I have a 4 year old female and an 18 month old male that I recently put a breeding box into there cage.

 

The female layed her first egg 6 weeks after putting the box in the cage and over the space of 10 days laid another 5. (6 in total)

 

The first egg was laid on the 5th of Feb and as of last weekend she has started to attack the male budige. She stalks him in the cage then jumps on his back and rides him around burying her beak into his head. Several times she has ended up with blood on her and he currently has a bit of a nick on his eye and screams blue murder when she goes on her rampages.

 

Prior to adding the breeding box they got along as well as most male and female budgies generally do, she could be a bit precious but nothing like this. He has always been a perfect gentleman but would stand his ground and not allow her to push him around.

 

I have on 3 occassions removed him from the cage and put him in a second cage where he rests for 6 or so hours and then gets his pep up again and wants back in with the female. She will come out of the nesting box periodically to check for him.

 

When I put him back in to the main cage he stands guard outside the nesting box and the two of them kiss and preen each other like crazy. The attacks are generally 2 days apart and on one occassion last week occurred in the pitch black of night around 1am in the morning.

 

What is going on here?

 

And what should I do?

 

The babies are about to hatch and I am guessing she needs him in their to help her.

 

 

 

 

OTHER INFO

 

(The cage is 80cm long 40cm wide and 50 cm high)

Diet consists of Trill, corn, silver beet, carrot

+there is Grit and cuttle fish in the cage

 

Also I have put straw, feathers and wood chips in the cage for her to use to make a nest but as yet she has not touched them. I was told there needs to be a nest or the babies will be deformed.

Is this true and do I need to make the nest for her and put the eggs on it.

 

 

Thankyou

 

 

 

Michael

I am not an expert on breeding but I can give you some ideas why and I know other breeders will come in and assist.

 

It sounds like she likes him when she wants him around (Laughing out loud) and he is young (is this his first time) and she may sense that he is young and he could be doing somethings she doesn't like which can cause the attacks. Have you bred her before and had issues with the attacks? Have you bred him before with any issues?

 

In the end it is helpful to have your mate but if your mate continues to get attacked you are putting not only the male bird in risk but the female if the attack happens after the babies are hatched. At this time since you have tried a couple times and the attacks continue I would remove the male and put him out of calling range. Yes they will call each other that is normal but this is something you may have to deal with the flip side is a hurt male or babies. So you have to take the best case here and that would be the calling back and forth.

 

I don't know how many eggs you have but if anything happened to either parent nature does take over and the babies can be raised by 1 parent alone and be fine as long as the clutch isn't too big.

I would remove the male bird totally from the breeder cage for his own sake and well away from "calling distance". She may well kill him. It has happened before in similar situations. Don't take another chance. A hen can raise babies alone in a breeder cage. If she is in a breeder cage she won't feel threatened by predators ( i.e. other birds ) and she will feel safe enough to come off the nest and feed herself and return to her babies. She can do this alone, but you have to be strong enough to potentionally save the life of the cockbird.

Edited February 24, 200718 yr by Bubbles

Thanks for the quick reply lovey.

 

This is the first time that either of them have bred.

 

There are a total of 6 eggs.

Your welcome and I would take Bubbles advice she is a breeder and knows what she is talking about when it comes to this information Keep us updated and please feel free to ask questions as you have.

Also I have put straw, feathers and wood chips in the cage for her to use to make a nest but as yet she has not touched them. I was told there needs to be a nest or the babies will be deformed.

Is this true and do I need to make the nest for her and put the eggs on it.

 

 

Thankyou

 

 

 

Michael

 

You don't have to have anything in the nest box, they will manage quite well with just the wood flooring. The babies will not be deformed, but I think you have heard this because if the hen sits too tightly the babies can have splayed legs. This can happen with bedding also. Just watch for it, because if it does happen if caught early enough can be corrected. Actually Bubbles has posted her remedy elsewhere, which I would recommend looking into if you have a problem. But odds are, you won't. I haven't much experience with breeding, but what little I do have does not indicate problems if you don't put bedding in the nest box. I tried it with my hen, but she kept throwing it out so I kept the box bare. 9 babies hatched and were perfectly fine with just the bare box and no concave. After about the three week mark, the droppings from the babies get a little wetter so you will need to be diligent about cleaning out the box daily. Before then, they are not messy and dry quickly with a tendency to powder easily, and the hen and cock will remove them from the box on their own. It seemed at about three weeks the poops from the babies were larger and the consistency of the crop milk had changed enough that the parents had a more difficult time removing all the poo by themselves.

 

I'm sorry you are having trouble with your pair. It sounds like your hen is not really happy about breeding at this point in time. My guess is that the male is new at this, and does not feed her as quickly or as often as she would like. It seems like most problems with my pair were a result of this. As long as the hen is kept happy, she has no reason to turn on her mate. I'm not sure what to advise to help him "get it" any faster. For his safety, if things are as violent as you say, I think I would remove him for his safety.

Hello!! My budgies started out like that and I can tell you that you should separate them like they have said. Based on experience/first problem was like that and eventually, everytime by hen lays egg, she always attack the male. But Unfortunately, she have succeeded in killing the male and now alone in her cage. :angel1:

Thankyou everyone for your advise.

 

I am now hoping that any day I will have some chicks.

 

She layed her first egg on the 5th of Feb and over the next 10 days layed another 5. (6 in total)

 

She did not activly sit on the eggs for about 5 days after laying the first egg. (she slept outside and did not spend alot of time on the eggs but rather sitting next to them)

 

So I am guessing that the 5th of Feb + 5 days + 18 Days brings me to the 28th of Feb (today). I am getting impatient.

 

Is there any hard and fast rules for handling the chicks when they are born.

 

How old should they be before i can have a hold and will mum take them back after I have?

 

 

Once again thankyou for all your help!!!!

Edited February 28, 200718 yr by EarthAU

Thankyou everyone for your advise.

 

I am now hoping that any day I will have some chicks.

 

She layed her first egg on the 5th of Feb and over the next 10 days layed another 5. (6 in total)

 

She did not activly sit on the eggs for about 5 days after laying the first egg. (she slept outside and did not spend alot of time on the eggs but rather sitting next to them)

 

So I am guessing that the 5th of Feb + 5 days + 18 Days brings me to the 28th of Feb (today). I am getting impatient.

 

Is there any hard and fast rules for handling the chicks when they are born.

 

How old should they be before i can have a hold and will mum take them back after I have?

 

 

Once again thankyou for all your help!!!!

 

There is a pinned topic called Care Of Budgie Babies in the nest which will help you when babies arrive and will answer a lot of your questions.

 

http://forums.budgiebreeders.asn.au/index....showtopic=13358

 

Good luck

Well unfortunatly it is now 31 days since the first egg was layed and 21 days since the last egg was layed and not one has hatched.

 

I am guessing that there was not enough of the wild thing happening to fertilise the eggs or Tweety is still just learning the ropes.

 

She is still nesting on the eggs, so I am guessing that being 21 days since the last egg was layed I will need to remove the eggs and start again.

 

Is there any best way to do this.

 

ie. remove her from the cage and dispose of the eggs out of her sight?

 

how soon till I should put the male back in with her?

 

and should I leave her in the cage with the breeding box?

 

 

 

:angel1:

I would give the pair a break from breeding. Too many things going against you here.

It might just be she was laying eggs due to the nesting box and not necessarily because of the male and the mating act (if there was one). She certainly came close to killing him, so, for that alone I would not put them back together for another try. This may not be an ideal pairing, nor might it be the right time for each of the birds. I don't breed any hens after four years of age myself. I would consider her near retirement age for breeding. Maybe thats just me, but I think hens should retire from breeding before cock birds. She, having had no clutches up to this point and now at a later age to try and breed her, could present some problems as you seem to be discovering. Maybe you need a younger hen ( minimum 12 months ) for your male if breeding is what you want to do. If you do, please remember at least 30 days quarantine before you even put them in the same cage, same room.