Zoohtasim
Crowing
- Jun 7, 2021
- 1,026
- 5,220
- 346
I know this is a chicken forum but if someone here finds this post helpful, I'll be more than happy! Soooo, you wanna breed budgies? You're in the rrright place!
So, lets start with, why? Maybe you just bought them and want some eggs real fast? I know that feeling, I was like that too. But you do need to consider that, if they breed, they will have a lot of chicks and if you can't keep them then I suggest you do not breed them. Trust me it is hard when you don't know what to do with these chicks so think smartly before jumping into anything. With that out of the way, lets start.
1. Age -
Age is very important, so I will say this as a first factor. Budgies will lay eggs when they are young but that mostly results in infertile eggs, unhealthy chicks and bad parenting. So, it is necessary that the parents are over 1 years old (both of them)! But males shouldn't be anywhere over 5 years old and females 4 to prevent problems. Now lets teach you how to know if they are over 1 years old.
A young budgie will have bars over their heads like this -
As you can see, the black stripes on their heads stretch down to their cere (it is their nose, just above the beak)
But if the bird is over 4 months old, the bars stop in their forehead as it can be seen below -
Budgies after 6 months will also start getting a white ring around their eyes.
Now, their is no real way to know their age after this. So I suggest you rather buy the budgie from an ethical breeder who will know the hatch dates of the bird or buy a young bird, see their eye rings form and wait another 6 months.
2. Gender -
So, you want are a male and a female (duh) but many pet store owners may scam you and sell you two males or sometimes even they don't know how to sex them. So lets teach you how to sex them!
You can really accurately sex them after 3 months (from my personal experiences). All you need to see is their cere. It is their nose, located just above the beak. If it is blue or pink, it's a boy! If it is white, slight blue or brown, it's a girl! Also, a female budgie who is on breeding mood will have a dark brown and crusty cere (not all though!)
3. Timing -
Avoid the extreme cold or summer for them. Spring is the best!
4. Bond -
So all those out of the way, you need to see if they are bonding. You can know it if you see them cuddling, preening each other and feeding each other. Just because they are male female, don't assume they will like each other! If they are bonding, you can finally start you're breeding process.
5. Cage setup -
You need to give them a big private cage. If it is too small, they will likely not breed. Also don't keep any other budgie in that cage. Only the parents you chose, no one else. This step is highly important as with multiple birds with a nest box, hell can break lose so follow my advice on this please!
Now, you need to give them a nest box (wooden one is the best but clay pot works the same) and hang it on the very top of the cage, never on the bottom! And hang it their nicely, if it shakes too much the hen will get scared. You should also give some nesting material like soft wooden shavings to prevent splayed legs.
Provide them with 2 or more perches and natural is always the best! Dowel perches or plastic ones (these are the ones pet stores normally provide you with) are very bad for your bird! It can cause arthritis, hormonal problems and much more!
You can also give them toys but I never do (in breeding of course! other times they have everything in the world to chew on!) as they always get a bit distracted
6. Diet -
Provide them with seeds and pellets from the pet store. But this should make up not more than 20% of your bird's diet!
Give them veggies! My ones personally LOVE coriander and broccoli! And never give them Avocado (its very toxic for them)
Give them fresh fruits! Apples (remove the seeds as they contain cyanide), strawberries and bananas are faves! Though my ones never eat fruits.
Give them boiled eggs. Firstly, boil the eggs well (chimken eggs), crush them and give them once in a week. This will ensure that they lay nice eggs buy dont give it to them too frequently! If you do that, the egg shells will get so hard, the female may get egg bound or the chicks cant break it open and die inside.
Cuttle fish bones and mineral blocks should also be given. (IMPORTANT)
Water should always be available to them.
7. What to do after you follow all these steps -
Wait. Yes, just wait. Dont get too excited or that'll crush your heart (trust me I've been there) and dont check on the budgies too often. That'll irritate her and she may never lay eggs like that. Keep them in a quite area so that they can relax. Cats or dogs should not go near them as they'll get scared easily. Basically, provide them with the calmest and quitest environment possible.
8. Nesting behaviours -
The female will start showing interest in the nesting box and go in and out (I love their burgers) to test the nest box. If she is happy with it, CONGRATS! That usually means she will start mating. If you see them doing so, you can expect an egg 9 days later
9. Brooding period -
She will lay 3-6 eggs in a clutch and lay them on alternating days. For example - one on Sunday, one on Tuesday and one on Thursday. Don't freak out if she hasn't started brooding yet as they normally do it after the 2nd egg has been laid. NEVER EVER disturb her when she is brooding. If you do it too often, she WILL abandon the eggs and all your hard work will go to waste
So just be a little patient, its worth the wait
10. Peep! -
After 18-21 days of brooding, the first chick will hatch! It will be kinda ugly, here are my current 3 -
You can see if mum is feeding them or not by looking at their crop (it is a pouch like thingy on the baby's front side of the neck) If it looks big, she's feeding them nicely. If she isn't, you should wait for some time. Even after that if she isn't feeding them, then you can start handfeeding. Here is a helpful video on that -
If she is feeding them and sitting on them, its kinda set! Other chicks will keep hatching on the alternating days and mum will feed them nicely. During this time, the father will eat and regurgitate to the female who will regurgitate it to the chicks! You can have some casualties if the mum had too many chicks but you can handfeed them if you are confident.
11. Problems that may arise -
Budgie breeding is wonderful but it comes with its problems. The first I can think of is that the mum killed her chicks. This is a sad but common incidence. Handfeeding is the way for any surviving chicks here. But other than that, if you followed the previous steps correctly, problems should not arise. Splayed legs is a sad problem too and you should keep an eye out for it. It normally occurs if the female had only one chick and sits too tightly on the chick. Here is a video for that -
Egg binding can also happen if you didnt provide them with cuttle fish bones and boiled eggs, and it doesn't have a easy solution so a vet is the best person who can handle it.
12. Weaning -
After 30 days, the babies will leave the nest box! Remove it immediately after everyone left to prevent the parents from breeding again. The chicks will still eat food from the parents but they'll eat more and more on their own!
13. After weaning -
Separate the chicks after parents completely stop feeding them. Separate the parents too as breeding again is hard on them. Never breed a budgie more than 2 times in a year.
So that wraps up everything I know about breeding budgies. I hope I could help at least one person in their journey! : D
So, lets start with, why? Maybe you just bought them and want some eggs real fast? I know that feeling, I was like that too. But you do need to consider that, if they breed, they will have a lot of chicks and if you can't keep them then I suggest you do not breed them. Trust me it is hard when you don't know what to do with these chicks so think smartly before jumping into anything. With that out of the way, lets start.
1. Age -
Age is very important, so I will say this as a first factor. Budgies will lay eggs when they are young but that mostly results in infertile eggs, unhealthy chicks and bad parenting. So, it is necessary that the parents are over 1 years old (both of them)! But males shouldn't be anywhere over 5 years old and females 4 to prevent problems. Now lets teach you how to know if they are over 1 years old.
A young budgie will have bars over their heads like this -
As you can see, the black stripes on their heads stretch down to their cere (it is their nose, just above the beak)
But if the bird is over 4 months old, the bars stop in their forehead as it can be seen below -
Budgies after 6 months will also start getting a white ring around their eyes.
Now, their is no real way to know their age after this. So I suggest you rather buy the budgie from an ethical breeder who will know the hatch dates of the bird or buy a young bird, see their eye rings form and wait another 6 months.
2. Gender -
So, you want are a male and a female (duh) but many pet store owners may scam you and sell you two males or sometimes even they don't know how to sex them. So lets teach you how to sex them!
You can really accurately sex them after 3 months (from my personal experiences). All you need to see is their cere. It is their nose, located just above the beak. If it is blue or pink, it's a boy! If it is white, slight blue or brown, it's a girl! Also, a female budgie who is on breeding mood will have a dark brown and crusty cere (not all though!)
3. Timing -
Avoid the extreme cold or summer for them. Spring is the best!
4. Bond -
So all those out of the way, you need to see if they are bonding. You can know it if you see them cuddling, preening each other and feeding each other. Just because they are male female, don't assume they will like each other! If they are bonding, you can finally start you're breeding process.
5. Cage setup -
You need to give them a big private cage. If it is too small, they will likely not breed. Also don't keep any other budgie in that cage. Only the parents you chose, no one else. This step is highly important as with multiple birds with a nest box, hell can break lose so follow my advice on this please!
Now, you need to give them a nest box (wooden one is the best but clay pot works the same) and hang it on the very top of the cage, never on the bottom! And hang it their nicely, if it shakes too much the hen will get scared. You should also give some nesting material like soft wooden shavings to prevent splayed legs.
Provide them with 2 or more perches and natural is always the best! Dowel perches or plastic ones (these are the ones pet stores normally provide you with) are very bad for your bird! It can cause arthritis, hormonal problems and much more!
You can also give them toys but I never do (in breeding of course! other times they have everything in the world to chew on!) as they always get a bit distracted
6. Diet -
Provide them with seeds and pellets from the pet store. But this should make up not more than 20% of your bird's diet!
Give them veggies! My ones personally LOVE coriander and broccoli! And never give them Avocado (its very toxic for them)
Give them fresh fruits! Apples (remove the seeds as they contain cyanide), strawberries and bananas are faves! Though my ones never eat fruits.
Give them boiled eggs. Firstly, boil the eggs well (chimken eggs), crush them and give them once in a week. This will ensure that they lay nice eggs buy dont give it to them too frequently! If you do that, the egg shells will get so hard, the female may get egg bound or the chicks cant break it open and die inside.
Cuttle fish bones and mineral blocks should also be given. (IMPORTANT)
Water should always be available to them.
7. What to do after you follow all these steps -
Wait. Yes, just wait. Dont get too excited or that'll crush your heart (trust me I've been there) and dont check on the budgies too often. That'll irritate her and she may never lay eggs like that. Keep them in a quite area so that they can relax. Cats or dogs should not go near them as they'll get scared easily. Basically, provide them with the calmest and quitest environment possible.
8. Nesting behaviours -
The female will start showing interest in the nesting box and go in and out (I love their burgers) to test the nest box. If she is happy with it, CONGRATS! That usually means she will start mating. If you see them doing so, you can expect an egg 9 days later
9. Brooding period -
She will lay 3-6 eggs in a clutch and lay them on alternating days. For example - one on Sunday, one on Tuesday and one on Thursday. Don't freak out if she hasn't started brooding yet as they normally do it after the 2nd egg has been laid. NEVER EVER disturb her when she is brooding. If you do it too often, she WILL abandon the eggs and all your hard work will go to waste
So just be a little patient, its worth the wait10. Peep! -
After 18-21 days of brooding, the first chick will hatch! It will be kinda ugly, here are my current 3 -
You can see if mum is feeding them or not by looking at their crop (it is a pouch like thingy on the baby's front side of the neck) If it looks big, she's feeding them nicely. If she isn't, you should wait for some time. Even after that if she isn't feeding them, then you can start handfeeding. Here is a helpful video on that -
11. Problems that may arise -
Budgie breeding is wonderful but it comes with its problems. The first I can think of is that the mum killed her chicks. This is a sad but common incidence. Handfeeding is the way for any surviving chicks here. But other than that, if you followed the previous steps correctly, problems should not arise. Splayed legs is a sad problem too and you should keep an eye out for it. It normally occurs if the female had only one chick and sits too tightly on the chick. Here is a video for that -
12. Weaning -
After 30 days, the babies will leave the nest box! Remove it immediately after everyone left to prevent the parents from breeding again. The chicks will still eat food from the parents but they'll eat more and more on their own!
13. After weaning -
Separate the chicks after parents completely stop feeding them. Separate the parents too as breeding again is hard on them. Never breed a budgie more than 2 times in a year.
So that wraps up everything I know about breeding budgies. I hope I could help at least one person in their journey! : D
