How Many Babies Can One Budgie Feed/ Can Budgie Raise Chicks Without M

[alannah234 0]

so i have a pair of budgies that have been mating for a while and we finally put a breeding cage in two days ago. yesterday the male budgie escaped due to strong winds blowing a side door open and today we realised she is sitting on eggs.

does she need a male budgie to raise them... she has come out to eat since but will that continue (that was yesterday)? will she stop eating ... the male usually feeds the female while she sits on the eggs.. will she refuse to leave

will she abandon them?

should we buy a male to help her raise them or will he attack them?

this is her first batch of eggs so were unsure

 

we used to breed budgies in a big aviry but it has been a while, i know with my finches the parents take shifts sitting on the eggs?

 

also i would really love for the eggs to survive after having lost the male who we all loved,

she is yellow with blue and grey and he was all blue

she is maybe 4 years old and he was just under 1

any help would be gretly appreciated

[robyn 0]

Did you mean you only put breeding box in 2 days ago?? or was it 2 days when he escaped? How many eggs are in box?

 

If she has more than one egg you can roughly work out how long she has been on eggs, she would lay every 2 days so if she has 4 eggs the first egg should be due to hatch in 10 days or so. She could rear them herself, if you leave plenty of seed millet sprays veg's etc in easy reach she will leave eggs to feed.

 

Let us know how many eggs etc she has, so we can help further. Depends on if she has mated enough for eggs to be fertile, you could candle them after 5 days or so if you knew when they were laid.

[alannah234 0]

The breeding box was only put in two days ago.. She has two eggs at the moment .... he escaped yesterday...

They were constantly mating when together it seemed non-stop... Like rabbits

[robyn 0]

Wow if she has 2 eggs already in 2 days she didn't waste time did she. I usually have mine in breeding cage for a week or two before any eggs turn up.

 

If that's the case just add food etc for her and see if she is going to incubate eggs or not. She could lay more yet if she's in a cycle. I have read that one mating is enough to fertilize a clutch so you just don't know. Keep posting as you go, it could go either way. Make a note of dates so you know when eggs are due (18 days after they're laid usually in 2 day intervals) If possible I'd mark each egg so you know which are the oldest etc. first couple may be fertile/or not but next ones could be/or not. Trial and error at this stage I'd say. Good luck with her.

 

Just to add I would not try to get another bird at this stage as they wouldn't be bonded etc. maybe your cock bird may be found with a lot of luck.

[Phoebes 0]

I only had one clutch so I am not sure what will happen. However I would watch for the return of the male. We had a budgie escape for a day outside (when I was a kid) and come back the next day. We left a cage outside that he was familiar with and he entered the cage. If your budgie comes back he may try to find a way to get back in with the female.

[alannah234 0]

In the end there were five eggs so far two have hatched, will she be able to feed all five?

[alannah234 0]

So long story short I had a male and female budgie they mated so we put in a breeding box the next day the male escaped the day after the female laid eggs...

 

Five eggs were laid and after 12 days one hatched, 1 day later another hatched

How many will the mother be able to feed by herself there is no other birds in the cage it's just her and the babies in the breeding box

I'm worried if all five hatch some will die as she can't feed so many without a male

Ive been told I should just take some eggs out but I'm not happy with doing that.. But I'm not confident enough to feed the babies myself and the mother is extremely protective

 

Any help would be appreciated

[paulie 0]

Put food and water within easy reach and you hen should be able to raise the 5 if they all hatch.

 

You can also put seed as a nest lining and millet sprays in nest box.

 

You will need to watch closely to ascertain weather the chics are being fed, you will see that there is or is not food in the crop.

Be prepared for the fact that you may and I stress MAY experience some losses. But this can happen under the best of circumstances.

Personally I would allow the eggs to hatch, giving at the very least a chance of life that would be lost if you throw eggs out.

 

Really these are my opinions and others may have different views, so read what every one has to say and make an as informed decision as you can.

Hope this helps

Paulie

[paulie 0]

With all the copulation you describe she may well have had enough stored semen to fertilise all eggs in the clutch. Follow what Robyn has outlined and you should be okay. also see posted reply in your other thread.

[Flip 0]

I too would give the hen the opportunity to hatch and raise the chicks. You may find anyway that not all eggs hatch. As Paulie said, make sure that the hen has plenty of food and water and all within easy reach. Millet sprays and seed in the nest box is also good particularly if you think the hen isn't getting out often enough to the food. Keep an eye on the chicks crops. It is easy to see whether they are being fed adequately. If they aren't being fed enough you can always remove a chick from the nest, give it a quick hand feed and then pop it back in afterwards. I have done this before on two occasions where the hen was doing everything else right but just not feeding the chicks enough. As the chicks get older, often the oldest chick will help to feed the younger chicks. Good luck, and keep us posted as to how things go.

[Nadene 0]

I agree with Paulie and Flip, she should be able to cope as long as she has food and water close by and seed in the box, I wouldn't take the eggs either. Good luck

[Finnie 0]

Hi Everyone,

 

In case you are confused, I have merged both of these threads together because they are discussing the same question concurrently. That's called double posting. So it would help in the future, if you only keep one thread going about a subject, because in order to follow it along, people have to keep jumping back and forth between two threads, and it's hard to keep track of what other people have answered.

 

We have had several of these double postings lately.

 

Thanks!

[robyn 0]

Hi Alannah, sounds like your hen is doing well, she obviously incubated eggs, the hen feeds the chicks crop milk for the first days anyway so if she copes with that the she will go on to feed them, just as she would if Dad were there. It may take a bit of a toll on Mum but I think she could do it, as long as she has good food and water in easy access. Maybe a bit of vitamins in her water may give her a bit of a hand, just keep a good eye on her to see if she is coping okay. Good luck and keep posting to let us know how you go.

[alannah234 0]

There is now 3 babies in the nesting box ... Mother comes out every five minutes to eat, we have been putting in milk thistle and she also eats that.

Is there anything else we could be feeding her... Advice from pet store was to take remaining two eggs out and put them in the freezer as she won't raise more than three...

My father tried that agin but she is extremely protective and I told him just to leave it as is and let her take care of them

 

Also with weaning I've heard the male is the one that helps to wean and feed them once they leave the nesting box ...

[Nadene 0]

Have you put seed in the box so she doesn't have to come out? She sounds she's doing well, I'd just leave her and keep a close eye on her.

[Flip 0]

Hi there. I would also give the hen some egg and biscuit mix. My breeding birds seem to crave this when they are rearing young. I use Passwells Egg and Biscuit mix. As for weaning, whilst the male is often the main attraction with this part, Iast season I lost a male when the oldest chick in his nest was about 3.5 weeks old and the hen was quite successful, if a little tardy, in weaning the chicks. So I wouldn't worry about that part right now. It sounds like your hen is doing a great job at present.

[Nadene 0]

I agree with Flip . I also use Passwells egg and biscuit mix, I 've tried other brands and they didn't like it. I also lost a male when the chicks were less then 2 weeks old and the hen did a great job and they weaned the same as any of my other chicks.

[robyn 0]

Things sound good so far,

I'd give her any extra nutrition e.g. the egg and biscuit, you can, although if she is not used to it or any new foods she probably won't take it. Maybe a bit of vitamins in the water may help. When the oldest chick get to 2 weeks or so, remove any nest material and add seed to floor of nest box instead. This encourages the chicks to crack seed /wean themselves before they fledge so they come out of the box already eating for themselves. Mum may also eat seed in box for younger ones.

 

Can't work out why pet store would say remove last 2 eggs to freezer? If they are fertile and hatch I'd say she could cope.