Hi everyone,

My daughter has been asking me for a while if she can start to breed budgies (she is 12). We have always had budgies as pets and tamed them successfully and loved them like they are part of the family, but have never attempted to breed.

It is something i have always wanted to do and now that she has asked if she can, we are both very excited. Being new to breeding, i have spent the past weeks scouring your site and reading everything i possibly can. While i am nowhere near an expert now, i just wanted to say thanks to you guys for all the great tips and information you have on here. This is the best site i have found!!! Well done!!!!!!

Wonderful ! and welcome. Now having said that......you are stopping for awhile to keep us updated with stories and pictures aren't you ? Cheers karen

Wonderful ! and welcome. Now having said that......you are stopping for awhile to keep us updated with stories and pictures aren't you ? Cheers karen

thank you Karen and i absolutely will be sending in pics etc. just as soon as i work out how to do that!!!! meanwhile i will be reading and reading and probably asking and asking. I hope that doesnt annoy you all too much!!

Wonderful ! and welcome. Now having said that......you are stopping for awhile to keep us updated with stories and pictures aren't you ? Cheers karen

thank you Karen and i absolutely will be sending in pics etc. just as soon as i work out how to do that!!!! meanwhile i will be reading and reading and probably asking and asking. I hope that doesnt annoy you all too much!!

We are a friendly lot...love questions and try to be helpful. Enjoy your time here. There is a topic in Budgie pictures that helps you work out how to do photos on here. :sad:

and I must thank you :sad: We love to hear comments such as that as often as we can. It's great to know that apart from having a great fun talking we do in fact help people.

 

meanwhile i will be reading and reading and probably asking and asking. I hope that doesnt annoy you all too much!!

Ask away :sad: it's what we are hear for.

 

Are you planning on breeding your pet one you have now or are you on the hunt for a pair?

We are on the hunt for another pair. Puff is too young - although when we bought her we were told she was a he - but as it turns out she is a she. she is tame - although has a very bad attitude - looooooooves to bite and bite hard!!! she enjoys playing soccer with us with her ball and we love her to bits so we are undecided as to whether to breed her next year when she is old enough. I am a little concerned about putting her near the pair we buy in case she becomes not as tame, but i think she will always enjoy our company as well as her new feathered friends. it seems hard to find a hen in newcastle - everyone wants to keep them, is that usual?

 

the pictures of your baby karen is absolutely gorgeous - can you handle them when they are that young?

Hiya & welcome to the absolute BEST budgie site on the web! no other budgie forum has the combination of intelligence, experience, maturity & wonderful helpful people that this one does. The people & staff here know their stuff & will really help you out. I have been a member here for just over a year now and this is the only budgie site that I take seriously as the people have no other agenda other than trying to share their knowledge.

Don't worry if your questions may seem silly to you - the people on this budgie forum will not make you feel dumb & they will not abuse you for knowledge you don't have.

We all had to start somewhere when first starting to breed budgies - you are luckier than alot of us as you have this wonderful site to help you out. :sad:

love the name Puff :sad:

 

You can keep her as a single bird and the breeding pair in another room maybe? If you want to keep her as simply a family pet. Daz a member here has three very tame inside birds and an avairy outside.

Just becuase you have more than one they don't have be a flock.

Hi Puff and Welcome :sad: I am glad that we could help you. As Karen and many others have said, ask any question even if you think it is silly. We don't. We all know what it is like to start at the beginning.

 

It would be good to put up your ideas on how you are going to breed and we can give you ideas.

 

The first thing is to set up an aviary and how you are going to breed, as in closed breeding or coloney breeding.

 

I prefer closed breeding. You can see my set up by clicking on my signature. :sad:

Your website is amazing Daz, i will definitely be going back there often!

We have decided to go with a breeding cage, which will arrive on Wednesday. After all the reading i have done, i thought it would be better to start out small with just one pair until we have learnt more. Is it true though that if we started with 2 pairs they would be more likely to breed faster (they copy each other?). When we do have 2 pairs breeding, we would then perhaps breed the chicks from opposite pairs and go to an aviary type situation. I would prefer to have them breed in breeding cabinets so that we can keep track easier to start with and ensure that they are not interbreeding.

I have also heard it is very difficult to buy a hen as breeders keep their hens who breed well and the hens in pet shops are usually the discarded ones from breeders? I'm not sure how true that is, but if anyone has any advice i would appreciate it. I am in Newcastle if that helps?

As for Puff, she will stay our pet bird. As much as her biting causes yelps of pain from us, we do love her to death. She gets very excited when she hears birds flying over outside, my only concern is that she will feel alienated if she hears new birds at our home that she cant interact with?

Thanks again for all your help

Your website is amazing Daz, i will definitely be going back there often!

We have decided to go with a breeding cage, which will arrive on Wednesday. After all the reading i have done, i thought it would be better to start out small with just one pair until we have learnt more. Is it true though that if we started with 2 pairs they would be more likely to breed faster (they copy each other?). When we do have 2 pairs breeding, we would then perhaps breed the chicks from opposite pairs and go to an aviary type situation. I would prefer to have them breed in breeding cabinets so that we can keep track easier to start with and ensure that they are not interbreeding.

I have also heard it is very difficult to buy a hen as breeders keep their hens who breed well and the hens in pet shops are usually the discarded ones from breeders? I'm not sure how true that is, but if anyone has any advice i would appreciate it. I am in Newcastle if that helps?

As for Puff, she will stay our pet bird. As much as her biting causes yelps of pain from us, we do love her to death. She gets very excited when she hears birds flying over outside, my only concern is that she will feel alienated if she hears new birds at our home that she cant interact with?

Thanks again for all your help

 

 

I am glad I could help.

 

As I said I prefer Breeding Cages. I does help with controling breeding.

 

Now a couple of points you put forward.

 

I have also heard it is very difficult to buy a hen as breeders keep their hens who breed well and the hens in pet shops are usually the discarded ones from breeders?

No this is not true. The hens I don't keep usually are to do with show quality and not their ability to breed.

 

he will feel alienated if she hears new birds at our home that she cant interact with

She will call to the outside birds.As will the outside birds call back to her.

 

Is it true though that if we started with 2 pairs they would be more likely to breed faster (they copy each other?)

It's not that other birds are breeding. Budgerigars are a coloney bird. They will breed better if they know that there is other budgies about. That is why I set my Breeing cages to face the flight. They can see and hear the other birds.

the pictures of your baby karen is absolutely gorgeous - can you handle them when they are that young?

Not sure which Karen you are talking to cos there is two Karens here. But.....I handle my babies from the day they are born. I check their crops to see if Mum is feeding them properly. If Mum doesn't do her job, I have foster mothers happy to take another baby. So, in this way, both Mums and Babies get used to me handling them in the nesting box which helps when they fledge. Newborn baby budgies are pretty resilient as Mums and Dads step all over them in the box and they seems to cope....rubbery little pink blobs

Thanks for all your help Daz and everyone,

 

Just one more question - I looked on the list of toxic and non toxic plants ets. - huge help but could you tell me if banksia or bottlebrush are okay? i found some great branches that i wanted to put in for them to chew climb over, but want to make sure that they are okay first?

Thanks heaps

 

[....rubbery little pink blobs

they are such beautiful rubbery pink blobs though!!!

Australian natives are okay - expecially bottlebrushes - if you give the flowers (before the lorikeets get to them) the budgies will be able to rip the flowers apart & get to the nectar.

 

I, like the other Karen (Bubbles) handle my babies young - I have never had a hen abandon chicks due to my handling as I also handled them when they were little.