Trick or 'Tiel wrote:Are two females more likely to lay eggs than one female alone? Because I really don't want her to lay eggs. It just puts a lot of unnecessary stress on her body, and I would like to avoid that as much as possible.
Maybe I am not explaining myself correctly. Once you have a female, the possibility of getting eggs is there. Having one, two, or fifty is completely irrelevant in relation to the risk of this happening because the ONLY thing that matters is whether you are giving the proper or improper care. As to the laying eggs putting a lot of unnecessary stress on their bodies and your not wanting her to lay any eggs... well, laying eggs is only stressful if the care is not the right one and preventing them from ever laying eggs will result in a sick bird that will die young because healthy birds under good care always will.
Laying eggs is the most natural thing in the world for a bird and not dangerous or depleting at all as long -again- that the bird is in good condition which implies the room to fly (because the same muscles they use to push the eggs out are the ones that move the wings up and down), the right diet and supplements (to ensure the calcium supply is adequate and that the bird has enough vit D3 to absorb it) and that their endocrine system is in tune with the seasons (strict solar schedule with full exposure to dawn and dusk).
Also, if your concern is that the bird got along, a male and female will do it but two females might have issues, I would think (I don't know because I never had only two budgies and of the same gender). In my personal opinion, if we had a 1 to 10 scale of 'happiness' for budgies, with 10 being perfectly happy and 1 being not happy, it would go something like this:
Only budgie = 1
Two budgies of the same gender = 4
A bonded pair = 6
A small flock in captivity = 8
A wild flock = 10