So she layed an egg....

[Guest Birdy Boo]

Hello everyone! I've never bred my budgies before, but a few months back I noticed they started breeding. I came to this site for help just in case any eggs appeared, but nothing happened. Now I went to clean the cage today and theres an egg on the floor!!

 

I have a nest box, but I'm afraid the female won't recognise what it is. Some of the birds know what it is, I'm not certain if she does.

 

Anyways, I want to move the parents and the egg into their own cage. I have one set up with a nest box or anything. But should I move her? I'm afraid of really disturbing her. Should I put her and the egg in the nest box, or should I leave the bird out with her egg on the floor....maybe she'll use the nest box and I can puther egg inside?

 

I'm not sure what to do.....any help is greatly appreciated!!

[Guest belco]

I would throw the egg out. Usually when there is 1 egg more are to follow...

Even if the hen decided to go back to the nest box lay more eggs and lay on that egg its possible to have a small crack in the egg not visible to our eyes and it will only dry up...

 

If she is ready to lay more she knows were to do it... and as for why the egg was on the floor might have been cause by another hen throwing it out of the box maybe?? happens once a blue moon with my brids... then ends up in a blood bath :/

 

hmm maybe i shouldnt have said that :bluebudgie:

[Guest Birdy Boo]

Thanks for the help...thing is though since they kept mating but with no eggs, I didn't put the box up there. But my male mated with a female he didn't mate with....stupid me, I added a nest box in with all my birds together and two other females started to fight over it (and yes, it was a blood bath while I was at work :bluebudgie: ....nothing too serious though). I took it away a week ago and now heres the egg.

 

I added the nest box in there and the hen was inspecting it (along with every other bird!!) so I'll put them in a different cage tomorrow and see what happens.

 

I didn't know about eggs having small cracks. It might have...I just want to wait and see if anything happens.

[Guest belco]

Thanks for the help...thing is though since they kept mating but with no eggs, I didn't put the box up there. But my male mated with a female he didn't mate with....stupid me, I added a nest box in with all my birds together and two other females started to fight over it (and yes, it was a blood bath while I was at work :bluebudgie: ....nothing too serious though). I took it away a week ago and now heres the egg.

 

I added the nest box in there and the hen was inspecting it (along with every other bird!!) so I'll put them in a different cage tomorrow and see what happens.

 

I didn't know about eggs having small cracks. It might have...I just want to wait and see if anything happens.

what i mean by the crack was maybe the budgie had the egg while standing on a perch.. and landed on something soft.. if you understand what im saying.. The smallest crack will get air in there and the baby will dry up and die...

 

I think you need to put more nest boxes in then... give them a variety to choose from... if there is only one they will all fight over it and blood baths will be common

 

i got obout 8 in my avery and its only 1 budgie that likes to fight over them so she is seperated again and alone :/

 

i know im mean but hey id rather some babies rather than smashed eggs on the ground :bluebudgie: and possibly injured

[Guest Birdy Boo]

Cool...thanks for the help! I put a box in last night...they were all inspecting it. I think I'm just going to seperate the family into their own cage so she could keep laying eggs without being disturbed by the other guys. As for that egg, I have a feeling she just layed it on the floor. The perch above the floor from where I found it was too high and it would have smashed. The nest box wasn't there at the time and a few days ago I noticed she kept standing around in that one specific corner all the time.

[Rainbow 0]

If are really sure you want the responsibility of baby birds, you can move her and the **** to a different cage with a nest box. If not, just don't put one up, and the eggs will usually be ignored if they are laid on the floor of the cage.

[Guest Birdy Boo]

Hello! I think I'll be okay with the baby birds....my boyfriend would want them anyways! I've got a huge flock already, so I wouldn't mind anymore. So far I seperated them in their own cage. So far the female is inspecting the box, but I just hope the hole isn't too small. I got it from a petstore, but I havea feeling she might not fit, as squeezy as she may be.

[Rainbow 0]

Did you get a budgie box? Mine was about 9 1/2 " long x 6 1/2 " wide x 8 " tall with about a 1 1/2 " diagonal hole and a flat bottom (no concave). I think that's about the average size you get in pet stores.

 

Make sure you offer them LOTS of veggies and a cuttlebone. I found mine ate tons more fresh food when on eggs and feeding young than usual. And if you've never bred budgies before, read tons of stuff about it so you will be prepared for whatever happens. They will be so precious!

[Guest Birdy Boo]

Thanks for all the help! Well so far I'm prepared...as far as I know anyways. I've read so many books about budgies...I always wanted to breed them and now here they are popping out eggs (Laughing out loud). So far I gave them grated carrots (since its what we have available so far) and I'm offering the hen lots of millet, treat sticks, and whatever I can find. I'm aware of the calcium deficiencies and egg binding that can happen without adequate calcium. Splay legs, I also have to read more about.

 

Rainbow, mine is about 9 inches wide and 6 1/2 inches high. Its the biggest budgie box I could find for the guys since I heard roomier is best since the hen can accidentaly trample their chicks. The bottom does have the concave.

 

I read a couple of times somewhere that it's "okay" for the hen to leave the egg alone until she lays another one and it won't affect the future chick. Is this true? So she doesn't have to sit on it for long periods of time and the egg will be fine? Thanks again for all your help everyone!

[Rainbow 0]

Sometimes the hen will not begin to sit tightly on the eggs until the second one has been laid. That is normal. I'd lay off the treat sticks for a while, (they're usually full of sugar calories), and stick to more nutritious fare. The carrot is good, she will probably like baby spinach leaves, broccoli, kale, carrot tops, maybe try green and red pepper as well as a dark colorful lettuce like red romaine or red-leaf. While they were breeding and raising young, any vegetable was preferred over seed, believe it or not. The babies were raised on vegetables, LOL. Make sure she has access to a cuttlebone too.

 

It's exciting, isn't it?

[Guest Birdy Boo]

It is! Right now not much is going on (don't know about the UK, but here in the US its almost 11:30) P.M. I think her next egg is due tonight or tomorrow. :bluebudgie: :parrot:

[Rainbow 0]

Yeah, I know. Eastern time too, huh? Morning's going to get here way too soon... Keep us posted on the eggs. She will lay one every other day until she is satisfied with the clutch size.

[Guest Birdy Boo]

I was reading about marking the eggs....I know it should be water based, but are Crayola markers okay? I think they're water based and non toxic. I have a few, but just needed someone else's opinion first.

[Guest oscarchik101]

idk for sure but i think they're okay cos my mum ate them when she was little and she's okay :bluebudgie: (Laughing out loud) anyway, best wishes!

[*Nerwen* 0]

:(Laughing out loud): oscarchik101 i don't think she meant crayons, It would be better to be safe than sorry I would go out and by a pen that stats on the side 'water based'. Or you can not worry about marking them, it is only so you know which egg is which and so know when it should hatch. I didn't number mine and just waited until I was sure the others wouldn't hatch any more before taken them out.

[Guest Birdy Boo]

Cool thanks! I think I'll leave them alone when she lays them. I'll just wait for who hatches first. Well, I now know that egg will surely have no chance of survival because mother bird (Sprite) chucked it out of the box last night while I was sleeping. That must have taken a long long time of nudging it out of the box with her head.....or something.

 

Right now she's working on some sort of activity in there....I think she's trying to make the concave deeper since she's scratching around in there.

 

This was a thought, but is it possible to still stop the breeding? I don't think I won't (unless she doesn't lay eggs), but I read somewhere that females can lay eggs when they please, but would she end up laying eggs AFTER she's mated a few times? I guess so, but I wonder if she just decided to lay that one on the floor of the cage..... :bluebudgie: or if she just couldn't help it.

[Rainbow 0]

You can take away the box if you don't want babies. She may still lay another egg or two on the bottom of the cage, but probably will not pay much attention to them.

[Guest oscarchik101]

oh yeah my bad! well there are crayons on the desk next to the computer, so when i read crayola and looked up and saw the box... anyways!!!!! moving right along...

 

i hope all your eggs hatch. its all so exciting!!

[Guest Birdy Boo]

Hi everyone! Sorry I couldn't reply sooner. Its been busy for the last couple of weeks. As with the update, the eggs haven't hatched yet. The clutch has three eggs. I think they're due around Christmas or a little later.

 

I will have pictures when they hatch!!!

 

I'm especially happy with the father bird the hen picked out....he seems like he'd be a very good dad! I've been noticing that he spends a lot of time in the nest box with the hen now. I wonder if he's helping mom sit on the eggs.

[*Nerwen* 0]

Sounds great, my boy sat in the nest box too, I think it more to do with being together than him helping with the eggs, but I have read about that.

[Guest Birdy Boo]

Thanks for the help everyone. And happy holidays by the way.

 

But I have some very bad news. Since the parents spent all their time in the nest box I never saw them. I got worried and checked on them one day. Both were on the eggs pressed together sleeping. A few days later (today) I got worried and then I checked in the box this morning while the hen was out eating (all by herself????) and I found the father dead in the nest box. My poor bird!! ='( I don't know what happened! There was no blood....nothing. He just died I guess. And he was only two years old. Maybe he was a mutation of some sort. He was a gray bird, but even I think thats pretty normal.....I think.

Here's how he looked:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v379/Yene/Pengy.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v379/Yen...andingThere.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v379/Yen...ndingThere2.jpg

 

 

What do I do now? Will the hen be okay with the babies? I have a feeling I'm going to have to help out with the chicks. It wouldn't be my first time hand feeding baby birds. I just never bred my budgies before.

 

 

 

I have a feeling a foster father won't work.....

 

Any info will be greatly appreciated!!

Edited December 25, 2004 by Birdy Boo

[Guest jack&ben]

i can't offer much information but i'm so sorry, even more sorry that it happend on this day. You might have to help a bit but not so much that it will worry the hen i guess, maybe put the food a bit closer to the hen and have alot of egg food to replace what the **** could of done, or if you other pairs breeding mark the eggs and let the other hens foster them, hope it all goes well.

[Rainbow 0]

Oh, I'm so sorry about your bird...I know how you must feel. He was a very pretty grey. It seems the different mutations may be genetically predisposed to a shorter lifespan. I found that out with Rainbow.

 

I've never had experience with only one bird raising chicks, but I will tell you what I think. Maybe it will help. Your hen will still be able to raise the chicks by herself, but I would help her out some by putting millet in the nest box, and if she will let you feed her while she's in it, give her some green food by hand so she doesn't have to leave as often. If she is not that tame, or if she is very protective of her eggs and it stresses her out too much if you do that, it's a very good idea to move her food dishes closer to the nest box opening. I think she would be more inclined to feed herself properly if she doesn't have to go as far for food. If you still don't think she's eating enough, if the box is large enough you may have to dump some seed in a corner for her. It will work best if there is no bedding in the nest box for that option. If you have wood shavings in there, you will have to clear a bare spot so she knows there is food in there. You will need to check on the babies daily, and make sure their crops are staying full. Unfortunately, I think you will have to keep a closer watch than if there were two parents. It's a good thing you have hand-fed before. Hopefully, you won't have to hand-feed them at all, but especially not during the first week. Baby budgies are fed on their backs then - the only species of hookbill to do this, I think - and I can't imagine how difficult it would be to do that and not aspirate them. Have any of the eggs hatched yet at all?

 

I used to check on mine at least two, sometimes more, times daily when they were on eggs.

[Guest Julie]

Oh I'm sorry about your gray bird.I hope all goes well for you.

Looking at your pictures I was struck by what a small head he seemed to have? It may just be the photo but the gray I have has a much bigger head.

 

Julie

[Rainbow 0]

Julie, I think you have an exhibition budgie. Yours is one big budgie! I don't think Birdy Boo's grey budgie was that type.