Budgie Mating.

[patdbunny]

I try very hard not to have to pull babies younger than 2 weeks unless something goes wrong, like a storm a few weeks ago tore a piece of roofing off and one of my nest boxes got soaked. I had to bring the cold eggs in and incubate them.

The day old babies I'm feeding every 2 hours 6 a.m. to 2 a.m. so I only get 4 hours of sleep. This goes on for about a week. then they go to every 3 hours 6 a.m. to midnight. It's a long time before I get to sleep 8 hours nights again when I have little little babies.

And keet babies are so small that if something goes wrong, they usually don't survive the human manipulation necessary to fix the problem - to they end up dying either way.

So think about what will make you feel worse - letting them die in the parents' care or having it die in your hand knowing you killed it.

Don't kid yourself - even experienced handfeeders make mistakes and kill things.

[kaylayuh]

I am not really sure why you would want to breed them anyway if you dont really want to. There are a lot of risk involved. You dont need to. Just dont give them the opportunity. If you dont provide a nestbox they (usually) wont breed.

If you do, however, make sure the birds are in mating condition. Be sure the female is at least 12 monsth of age or risk her dying becouse one of the eggs isnt able to pass.
Make sure you have enough calcium available.
Make sure there is enough water and food available.
Make sure there is enough vegetables, vitamines, minerals ect available.
Dont mate them while they are molting.

I'm really leaning toward not giving them a nest box, because I'm terrified of all the complications and it's just not worth the risk. She seems to be trying to find anything to make a nest out of though, despite my best efforts at stopping her. When she's out, she goes in tissue boxes. She'll pull wicker out of baskets. She'll forage for anything that she could possibly make a nest out of and get a small one going before I take it away from her.

Really, I just want to be prepared in case she does decide to lay eggs despite my best efforts. I'd rather be prepared and know what to do in case the situation arises than be looking around for answers after it's already happened, you know?

They have a cuttlebone and a mineral block. Their food and water is changed twice daily. They get fresh and dried fruits and vegetables daily, even if they refuse to eat it and push it to the side to eat the seed under it.

I really just want to make sure nothing goes wrong if I can't prevent her laying eggs. She seems pretty darn determined.

[kaylayuh]

Even complete parent raised pet store budgies can be tamed really quickly especially when they are young. I agree that daily socialization with the babies as they grow would be more ideal. Don't you have school/work? In order to handfeed, you'd have to be stationed at home for over a month..

I'm here all day every day with them, so if they do decide to lay eggs, I'll be prepared and can step in. But I'm using my best efforts to try and prevent that. She seems determined, though, and I'd just like to be prepared in case. Better to know beforehand than to learn after, right?

[Kim S]

You can try and find some fake eggs. Most bird stores will have some. Maybe you can find some online? If she decides to lay eggs despite all your efforts, you can let her brood on the fake ones.
Dont take away her real eggs without putting something back though. This will just trigger her to lay more and more eggs without stopping.
Usually they will stop brooding after 3 weeks. They know the eggs should have hatched by then and will leave them.

Her instinct is telling her: its spring, you should reproduce! Make her 'think' its autumn or winter and she will come out of it. You could try the following things to redirect the internal clock.

Lower the temperature of the room they are in.
Diminish the amount of light-hours they get each day.
Give less 'wet food' like fresh vegetables and fruits.


Good luck. I am glad you are seriously considering the pro's and cons.

[kaylayuh]

I've lowered the temperature a couple of days ago and started covering them earlier in the evening, and it appears that her nesting instinct has subsided. I will definitely have to look for fake eggs though, and if she decided to go into her wonky need-to-mate state again, those can help her.

I'm much more worried about her health than I am excited for the idea of having babies. And while I would love to have babies, I don't think I'm experienced enough to be able to handle the mother or the chicks if something goes wrong.

At this point, I can't be completely sure of her age because she's a pet shop bird. I've read that allowing them to breed to young can make them more prone to becoming eggbound, and the closest avian vet is about an hour away when you factor in public transportation and there's no emergency avian vet in the area. Her diet also isn't the best; despite my best efforts, she refuses to even acknowledge that fresh food is actually, you know, food.

I'd rather have her healthy and safe, even if she is screaming at the top of her little lungs right now.