I suspect my budgies are a bit young , the hen is 9 months and the cock is 8 months. We have put in a nest box because the hen was showing breeding signs. They mate and have laid a few eggs that have been kicked out of nesting box. Should we remove the nesting box? We don't want to create unnecessary stress for the pair.

yes, they shouldn't be breed until they are at least 12 months most wait until 18 months to make sure both the hen and the cock are mentally ready for babies.

If they have emptyed the nest agai n( klicked the ggs out) then this would be a good time to remove the box and leave them be until they are old enough. For furture referance you don't have to add a box if you don't think your birds are ready to breed even if the hen shows the signs, even if you see them mating.

The cere showing breeding condition isnt an indication of the time to breed. Budgies can show breeding condition ceres at 3 months of age believe it or not. Budgies can be silly. I took a 12 week old baby spangle budgie out of the aviary as she was allowing the boys to mate with her and thought it was a good idea to try and have babies. Another 12 week old in a separate holding cage with other budgies and no nesting boxes at all decided to lay an egg....it was the tiniest egg I have ever seen. It is easy to be tempted to have budgie babies, but too many young ones have been lost to eggbinding and their babies abandoned to starve when inexperienced and too immature a parent tries to raise a family.

thanks for your input. the hen really loves the nesting box but it feels right to leave it until they get a bit older. I didn't want to deprive her of her natural instincts and get egg bound or something.