Jump to content

Hi All :) New To The Budgie World


Dante

Recommended Posts


  • Member ID:  8,094
  • Group:  Site Members
  • Followers:  0
  • Topic Count:  12
  • Topics Per Day:  0.00
  • Content Count:  49
  • Content Per Day:  0.00
  • Reputation:   0
  • Achievement Points:  365
  • Solved Content:  0
  • Days Won:  0
  • Joined:  17/03/15
  • Status:  Offline
  • Last Seen:  

Hi All,

 

I just wanted to introduce myself. I'm quite new to owning budgies (9 months now) and have been largely learning as I go. This forum has been invaluable for helping me with my flock so thank you :)

 

I started with 3 hand-reared budgies that I bought from a breeder 9 months ago, took in 5 budgie adoptees (including a show budgie) that others could no longer take care of, purchased a show budgie and also now have a sick cockatiel that someone couldn't take care of (he's being cared for separate from my budgies, but within ear-shot!).

 

I started out with a medium-size cage, and have now upgraded to 2 large cages in my back sunroom. Most of the budgies are hand tame now and will quite happily sit on my hands and shoulders as I clean their cages (except for one, which seems totally un-tameable despite my best efforts!). I spend about two hours a day with them a day, including some supervised free flight out of their cages in the back room. If it's a nice day, their cages go outside in the shade. They seem very happy and I do love them all!

 

Hoping for some advice on this forum as I have a few questions about confirming the sex of some of them (they are various ages), picky eating habits and also breeding, as their are now two breeding pairs with 9 eggs between them which, to be honest, I wasn't expecting so soon.

 

Look forward to chatting with you all :)

 

Here are some pictures:

 

Cages_zpsr34ferjw.jpg

 

Budgie4_zpsno6ws2ri.jpg

 

Budgies1_zpspyo9jzru.jpg

Link to comment

  • Member ID:  8,094
  • Group:  Site Members
  • Followers:  0
  • Topic Count:  12
  • Topics Per Day:  0.00
  • Content Count:  49
  • Content Per Day:  0.00
  • Reputation:   0
  • Achievement Points:  365
  • Solved Content:  0
  • Days Won:  0
  • Joined:  17/03/15
  • Status:  Offline
  • Last Seen:  

Oh, I forgot to add that the budgies that are breeding are well over a year old and are ones I took in from other people. I know not to let my younger budgies breed. I guess I just wasn't expecting them to pair up so quickly and show an interest in breeding, given the colder weather of late!

Link to comment

  • Member ID:  7,327
  • Group:  Site Members
  • Followers:  0
  • Topic Count:  39
  • Topics Per Day:  0.01
  • Content Count:  376
  • Content Per Day:  0.09
  • Reputation:   0
  • Achievement Points:  2,285
  • Solved Content:  0
  • Days Won:  0
  • Joined:  11/06/12
  • Status:  Offline
  • Last Seen:  

Hi,

 

Welcome to the forum, not many active members anymore so might be difficult to get an answer to a question but still post it.

 

Just be mindful of the ages of the birds that you have breeding, as the 4 birds in your last picture all look very young

Link to comment

  • Member ID:  8,094
  • Group:  Site Members
  • Followers:  0
  • Topic Count:  12
  • Topics Per Day:  0.00
  • Content Count:  49
  • Content Per Day:  0.00
  • Reputation:   0
  • Achievement Points:  365
  • Solved Content:  0
  • Days Won:  0
  • Joined:  17/03/15
  • Status:  Offline
  • Last Seen:  

Thanks :)

 

Yes, the last two pictures were actually taken around 7 months ago - just some of my favourite pictures. I know not to breed budgies younger than at least a year old, and preferably older. The ones that have started breeding are well over that age.

 

I actually have another large cage sitting empty in the room, ready so I can separate the younger budgies by sex once they start to show any interest in breeding or coming into season. It's just nice to watch the younger ones growing up and playing together for the moment :)

 

I had put the much older 4 budgies in a separate cage a little while ago, but they only started breeding about a week ago. I guess I figured (wrongly) that they wouldn't be interested in breeding this time of year, with the colder weather!

Link to comment

  • Member ID:  7,327
  • Group:  Site Members
  • Followers:  0
  • Topic Count:  39
  • Topics Per Day:  0.01
  • Content Count:  376
  • Content Per Day:  0.09
  • Reputation:   0
  • Achievement Points:  2,285
  • Solved Content:  0
  • Days Won:  0
  • Joined:  11/06/12
  • Status:  Offline
  • Last Seen:  

That's good you know about the ages of breeding and that you have extra cage for more room.

 

Budgies will breed at any stage they can, cold or hot they will breed all year round if you let them, so it's best to remove boxes when they need a break

Link to comment

  • Member ID:  8,094
  • Group:  Site Members
  • Followers:  0
  • Topic Count:  12
  • Topics Per Day:  0.00
  • Content Count:  49
  • Content Per Day:  0.00
  • Reputation:   0
  • Achievement Points:  365
  • Solved Content:  0
  • Days Won:  0
  • Joined:  17/03/15
  • Status:  Offline
  • Last Seen:  

Thanks for letting me know :) Once both pairs have raised this clutch I'll take the nest boxes away.

 

Quick question - The older female show budgie doesn't sit on her eggs at all overnight, even though she has 5 now, but she sits on them constantly during the day - is this normal?

 

I didn't have any nest boxes in the cage originally, just some little coconuts with ladders attached so they could hide if they wanted to. They seemed to love playing in them... and sitting in them... then I found eggs in them. I quickly bought some nest boxes to put in the cage, so I could move the eggs to those instead. I figured they didn't really want to raise a family in a tiny coconut. They've been quite happy with their new nest boxes ever since.

 

Now I know not to put anything in their cage that they can decide they might want to use as a nest. They should put warnings on those little coconuts. Oh well, live and learn!

 

http://www.amazon.com/Prevue-Hendryx-62801-Naturals-Hideaway/dp/B007PO3AEC/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1426637391&sr=8-1&keywords=coconut+toy

Link to comment

  • Member ID:  7,327
  • Group:  Site Members
  • Followers:  0
  • Topic Count:  39
  • Topics Per Day:  0.01
  • Content Count:  376
  • Content Per Day:  0.09
  • Reputation:   0
  • Achievement Points:  2,285
  • Solved Content:  0
  • Days Won:  0
  • Joined:  11/06/12
  • Status:  Offline
  • Last Seen:  

Are your birds kept inside?

If the female isn't sitting on the eggs over night, I would think that the eggs will be duds. But they may survive depending on the temperature of where they live.

 

Budgies can be a bit of trouble with where they nest, they will try and nest in anything if they are really wanting to.

Link to comment

  • Member ID:  8,094
  • Group:  Site Members
  • Followers:  0
  • Topic Count:  12
  • Topics Per Day:  0.00
  • Content Count:  49
  • Content Per Day:  0.00
  • Reputation:   0
  • Achievement Points:  365
  • Solved Content:  0
  • Days Won:  0
  • Joined:  17/03/15
  • Status:  Offline
  • Last Seen:  

Yes the birds are inside a lot of the time and definitely sleep inside, covered up at night. If it's a nice day I'll put their cages outside in the shade.

 

If her eggs are duds will she abandon them, or will I have to take the eggs away eventually?

 

Thanks for all your help, it's been much appreciated :)

Link to comment

  • Member ID:  7,327
  • Group:  Site Members
  • Followers:  0
  • Topic Count:  39
  • Topics Per Day:  0.01
  • Content Count:  376
  • Content Per Day:  0.09
  • Reputation:   0
  • Achievement Points:  2,285
  • Solved Content:  0
  • Days Won:  0
  • Joined:  11/06/12
  • Status:  Offline
  • Last Seen:  

I'm not sure exactly how long and at what temperature is needed to kill the babies inside the eggs. I would imagine a whole night without incubation would lead to the babies not surviving.

 

Some females will continue to sit on the eggs even if they are not fertile. Leave it a good amount of time or candle the eggs to see if they are fertile. If they are infertile I would dispose of the eggs

Link to comment

  • Member ID:  8,094
  • Group:  Site Members
  • Followers:  0
  • Topic Count:  12
  • Topics Per Day:  0.00
  • Content Count:  49
  • Content Per Day:  0.00
  • Reputation:   0
  • Achievement Points:  365
  • Solved Content:  0
  • Days Won:  0
  • Joined:  17/03/15
  • Status:  Offline
  • Last Seen:  

okay, will do. Thanks :)

Link to comment

  • Member ID:  7,367
  • Group:  Site Members
  • Followers:  0
  • Topic Count:  29
  • Topics Per Day:  0.00
  • Content Count:  400
  • Content Per Day:  0.02
  • Reputation:   0
  • Achievement Points:  2,860
  • Solved Content:  0
  • Days Won:  0
  • Joined:  15/07/12
  • Status:  Offline
  • Last Seen:  
  • Birthday:  29/04/1997
  • Device:  Windows

Hi and welcome to the forum,

 

I found every detail of Information I needed when I first started breeding from here, also the members are great, some of them aren't on here as much if at all as when I joined, however the newer members are just as lovely and full of information.

 

You have some beautiful looking budgies, keep up the great work.

Link to comment

  • Member ID:  8,094
  • Group:  Site Members
  • Followers:  0
  • Topic Count:  12
  • Topics Per Day:  0.00
  • Content Count:  49
  • Content Per Day:  0.00
  • Reputation:   0
  • Achievement Points:  365
  • Solved Content:  0
  • Days Won:  0
  • Joined:  17/03/15
  • Status:  Offline
  • Last Seen:  

Thank you :)

 

I've been reading through all of the information on here to help answer as many questions as possible. Want to try and avoid asking things that someone has covered before, if that's even possible!

 

To be honest, it's a bit daunting having some of my budgies breeding already and not having been through the process before. I want to make sure I'm doing all the right things to give them the best chance.

 

They get fresh food daily, a selection of: sprouted seeds, egg food, millet spray, spinach, broccoli, sweet potato, bean sprouts, grass seeds, chickweed, kale, parsley and budgie pellets - in fact it's probably way too much variety, but I want to make sure I cover everything to keep them healthy. I have my own vegetable garden, which certainly helps! They also have calcium blocks, iodine blocks and cuttlefish in their cages.

 

One of the female show budgies, Audrey (1 1/2 years old), has now laid 9 eggs, which seems like a lot to me. She's looking quite frazzled and kind of thin, even though the male is really good and feeds her all the time. I am just assuming this is normal for her having laid so many eggs. At least she is sitting on them all the time now.

 

I decided to clean her up today with a cloth and some warm water, as she had food caked all over her head and cheeks, presumably from the male feeding her. She seemed to perk up a little after that. I'm worried, if she's already tired, how she's going to go raising and feeding 9 chicks, assuming they all hatch. I guess time will tell.

 

Anyway, thanks for your support, it's much appreciated :)

 

I look forward to hearing from everyone and seeing pictures of everyone else's beautiful budgies!

Link to comment
×
×
  • Create New...