Hi

 

I am a new member and desperately need help.

 

Pebbles, my female bird, is laying one egg per day and sitting on the egg for maybe and hour before she pushes it out of the box. Unfortunatley they are broken at the bottom of the cage before I can get to them.

 

She has previously had two clusters this year both resulting in 1 healthy bird from each batch. The first cluster she laid in April produced two birds but unfortuantley she pushed one bird from the nest. We put it back in but she pushed it out again. It died during hand rearing. The second cluster was laid a couple of months ago and produced one healthy baby.

 

She just seems to stay in the breeding box all the time and won't keep the eggs she lays in with her. What do I do. The aviary is clean, they have plenty of food, water and flying area. There are 4 birds in the aviary. Pebbles (female) and her mate Bam Bam (male) plus their offspring Dixie (male) and Hairy Legs (female we think, still a little too young for the colour to be clear). Any advice would be greatly received.

Thanks.

Georgie

Edited October 30, 200618 yr by Georgie

I am no expert and I am sure someone will be along soon with more experience that I have.

But my first thought was, I am sure in the budgie world there are some hens that simply are not good Mums and perhaps should not be breeding. The other thought was how old is Pebbles, I believe it is ideal if the pair are 18 months old, that way they have the maturity to raise their babies with optimal success.

I love your birds names, very cute!

I am no expert and I am sure someone will be along soon with more experience that I have.

But my first thought was, I am sure in the budgie world there are some hens that simply are not good Mums and perhaps should not be breeding. The other thought was how old is Pebbles, I believe it is ideal if the pair are 18 months old, that way they have the maturity to raise their babies with optimal success.

I love your birds names, very cute!

Thanks for your reply. It's good to see I am not the only mad one on the net this early.

 

Sorry I put everything in but their ages. Pebbles and Bam Bam where purchased together at the age of 8 weeks (approx) in January of 2005. They would be coming up to 2 years old.

 

You maybe right about the Mum thing, when she had Dixie (Pixie was the one she pushed out and died during hand rearing) she got aggressive and would not feed him. Bam Bam took over feeding Dixie and is still very maternal of Dixie to this day. She is however okay with feeding Hairy Legs. I just wanted to make sure she is not under any distress as this does not seem normal. There are yolks in all the eggs that she is disgarding if that makes a difference.

Georgie

Personally id remove the box, shes obviously not at all happy with the situation and taking the box away may stop her laying any more eggs.. For her to keep on laying eggs at a rapid rate only to be smashing them will be very taxing on her and not good for her overall health.

If she had been sitting on the eggs for a while and then after a few weeks tossed them out, it would have been because they were infertile but for her to be doing it only hours after laying ...

Remove the box and consider not having her as a breeder.. if she is so unhappy with her eggs, she may be even more aggressive if there was to be a chick in the box with her..

 

Cheers :beer:

Una

Maybe 3 clutches in a row is too much for her. I would give her a break. I never allow a hen to raise 3 clutches in a row without a significant break of at least 6 months. She seems to be too focussed on the nesting box but perhaps hasn't the strength of mind to carry out the raising or incubating of eggs and chicks. I would remove the nesting box and give her a holiday.