My budgies won't breed

[William1hens]

I have a male and female budgie over 1 years old.The female is tame.I put a nest box in with them at the start of January but they won't even go in it.
They live in the house so it's always at least 65 degrees Fahrenheit and there is always
16+ hours Light.
They have a big cage and I give them millet and lots of fruit and vegetables.
The female is in breeding condition as she has a crusty brown cere.
The male has one bad leg that he leans on.
I've been finding blood on the perch and on the males head.
If I seperated them and got a new male he would be only 2 months old so I would have to wait another year to breed them.
Any advice greatly appreciated.

 

[Pyxis]

Well, some birds, just like humans, just don't get along and won't breed with each other. Also, if he has a bad leg that would make breeding very hard for him too. And, with the blood, it's sounding like one of them is attacking the other if you're finding blood regularly and they really should be separated.

In addition, budgies are also colony breeders, meaning a bunch of pairs breed at the same time, and budgies actually sometimes need to be in the company of at least one other pair to trigger them to breed. I kept pairs for years and never had any offspring because I only ever had one pair, even though I'd see the male and female mating from time to time. She just never laid any eggs because she was never hormonally stimulated by the presence of other pairs.

I'd suggest maybe keeping two pairs - get a new female for the male and a new male for the female, and see if you end up with babies. At the very least, separate the two you have. It sounds like they are not getting along at all and in fact are fighting enough to draw blood.

 

[limeslide]

To follow up on Pyxis, do your birds have enough calcium in their diets? My budgies didn't start laying eggs until they had a stable supply of it. Often what people do is just hang a piece of cuttlebone to the side of the cage, but it can be provided in the form of crushed up chicken eggs mixed with like boiled eggs and veggies or similar, females need the calcium to make the eggs or they might become egg bound, which can lead to death. Budgies are community animals, so it would probably be helpful if you had other pairs with them to trigger breeding behaviour, like P said. Happy birding!!!

 

[William1hens]

I give them cuttlebones,oyster shell,broken up egg shells,fresh boiled chicken eggs from my own chickens and a tiny bit of cod live oil.I have the nest box high up in the cage but they wonT seem to go in it.

 

[JimArcher]

You are getting good advice.