Breeding problem!?!? HELP

[molinash19350]

I first started with 2 parakeets, one flew away so we got her 3 more friends, but the females started attacking each other and blood was involved. This also happened with the males they were fighting but no blood. I separated the birds, one male one female to all my birds but then they started breeding too much, i now have 20 PARAKEETS! this is really becoming a problem i tried to sell the birds but people think they make too much of a mess and i tried to give some away but was only able to give 2 away but then they had 5 more babies which brought me to 20. please tell me what i can do to calm them down a bit, at first there was no nesting box but then both females laid eggs on the bottom of the cage so i bought them a log nest and a nesting box and one liked the wood box while the other preferred the log nest. They haven't stopped breeding,i have tried to move their cages around in different spots but NO LUCK!

[Pajarita]

Welcome to the forum! If they haven't stop breeding is because you are keeping them at a human light schedule instead of a strictly solar one (birds regulate their endocrine system by the amount and quality of light they receive -research avian photoperiodism, avian reproductive system and avian endocrine system) and you must be free-feeding protein food (they are super opportunistic breeders!). And I bet that is also the reason why they fought -unless the cage was too small for all of them- because budgies are super flock oriented and love being with other budgies (I have seven in a large flight cage but had a much larger flock when I had the rescues in Pa).

You need to change their diet to gloop and greens in the am and a small, measured portion of low protein seed in the pm and keep them at a strict solar schedule with full exposure to dawn and dusk. Mind you, it's not going to help you right away because we are already half-way into full breeding season right now but, if you do everything right, they will stop at the end of the summer. Just make sure they are in absolute darkness at night because the smallest amount of light sets them off. Also, if you feed seeds, make sure you are providing enough vit D3 and that they always have cuttlebone or you will end up with eggbound (and dead) birds.

[molinash19350]

okay i will try this thank you very much.

[Pajarita]

You are very welcome! One more thing, to find some of them homes, try offering them for free at rescueme.com. Usually, the people who go there are bird lovers and if you make it a condition that the person has experience caring for budgies, it should work out -ask a couple of key questions like: 'do you breed them?', 'what do you feed them?' and 'what light schedule do they follow?' and see what they reply because anybody who has had budgies think of themselves as experienced even if their poor birds die before their tenth birthday when budgies are supposed to last 20. And don't adopt out to breeders! As you have experienced, is not easy finding them good homes so anybody who breeds them ends up with way too many or sells them as merchandise.