molds and funguses that are deadly to the birds.

You should separate the birds into different cages so if the female lays, the eggs will not be fertile.

Egg binding can kill a female. The male could kill the female or the hatchlings.

If you have to hand raise a bird, unless you have a great deal of experience with hand feeding, you will kill the young.

I am not trying to be cruel, I am being realistic. I've read hundreds of heartbreaking stories over the years written by people who don't have the experience needed to properly handle breeding birds.

I would take out the box, which will become a disgusting mess anyway, and separate the birds while there is still a chance to stop them from breeding.

Also, if the two birds came from the same breeder, the odds are that you will have defective young since the strains of the two birds are probably not as genetically diverse as they need to be.

Do you want to be responsible for deformed cockatiels for the next 15 years? Just a dose of reality and again I apologize.

Cockatiels need a nesting place thats at least 10" by 10" by 12" minimum. Room for two parents and at least 5 babies.
I suggest you do as much research as you can before they breed.
If you can't afford a nest box at a pet store, you may be able to make one from good wood form a hardware store. Just make sure you can figure out how to make a concave in the bottom, the right sized hole, and the proper securing system. You will need a close perch and or one coming out of the nest box it self.
If you are not sure that these cockatiels are not closely related (as suggested by the previous poster) and your set on breeding them start off with two pairs. Meaning get two other unrelated birds from each other and the two you currently have and mate one new bird up with one old bird (better safe than sorry). having more than 1 breeding couple also helps to stimulate the birds to breed. Look in the local classified ads to find birds in good health at a good breeding age that just simply need a new good home.(to get a good deal on usually good birds, just be careful of scams and bad health birds) If you do get more birds quarantine for at least 30 days before you introduce them to your current healthy birds.
The most important things for caring for and breed birds is, in order, healthy balanced diet, hygiene, space.
Fight the internet for information, find the different ways to do things and figure out whats best for you and the birds, sift through the unknowledgeable statements and the facts.
Just know that the only thing breeders and bird folk and seem to agree on is that breeding birds is no easy task.