Hi All,

 

I have had a breeding box in my budgies cage for approx. 6 weeks now with nothing.

 

I have tried to do everything correctly:

 

Budgies have been a pair for over a year now

wood shavings have been placed in the box

lots of water, seed, grit and vegetables are supplied daily

budgies have been wormed and in good health

budgies always playing together etc.

 

Should I try another male bird and just put him in the cage with the pair or is that a bad idea?

 

The female is in the box many times a day and seems to be ready to lay eggs but nmothing as yet.

 

Any one have any ideas why its just not happening,

friends tell me brreding budgies is like breeding rabbits, its very easy, but not for me!

 

Thanks.

A few more questions if I may ?

Size and type of breeder cage ?

Location of nestbox ?

Size and type of perches ?

Stability of perches ?

Breeding condition of the pair ?

Location of the cage ? i.e. privacy, and are you still moving the cage ?

 

 

If all else fails take the nesting box away for awhile and try again a few weeks later.

Kaz,

 

Glad you remembered me.

Yes I am still moving the cage from the garage outside, would it be best to leave the cage in the garage, most days no-one is home and the garage is quite dark during the day and I feel bad that the budgies are not getting any light, woult it matter if they didnt and I left them in the garage for a while permanently?

 

The perches seem to be okay, I have put some tree branches in there that are wider than the normal perch.

the cage is quite large for 2 budgies and the nesting box is your standard budgie nesting box with a concave in the middle etc. I tried to make everything perfect!

 

the female has a crusty pink cere but the male is white and blue pied and has a little pink on the cere but it is not crusty.... could this be the problem??

 

thanks for your help Kaz.

Kaz,

 

Glad you remembered me.

Yes I am still moving the cage from the garage outside, would it be best to leave the cage in the garage, moving them about wont be helping. Change of location could bring stress and may well trigger a moult. they will probably be feeling the effects of the move and be apprehensive about breeding under these circumstancesmost days no-one is home and the garage is quite dark during the day and I feel bad that the budgies are not getting any light, woult it matter if they didnt and I left them in the garage for a while permanently?dark wont help them breed either. Is there a room in the house they could be in ?

 

The perches seem to be okay, I have put some tree branches in there that are wider than the normal perch.as long as there is a sturdy horizontal perch that doesnt move about during the mating process and one that has good grip ( not slippery ) it should be fine

the cage is quite large for 2 budgies and the nesting box is your standard budgie nesting box with a concave in the middle etc. I tried to make everything perfect! where in the cage have you situated the nestbox and where does the entry face ? Also is this cage in any way making them feel "vulnerable"...you may have to cover a couple of side of the cage. If the nestbox entry is facing forwards it may not feel private to them and you may need to turn the box around. The nestbox position should be higher rather than low level.

 

the female has a crusty pink cere but the male is white and blue pied and has a little pink on the cere but it is not crusty.... could this be the problem?? a male wont get a crusty cere. His should be bright blue if in breeding condition but if he is a DF dom pied his cere wont be blue and recessive pieds arent either.

 

thanks for your help Kaz.

Edited May 9, 200718 yr by Kaz

the female has a crusty pink cere but the male is white and blue pied and has a little pink on the cere but it is not crusty.... could this be the problem??

 

The female should have a dark brown crusty cere and a recessive pied male should have a dark pinky/purple cere when in breeding condition. It doesn't sound like the right time for them.

 

 

Feathers.

Like you say, Budgies mostly will breed like rabbits & when paired up mostly will have eggs in two weeks, but there is always the exception. I have had trouble of late with some birds that I bought, maybe because they may be older birds. One pair have been together something like 6 months, as soon as they were paired up & the nest place with them, the hen was going in & out of the nest. Then for some unknown reason, she stopped & I didn’t see her enter the box again for months, then all of sudden a couple of weeks ago she started to enter the nest again & soon had eggs. Both were in what was considered good breeding condition, so why it took so long I don’t know I was about to give up on them. Of course there is always the possibility with some pairs, but it’s rare, that something is wrong & they may never breed.