JustBeaky

Yea I did see them doing that. I thought I was seeing things. I was thinking, "that must be practice for when they get older." okay but they are really feeding them. That's cute and handy too, haha!!

Right, I did do that. All five older birds don't want to eat from me anymore. I try to offer them the baby bird food, they just don't want it. The youngest squeeks everytime he hears or sees me. So he better be eating his seeds!!! Again thank you all for your help!!

Thanks everyone very much. I have been wrecking my head about this. I didn't want to not feed them in the middle of the night and have them die on me, but I was to the point were I was feeding them every three hours. Getting up in the night and such. I read so many different opinions on this then I remembered I was a member here and i was like duh I need to ask them, they know what they are doing. okay so about 3 times a day then. Sounds good. Again I thank you all very much, your help was much appreciated. Now I won't lose any sleep thinking they are going to die on me.

So continue to feed them over night?? Even though they have all of their feathers?? How long should I feed them for. I guess I'm just looking for a timeline on when I could stop feeding them into the night. Is it still every three hours for them or can I go every six hours. Like I said, I heard so many different things from different websites to books. I'm still getting the hang of this. But thank you for the information given. Does anyone have any idea why mama bird acted like that??? She was really good up in til that day. Was she just getting frustrated??

Hello To all, I hope everyone is doing well I havent' been on this sight for awhile. In the summer I posted pictures of 4 little chicks. It was my first time breeding budgies. Well mama budgie had another clutch after that. She laid 10 eggs, the first two chicks died and one egg was a dud. She is a very good mom and the male I have her with is a good dad. Until a few days ago. There were 7 chicks left in the nest box. The older ones are a month old and the 2 younger ones about 3 weeks old. I woke up to do my daily cage cleaning and feeding when I heard an unusual amount of screaming. I seen Booger (who is the dad) sitting in the corner freaked out. I looked in the hole of the nest box to see Mama bird jumping all over the place and knocking the babies in the head. I knew something was wrong. I opened the nest box and seen some of the chicks had bald patches on their head that looked red. The mama birds beak had a little blood on it. I rushed around to find something to put the babies in. I knew I had to get them out. Within a half an hour of preparing a homemade brooder she had killed one and was going for another. I quickly got them out. She started to attack me, which she never does. I took the nest box out. I was hoping she wasn't going to start attacking booger. I really don't know what had gotten into her. She was such a good mom, it's like she went crazy. Well the past few days I have been hand feeding around the clock, this is only my second clutch ever and the first time I'm handfeeding. I have read a few books and looked online. Everyone seems to have a different opinion on how to hand feed and how many times a day it should be. I figured I would ask here since you guys have given me good advice before. So the littlest chick is about 3 weeks old. The oldest is about a month. I have six of them. I moved the older three into a tiny cage because they didn't want to eat from me after the first couple feeding. The seem to be eating seeds. I got the younger three in a ten gallon tank with a heating pad and a light, I have a thermometer and a tiny bowl of water and seeds incase they want to try those, I have a couple hand sewn nests that they have been sleeping in. This is my schedule of feeding...1:30pm, 4:30pm, 7:30pm, 10:30pm, 1:30am, 4:30am, 7:30 am and 10:30 am. The two youngest eat everytime I feed the four older only a few times. Should I still be feeding them round the clock every three hours or do you think that is too much. Like I said this is my first shot at it. I'm not exactly sure what I am doing. They seem to be pretty attached to me now. I guess I'm the new mama. I just don't want anything to go wrong, they are a good little bunch and they are varies shades of green and yellow. Very pretty birds, The oldest is a deep teal, second oldest has lots of yellow in her, the third is so funny, he is a bright green but has a light blue butt...HAHA!!! SORRY SUCH A LONG POST..... Hope to hear from you guys soon, Thanks YOu so much for listening, Jaime

Oh my gosh. This story broke my heart. I'm very sorry for your loss!!!

In their homemade M&M nest [ My Bearded Dragon peeking, I only had the chicks there for the light.

Thanks So Much!!!

i love every minute of it. The little ones are getting their down feathers. It is so cool to see the whole process first hand. thanks for the advice. Jaime

Here is my blue Female My Recessive pied Male My Albino male, He is the last one I added to the flock about a year ago This is my man, Booger LOL The First three, the female recessive pied is pictured here Bath Time!! Here are the five together when i cleaned the big cage, before they were separated

Hi guys, I wrote on here I believe a couple months ago. I'm pretty sure back in July. My blue female laid 6 eggs and they did not hatch. My reversed pied female laid 2 and they didn't hatch. I recieved excellent advice from everyone on here and I also was told that it's pretty normal for first time moms to not have the eggs hatch. Well I have never had baby birds so this is my first experience with the whole thing. My blue female laid her second clutch in early august. I didn't have my hopes up. I figured it would be another dud clutch. Well one day I heard a noise, little squeeky sounds. It sounds funny but I was actually looking around the house thinking it was something squeeking like the stove or fridge or something HAHA!!! Then DUH I realized that it was coming from the nest box...Nooooo I thought. But yes....when I checked...MY FIRST BABY!!! That was August 25th. Well so far I have 4 little babies. Another hatched yesterday but it died. I have 2 more eggs left. Not sure if they will hatch or not, she laid 3 of them alot later that the first 4. Like I said one hatched the other day but died. So I'm waiting to see if I will have 6 babies or not. If not I'm happy with the four. They are the cutest little scrawny, fuzzy, things I ever seen. I was wondering one thing though. I'm kind of a neat freak when it comes to cleaning the bird cages. I checked the nest box yesterday and as you all probably know it was filled with bird poo. Can I go in there and clean it or is mama blue bird going to be mad?? I had to remove all the babies yesterday anyway to get that dead baby out. She didn't seem too mad but I don't want to disrupt her nesting habits. I'm just wondering if anyone else cleans the nest box as the babies get older. I just hate to see them sit in their poo. Thanks Guys!!! I'm so happy!!! JJ

Yes I'm sure of the age. Well as advised, I took all of the eggs out. She kept sitting in the spot where the eggs were. Poor girl. Well i hope she adjusts well. Thanks for all the good advice. I really needed it!!

okay, sounds interesting. Thank you!! Her cere, normally is white with a faint outline of blue and it's smooth. When she started laying eggs it turned completely white and it had gotten really crusty looking. It never turned brown. Weird, maybe it's because it's her first time laying eggs. Thank you for the advice!!

So I'm guessing you want to see pictures?? HAHAH!! okay I'll check it out. My pair seems good to go, except for one thing. No brown cere on the female. It's a little rough and scratchy looking then normal, but it isn't brown. I was actually wondering about that. Hmmm...weird.

okay, give me a run down on breeding condition. Again, books don't add up?? Why not when they are molting, just curious. Just the mother or the father too?? Thanks Again!!! Awesome adivice you guys!!

okay Thanks so much. Yeah I have tons of books and all of them have different information in them. I was bitching to my dad yesterday cuz of all of the info in these books and non added up. I was like, "so what the *** do I do???" LOL HAHAHA!!! Thanks you guys I really apprieciate the information. As for the question of how old my budgies are. The one that layed eggs is a little over a year. The male about the same, maybe a little younger but not by much. I was told that a year was fine to breed. True or Not?? I hope I'm doing the right thing? You got me worried now KAZ.. Hee Hee

This has been my first year owning birds. I got 5 budgie's last year. I have 3 males and 2 females. I separated a male and female that have been bonding for awhile into a breeding cage. At the end of june I checked the nest box and YAY my 2 first bird eggs ever. By the end of the week we had 6. Well according to my collection of budgie books the hatch date should have been yesterday for at least the first egg. I went ahead and candled the eggs. Nothing but a tiny yellow blob, no veins, no chick shadows nothing. Well I am disappointed but I'm not going to give up. I threw 2 of the eggs out because I've read that she will get depressed if I throw them all out at once. Is this the truth?? Should I just up and get rid of all of them at once?? I really just want her to be okay with my choice that's all. I'm just worried about my mama bird, that's were my concern lies for right now. Thanks and any advice will help... Have an awesome day.

All I did was google Budgerigar societies, and some came up. A word of caution, you should remove the nest box and nest hut immediately! They will trigger breeding behavior, which will cause even underage budgies to begin trying to lay eggs. (Not good for growing little birdies.) Also, two hens will get along great with each other, as long as there is no nest or single male to fight over. I would suggest getting a 2nd male, so that everyone can have their special buddy, and each female can have her own male. (But quarantine, 1st.) I didn't think I would be much of a bird person, either, but boy, the bigger they stand, the harder they fall. Ask my kids, I always said, "No birds, ever!" Oh Really!!!! That's good to know. Thank you very much!! I actually noticed that only the dark blue budgie goes into the nest box. The male gets really mad and screams at her until she comes out, then he is quiet. I understand that it's quarantine first. My mistake the first time. Could I get a green male for my females??? Would they bond. Sometimes with other animals that won't fly. But with bugie's I'm not sure. I seen a few really pretty males at my local pet store. If their cere is very dark blue or purple does that mean that they are older than my current birds?? I bought three parakeet books before I even bought my parakeets. THey are helpful to a degree. It seems it covers the general stuff but nothing behond. Thanks for your help, Jaime

You dont need to do that. The sexes have been worked out here on this forum. DNA sexing is most often done for parrots where its harder to tell. Budgies ceres are the indicator and easier to sex than most parrots. :rofl: Oh good. I was dreading doing that to them. My vet said the same things you guys did about me having 2 females and a male. He said people do the DNA testing thing just to be 100%. Thanks Again. I'm learing alot on this forum. I'm glad I joined!!!

You know, I didn't even realize I checked breeder as yes. Maybe it's because I would like to breed in the future but just am not experienced with bird breeding in general. I have experience in reptile breeding but birds are fairly new to me. I have had and currently have tons of animals, birds were one animal that I never owned. So I decided to give it a try. My uncle (who is now passed) bred canaries. He had hundreds and he was such a neat freak, took care of them soooooo well. He had two budgies, just as pets. I'm glad I gave it a shot with birds, I was kinda nervous because I know they are delicate, but I enjoy them alot. I would def like to breed them in the future. I have a nest box and also a nest hut kinda thing in their cage. They just seem to play in it. No breeding yet. They are young yet though. It's nice to see that someone is from the midwest too!!! I'm not sure about budgie clubs. Like I said I'm fairly new. Do you have information on the clubs??

I know about the quarintine. My birds went to the doctor! I have an excellent bird vet here. Thanks for your concern though!! It's thoughtful. I will be going back in two weeks to maybe get them blood tested to find out the sex. He said that there is no sign of illness, so I assumed it was okay. Well you live you learn. Next time I get a bird I will wait longer.

Hi All, about my signature, I know, I got a message today. I feel stupid because I've been trying to fix it for 10 mintues and for some reason it's not working. Thank you all for your comments. I thought the far right bugie was a girl at first but then she started head bobbing once I put her with the others so then I started to doubt it. Do females head bob?? I read someone said I have a recessive pied bugie....I'm new to the bugie world so I'm not sure of the mutations yet. So what kinds do I have????

can you tell if they are male or female by my signature picture. I read through a few posts. I'm guessing one of them is male, he has a purple cere and sings and headbobs. The one that has the most blue has a cere that is white with a light blue outline, female?? The other white one which is smaller, I'm a little confused about. Sometimes it's cere looks white, than in some angles and light it looks pink. I can't really tell. It's a little younger than the other two. I just introduced it into the cage with the older two. They all are getting along great. I origanally thought it was female but today it was head bobbing like crazy!! What's your guys take on it??

Hi Everyone, I have 3 budges. I got two in September and my aunt just bought me another one about 3 weeks ago. I love my little guys....or girls I'm not sure. I think one is a boy. But I can't be sure. Anyway. I love em all!!!!