Since i am a newbie to budgies...I have questions.

 

I have set up my aviary, and placed my birds in there...5 males to 7 hens. I have noticed that today the males have found females for themselves, and that the females they chose were the ones that were interested in nesting boxes...will there be a conflick with the other 2 hens who are without partners? and how long will it take for them to start laying?

 

Jazz's cere has gone normal, so I am certain that she will not in the breeding mood, will that change quickly? Or am I safe in letting her stay in the aviary with all the others?

 

Any help or advice will be greatly appreciated.

You might have already answered this in another post, but can you tell me the size and set up of your aviary as it would affect numbers of birds, especially at breeding time.

How many birds in what size area.

How many nest boxes

Where are the nest boxes

How close are the nest boxes to each other

How many feeding areas

also are you available to closely monitor the aviary relationships throughout the day

How close are the feeding areas and communal perches to the nesting boxes

Are the nestboxes under cover and cannot be affected by heat or bad weather

etc..... and probably much more. Any photos ?

Edited February 19, 200718 yr by Bubbles

Its currently 3ft x 2m x 6ft.

Currently 3 nesting boxes, in the process of getting some more or building them.

they are protected and undercover.

photos to come soon

okay. Here's my two cents worth as I used to colony breed all of my first budgies. You need to have two feet or more minimum between nesting boxes for this to work. Placing the nesting boxes with entry ways from different directions helps too.....i.e. not all facing forward. Some sideways entry, not directly facing another birds entry. Kind of arrange them this way and that. You may need to screw some into the metal walls and not just rely on a shelf. Try and have all nesting boxes at the same height if you can as the higher ones are mostly highly sought after by all birds. Some times you need a piece of ply wood placed strategically here and there so a pairs view from the entry of their nesting box is obscured by a pair of birds nearby. You can screw these dividing screen sections to the boxes concerned. You also need to be sure that the pairs you have ready to cohabit and breed in that space are easygoing birds, none of the hormonally aggressive types that may get nasty with others. Be prepared to watch the heirarchy in the aviary closely for awhile off and on over some days till they all get settled within their own nesting sites and happy with their own partners. It's best if you can remove some of the birds for awhile and add each pair to the aviary again giving them time to select and settle in the chosen nesting box before adding the next pair. Have more feeding cups/ stations than you normally do and try not to have a feeding area right next to a nesting box. If you can put a longer perch on the front of each nesting box that accomodates both male and female....it helps. It generally stops the male feeling he has to defend the top of his chosen nesting box from anyone who wants to sit for awhile or peer in. Any aggressive pairs or males that interfere with others, please remove and put elsewhere for the duration as these will be your "troublemakers". I am sure you have enough space for your pairs to breed if the relationships between them all and the relationships in the aviary work for you.

You dont have enough nesting boxes in there now for the pairs that you have...you need twice as many nesting boxes as pairs of birds. It's best you remove all but one pair of birds...once they have bonded and chosen their nestbox, you can add the next pair and so on. That way the fights over nestboxes will be fewer.

You wont be able to tell for certain who the father of the babies are as budgies like to surprise us with "wife swapping" activities before we even get out of bed.

You will have to be prepared to watch closely and look for potential problem relationships. There's a lot more to this. It isn't an easy choice or road to follow.... colony breeding and requires strict watching and fast changes of plans.

Edited February 19, 200718 yr by Bubbles

I have just bred my first lot of colony birds. Only 2. I have been trying for 12 months. I had a few problems with 1 bird in particular Parsley, who was very aggressive towards other 'clucky' females. She would not let the others get near the nesting boxes and even injured a male, Ice who was protecting his female, Candy, so bad a trip to the vet was needed to stich his whole scalp together. okay this may sound extreme but she was a real nightmare. I had to remove Candy to my other aviary because aggressive Parsley constantly picked on her. Sadly Parsley has passed on just recently and even though she was a bully I miss her. I think she wanted a family of her own in that certain nest box that Candy had chosen.

 

Really all I am saying is that you should get to know your birds and how they treat each other. If only I had known the chaos putting a few boxes in was going to cause, I could have kept a closer eye on them.

 

On a good note they all now live happily together even looking after each others wives and bubs :sad: I just learnt a real tough lesson in the meantime.

 

Thats my 2 cents

Edited February 19, 200718 yr by Bubbles

adding and you have excellent advice you may want to do closed breeding which in the end would not give you the issues of colony breeding :sad: