Breeding Update

[tomlou670 0]

One of our hens has started laying eggs, there is no nesting box in the cage. She is laying them on the grate of the cage. After the first egg was laid, we introduced a nesting box to the cage. The Male Budgie Kramer kept flying back and forth from the box entrance to where the hen was sitting and back to the box. She laid a second egg, again on the floor of the cage. How do you get a hen to lay them in the box and not the cage floor. This morning Kramer went inside the box and we could hear him tapping all over the nesting box. So far, there has not been anymore eggs laid,but we get anxious everytime she goes down to the cage floor. Both eggs that were laid on the floor have not survived, we are worried that she will keep laying to replace eggs that have been broken. please advise . We have plenty of egg and biscuit in there for her and him, we are worried about the calcium level of each bird, so we place that in each cage of budgies we have.

[Ratzy 0]

I suggest you take out the nesting box and take some time to research. Breeding is a lot of responsibility and hard work. It will cost you more than you bargained and much more than you will earn from any potentional chicks.

[Ratzy 0]

Some may disagree with me but that is my opinion.

Edited July 20, 2010 by Ratzy

[tomlou670 0]

cage. She just started laying eggs on the bottom of the cage. will take your advice and take it out, but what bout her laying eggs all over the bottom of the cage. Thanks Ratzy for the advice . The Box was not even attached to the cage when she started laying the eggs, which is what has us puzzled, why is she laying eggs, when there is no breeding box attached. I have been researching and studying. I am trying to figure out what triggered her to start laying eggs. unless it was the lights on for too long.

[**KAZ** 0]

If she is old enough ( over 12 months ) and you want to breed her...persevere. But a good distraction therapy is to change her into a new or different cage and set up differently so she can explore and investigate. If you move her alone she will stop egg laying...maybe after another egg thats already in the pipeline so to speak but she will stop.

What do you want as regards breeding her, and is she old enough ?

[tomlou670 0]

both male and female are over year old. We just happened to walk by the cage and noticed she was on the bottom of the cage and our hearts were in our throats. she is our mauve and white hen and Kramer is the purple male one. She moved away and we saw an egg laying on the floor of the cage. We are like if they breed they breed, we are not in it for money or anything, but if they do breed, we are hoping they produce a purple hen. I have been studying until my eyes bug out on the breeding thing. We have made sure there is plenty of food and we have placed in egg and biscuit feeder. We really don't have another cage to move them into, as they are in one of our largest cages. We are however purchasing two more large cages this week, and probably will move them to the different cage. You mentioned moving her alone,they are bonded pair, will that interfere with the bond and how long before we can place Kramer into the cage along with her. Someone told us to just move the eggs into nesting box and all will be fine, I however have my doubts having experience birds in the wild rejecting eggs that were touched. She goes into the nesting box and is in and out, I know this for all the feathers all over the floor that she threw out, that my wife had placed in it. We love all of our budgies dearly and do not want anything to happen. We do the vitamin thing about twice a week and have plenty of food on hand. One other question before I close, will her laying eggs trigger our other pairs of budgies, we have six pairs all together with two single ones. Thanks Kaz, and will keep in touch. Will try the changing the cage thing.

[**KAZ** 0]

Moving her alone was only advised if you wanted to stop her breeding....but you dont......so as I said persevere.

Someone told us to just move the eggs into nesting box and all will be fine, I however have my doubts having experience birds in the wild rejecting eggs that were touched. This is an old wives tales....rejection due to touching eggs is untrue She goes into the nesting box and is in and out, I know this for all the feathers all over the floor that she threw out, that my wife had placed in it. We love all of our budgies dearly and do not want anything to happen. We do the vitamin thing about twice a week and have plenty of food on hand. One other question before I close, will her laying eggs trigger our other pairs of budgies, we have six pairs all together with two single ones. Thanks Kaz, and will keep in touch. Will try the changing the cage thing. dont worry about changing cages if you want them to breed...............that was about stopping her and you dont want to do that

 

 

and you dont move the eggs into a new box as she will " clean them out" in preparing the box. If you ever have eggs not in a box, you store them till she lays the next egg in the box and then you add the others.

Edited July 20, 2010 by KAZ

[Finnie 0]

and you dont move the eggs into a new box as she will " clean them out" in preparing the box. If you ever have eggs not in a box, you store them till she lays the next egg in the box and then you add the others.

 

This has got me to wondering.

She's been cleaning feathers out of the box, but not laying in it.

Would it be possible to sacrifice one or two of the eggs by putting them in the box, and then when she goes to clean those out, it might give her the idea to lay her "own" eggs in there?

[tomlou670 0]

[

 

Thanks so much to all, we did move the 2nd egg into the box and she threw it out, she has since laid egg number three, in the box perfect centre lol . She threw out the feathers we put in there. This morning both of them were in the box, don't know what that was all about lol. So we wait on bated breath, we are getting all the necessary equipment for when the chick or chicks arrive. You all have and continue to be a very big help to us, cannot thank you all enough

[tomlou670 0]

As of today, there is three eggs in the nesting box. She seems to be laying an egg every other day and the third one got laid today. My two kids got a lesson in Budgie love, when she came out of the box and they started mating right in front of the kids. I am curious as to why they would do that in the middle of her egg laying/incubating. She comes out and he feeds her then he chases her back into the box, it is comical to watch. He flies back and forth to the box and back screeching at her. She pecked him the head,once when he screeched at her. We are doubling up on the seed and placing fresh veggies in as well. He eats the egg and biscuit like crazy and when she comes out she goes after that and the mineral block as well. We placed vitamins in the water, as he looks a little disheveled lol. As I said before we are getting everything lined up for after they are hatched. I noticed sometimes the eggs are out of the center, and when looked again, they are back in the center. We are both nervous and excited at this, and I have read and reread every post on the forum in regards to breeding. One good thing, this will keep us out of the petshop for awhile, so we won't have time to "window shop" for budgies. We do that and we always tend to buy one, our latest addition is what looks like a Lutino hen. She is bright yellow with white on the tips of the wings and tail. Will keep you all updated.

[tomlou670 0]

okay, another breeding update. There are now 5 eggs in the box, she spends almost all of her time in the box, but comes out briefly to stretch and eat and then it's back in the box. The male will climb into the box with her from time to time. The first time he did that, I kinda of panicked because I thought he found a way out of the cage. I saw his white face in the shadow of the entrance lol. I have the laying pattern down and check every other day, when she comes out for a bit. It seems like she comes out, waits for me to open the box,check it and then close it and she goes right back in. Almost as if she is waiting for me to count the eggs lol. We started to give them spinach leaves,the male cannot seem to get enough of them.

[tomlou670 0]

It seems she has stopped at six eggs. Yesterday was the day for another egg to be laid, and there wasn't anymore. She is setting on the eggs almost all the time now, with quick trips out to be fed and stretch, then it's back in. Once in awhile Kramer will climb inside the box with her. I was covering them up last night and I was peeking through a gap at the bottom, he came out of the box jumped down on the perch and bent over to look out , as if to say, I know your there, I can see you. So now it is a wait and see till and if the eggs hatch. I peeked in the box and she had them laid out in a circle in the concave section of the box. I told Lou, it reminded me of Lisa Simpsons necklace.to be continued...........

[tomlou670 0]

lol, Just a funny little tid bit. I uncover them every morning and she comes out and stretches and sits next to Kramer to be fed. I hover nearby and she starts chirping at me. I open the nesting box check it and then close it back up. As soon as I close it back up, she then climbs down and goes back in it. This seems to be her morning ritual, and she won't go back in until I have had a look. I started to walk away once and she screeched at me,rofl. by uncovering them, I mean the cage that I cover at night. They all know exactly when I am going to cover them up at night, they all go to their perch positions for night sleeping. Before we split all the pairs up, there was screeching as to whom was going to sleep where, it was comical.

[libby66 0]

Hi tomlou670,

It's an exciting time when your budgies start breeding,one of my pairs is on it's second

 

clutch and the chicks range from three weeks down.Just wait till you open the box and you see this

 

tinly little chick thats really exciting,your kids will love watching them grow mine certainly do.

 

Goodluck with it all and keep us up to date.

 

Libby.

[Finnie 0]

Hi tomlou670,

It's an exciting time when your budgies start breeding,one of my pairs is on it's second

 

clutch and the chicks range from three weeks down.Just wait till you open the box and you see this

 

tinly little chick thats really exciting,your kids will love watching them grow mine certainly do.

 

Goodluck with it all and keep us up to date.

 

Libby.

 

 

Libby is right, Tomlou. You've seen pictures, and you know you are expecting a chick, but the first time you actually see one, it is an amazing surprise! I'm excited for you. Pretty soon you'll be posting the happy news!

[tomlou670 0]

Thanks Libby and Finnie, She laid her first egg on the 21rst of last month and an egg every other day until the 29th, so we should be coming up close to hatching day. She sits on them day and night with only brief trips out,and when she comes out, Kramer starts getting very nervous and keeps flying to the box and back,lol until she goes back in. He is very dutiful and sometimes sits in with her to help and keep her company. It seems weird though, seeing him up on the top perch all by himself. So far out of our 7 pairs of budgies, they are the only ones who have gotten the breeding bug. A relief for us at the moment, being this our first time lol. I want to thank all of you on here, especially Kaz for all your help and bits of wisdom.

[Finnie 0]

We are meant to count 18 days from when the hen starts to incubate the eggs. Supposedly that starts around the time she lays her 2nd or 3rd egg.

 

But apparently, some hens will start to sit from egg 1.

 

So, if egg 1 was July 21, then egg 3 was, maybe, around July 25. So then roughly you are looking at somewhere between Aug 8th and 12th.

 

You may still have a whole week to go.

 

But here is a sure-fire trick to get your baby to hatch:

 

Come on here a few days before you expect your chickie, and post that you still have 2 or 3 days to wait. Guaranteed, your baby will hatch that same day!!

 

(I'm just kidding, but honestly, this happened to me several times. I'm sticking with it as my theory! )

[tomlou670 0]

We have a bouncing baby Budgie. It Hatched not very long ago. I had to wait until the hen left the box then checked it. Needless to say it was a very brief check as she went storming back into the box and I Had to close it real quick. If all goes well the next one will hatch on Friday as it was laid two days after the first one. I walked by the box and heard this really faint peeping sound, and I peeked into the back of the box and noticed the hen was sitting differently. The male kept looking at me, as if to say, and just what are you doing, lol.

[Finnie 0]

That's great news, Tomlou!!

 

:party0011: :happy-dancing: :bliss:

[libby66 0]

Congratulations Tomlou that fantastic news

 

:happy-dancing:

[tomlou670 0]

Just a little update, we peeked back in the box while the hen was out. She has the little chick surrounded by the five eggs. Does the little chick constantly making a peeping sound or the like. We are so new to this and this is both frightening and a fascinating experience at the the same time. It appears to be very warm but just lays there with no movement. The hen is darting out very briefly and seems to go afte the egg and biscuit and then ducks back in, the male flutters from the high perch down to the box and back up again. He doesn't seem to be standing guard at the nest very often, well when nobody is in the room he does lol. We are expecting the stork to make another appearance tomorrow night. This is definitely a learning experience for us. We don't have an incubator as of yet and this is our only pair that have laid eggs, we wanted another pair to start but apparently nothing at the moment, not from lack of trying from the male,lol.

[*Nerwen* 0]

yes the chicks are very noisy, next time you check look for a yellow blob just under the beak and you will know that mum is feeding it. You may have the 2nd chick a little sooner than the average 2 days as the hen normally doesn't start sitting on the eggs until she has a few. Actions of mum and dad sound normal.

[tomlou670 0]

We checked the box last night, we lost the first chick :angel: . It was discarded away from the egg area :doh: . This morning though, Chick #2 hatched, completely caught of guard, we weren't expecting it until this evening . Seems like night and day the two chicks. The first one just laid there and never even moved around. This one is all over the place and very active. The actions of the parents seem to be different this time, as Kramer is doing all the stuff I read that a male does when they are raising chicks. We took the chick out to observe and check it, and we noticed the crop was full. The mother is doting all over it and the male will stick his head in from time to time lol. He never did that with the first one. We have stocked up on vetafarm hand raising and have syringes ready to go. Just in case. Is there a link that shows the exact location of the crop,I remember someone saying it is a yellowish area. We check the box everytime we spot the hen out stretching and doing what a Budgie does lol. Hmmm, what a day for a chick to be born, Friday the 13th,lol. I want to name it Jason if it is a male, but got voted down by Loulou. Will keep posting updates and we will try to get pics when we can.

Edited August 13, 2010 by tomlou670

[Finnie 0]

Oh, I am so sorry to hear that you lost the first one.

 

But I'm so glad that the second one is doing well, and the parents are great!

 

I don't think you should check the nest box more than twice a day, though. That's what I've been told. You can make the parents nervous, and then they stop doing their job properly. (Eventually I did go up to three times a day, though )

 

Jason would be a cool name! Except I do believe people (and animals) tend to live up to their names, so maybe it would be a bad idea.

 

Oh, I just noticed, where are the jelly bean pictures!?! :angel: :doh:

Edited August 13, 2010 by Finnie

[tomlou670 0]

Hard to get the jelly bean pics as the hen is watching like a hawk, lol. She seems to be okay with me when I held the chick to check it over, but got highly upset when others would come near the box. Kramer just shoots me a look as if to say, now what do you want, I usually put my ear to the back of the box and kinda peek in the back slot of the box. I noticed the second hatching when I saw through the back of the box that she was not in her incubating egg stance, but was somewhat different pose. I uncovered the cage and she came out and I then checked the box. I removed the egg shells and checked the baby to see if it was being fed, then placed it back in the cage. not sure when the other four will hatch, as the second one threw our hatching timetable right out the window as it was supposed to hatch today but in the evening lol. :angel: Will keep updating as the saga unfolds, can't wait to see what colours come out of this. As this is my first time, I was kinda startled at the size of them, I was expecting bigger for some reason lol