renee

Don't know how long it takes to form an egg. I wouldn't have thought longer than 24hrs ... The main thing is that she has finally laid one again!

Well it sounds like you've got a battle on your hands hunting down all those rats. Good Luck! Hows the new aviary/breeding room coming along? Have you finished yet? Time to make the move pronto methinks ... unless you've already done it.

A couple of months ago I paired up 2 of my best birds. The hen has a history of being very particular about her mate but I was determined to put her to one of my best cocks. As I expected she took her time to take to him but within a few weeks they bonded. To my chagrin over the past 4 weeks she produced one solitary egg (fertilised) and then chucked it after a week. She was spending a lot of time in the nest box but not showing anything for it... I despaired of her and started considering that she just wasn't going to breed anymore. She is 2½ years old and last year's breeding hadn't been spectacular, maybe she had an ovarian infection? ... I had given all my birds a 6 weeks course of psittacosis to clear up chlamydia infections ... surely that couldn't be it? In passing I mentioned their case to my local vet on Wednesday. He smiled very broardly and suggested I try them in an alternate cabinet. His theory being that sometimes the hens don't feel secure enough in their nest box and need a change of scenery. Low and behold as soon as I transferred them yesterday the cock bird started strutting the perch and she got a dopey look on her face. And this morning there's an egg in the nest box!

Knock me down with a feather ... are you saying that if an aviary has an top open section then the budgies are vulnerable to wild bird bourne infections? Or how else does the top open section contribute to infections to psittacosis?? and what other nasties are they exposed to?

He is crippled but alive Liv My concern is others maybe under there. I am about to catch ALL aviary birds and rehouse them elsewhere for the time being ( I have two empty metal aviaries I can use ) Then I will start to dig up the tunnels under the storage room where they seem to be, and let the dogs try and catch them. Pity your dog didn't catch it .... Go for it! Show no mercy ... DEATH to the BUDGIE KILLERS!

I know of some top breeders that will put a 6 month year old hen down to breed but at the same time it was said that they were big boofy hens and of course those breeders have plenty of experience.... I myself am not so experienced so I wait until the hen is 9-11 months old and pair her with an older cock so he can show her the ropes and show her how to feed. The rule of thumb is to let her go 2 rounds raising the chicks herself and then if I am happy with the chicks they are producing I foster any subsequent eggs out. To date I have limited the breeding season from mid April to mid November so any breeding hen will be limited to raising 2 nests per year. All hens are retired at 4 years old. I am not so strict with the cock birds.

I'm really shocked to hear about the rat attack Kaz and I'm sorry you had to put down so many promising chicks and dispose of your show budgies. Thank you everyone for the posts about vermin prevention, especially the eucalyptus tip. Despite my best efforts I still get the occasional mouse in the breeding room. I chuck everything at them: mouse/rat stations with green bait (2), rat poison and poison seed (sprinkled generously anywhere I've found mouse poo) and humane traps (3). Funnily enough I tend to spot a mouse when the rat station bait has all been eaten. My cat is a super rat catcher and so far no vermin has penetrated my outside aviaries ... Call me cruel but I don't care how long it takes them to die or how they do it so long as they don't harrass my budgies.

As Kaz said, it really depends on your breeding room. I do all my breeding from mid April thru to Mid November but that is because I have converted my garage specifically for this purpose. My garage is a brick structure so keeps the warm in, it has an east facing window to let in the early morning light and in the afternoons I open up the side door (to which I have added a fly screen door) and window to ventilate. The floor is concrete and therefor easy to keep clean and I hoover every other day. It's really important to vermin proof your breeding area as those pesky mice can slip between the wire fronts of most cages and harrass your birds at night. During the winter months daylight quality is not as good so it's worth considering running additional full spectrum lighting, such as Arcadia.

I have found that the size or shape of the eggs is particular to each hen. Unless of course the shell is soft or really badly deformed you shouldn't have a problem. The best thing you can do for your breeding pairs is to give them Calcivet and that usually fixes any calcium defficiencies that may arise.

I wait until the 4th egg has been laid and check for fertility with a small torch I have for this purpose. Usually the hen will lay eggs every 2nd day and you should start to see blood vessels forming in the egg as of the 4th day or so. About 5 days later I check again and toss the clear eggs.