I selectively Breed. It has it's Plus's and Minus's.

 

 

Plus's

 

No Competition from other pairs.

No Fighting over breeding cages.

Less deaths from attacks from other hens / pairs.

Chicks stay longer in the protection of the parents.

Easier to give special feed and supplements.

 

 

Minus's

 

It is more expensive. You need breeding cages for each pair.

It takes up more room.

Chicks can't escape as easier if the parents attack them.

Edited October 18, 200717 yr by KAZ

Can I add even though I don't breed that if I did breed after reading, learning and being part of these message boards for 2 years now I would select breed. For me it would be because it is safer for the birds in general. I know there are more reasons but that would be my #1 reason why I would select breed vs colony breeding.

I don't breed now either, but I would definately do selective breeding. I think colony breeding is too dangerous and I think it's more difficult to control everything. If I get the chance to breed, I will breed in breeding cages.

Even though I now only breed in a controlled environment ( selective breeding in cabinets ) I used to colony breed and have wide experience in that area. Even with me being at home all day everyday, and spending many hours watching over the birds breeding in the aviary......all that kind of attention was still not enough to stop most issues happening when colony breeding. I wouldnt advise any newcomers to breeding to try colony breeding at all.

i colony breed. yes there are lots of problems when breeding in a colony and the major one is fighting over nest boxes that have eggs and/or young as i just lost my white fallow hen. i lost 2 eggs and i'm hoping her 5 other eggs are accepted by 3 foster parents. as a renter i cant build a birdroom so for me to breed budgies is with avairies. my other reason for colony breeding is the another big one and thats time as i only have 3 days a week that i'm able to fully enjoy my birds, the other days is just filling up the seed & water hoppers, chucking in milk thistle or giving the keys to my partner and she feeds them. i also have 2 smaller avairies but i will need them as i i want to find crested budgies and they will have a small avairy each but there's no way they will be going into the main budgie avairy. one day in the future i will selective breed but at my current situation its not possible

I don't breed yet, however when I begin I will be doing selective breeding. I plan to breed with selected pairings to control the genetic possibilities and for safety of the birds & offspring. Also it will allow me to give a specific diet and keep better records for breeding.

I cabinet breed, even doing that there are enough hassles. I have colony bred & I thought breeding with as few as three pairs might work & sometimes it will, but the day when something goes wrong still could only be one day away. They might be little birds, but they sure can be violent…too much can go wrong.

I cabinet breed although I have a couple of nutcase hens that wont settle in a cabinet- these I will let lay in a seperate aviary with only a couple of pairs then they get moved into a cabinet to finish raising their clutch.

I have colony bred in the past and had sucesses and failures, but these days I want certain pairs together so seperating them is the best option.

I colony breed. I have two aviaries, one with 3 pair in, 2 pair were already settled and they are hens that seem to mind their own business. The third is still dithering about, but doesnt bother the other two pair. I also have a large aviary where I have 16 breeding boxes and 8 active hens at this time. I have had some hens harassing, but anyone who harasses and cant find their own box gets pulled at this time and put into the "naughty hen aviary". So far I havent had any major dramas with my colony breeding. I have one breeding cage indoors which I have put a naughty hen and her partner in, in hopes they will breed as I would like to keep his colouring in my aviary. I check my birds often and I realise I cant watch them all the time, but so far so good. Like timbo, at this time, I dont have anywhere to put breeding cages. My birds seem to be doing well and seem to be happy for the time being. We are building another budgie aviary with a divider, to pull out hens that are not breeding, harassing or that I need to rest and to be able to put the baby budgies in the other side.

I cabinet breed. I find it so much easier all round. There's no squabbling, or throwing out of eggs etc etc etc and you know who the fathers are :budgiedance: !!! As a matter of fact I had 4 newly-paired budgies lay eggs today, all on the same day!!

Can I ask those of you that Cabinet ( Selective Breed ) do you Show Birds????

I think you may find that most Colony Breeders breed Pet type budgies and Close Breeders breed Show Budgies ....

Can I ask those of you that Cabinet ( Selective Breed ) do you Show Birds????

I think you may find that most Colony Breeders breed Pet type budgies and Close Breeders breed Show Budgies ....

I cabinet breed...both show and pet types.

I don't breed but just from reading I think closed breeding is must safer all in all?

i am in the process of building my breeding room and cabinets to breed my pet type budgies, i used to colony breed and only had 3 pairs and still had fighting and had to keep buying new females so i am changing to cabinets but they will still be pet types i will breed.

I cabinet breed… my Budgies are planned to be one big happy family, I breed my selected better type so called “Pet Budgies” with show types to blend them into I hope a happy healthy improved Budgie. Blending the good of both types.

I have just stopped colony breeding. I am planing to cabinet breed pet type, show types and blended types

I close breed.

 

I breed and show birds.

I colony breed but (touch wood) haven't any problems yet. I notice most of the people that colony breed are in the same situation as me, would like to but don't have the space or are renting and can't devote a room to their budgies. I have decided to do a bit of both as I have space for one breeding box but that's about my limit. My aviary birds are very cruisy and they seem to have their pecking order worked out well and don't get into brawls. In fact my first female to choose a box has chosen the lowest box in the aviary! I would like to be able to pull out one pair though when there is a colour I really want.

I also colony breed -At first i put all the birds together in a flight aviary and all 10 has seemed to have formed a friendship bond. About 4 months later when i put the nest boxes in i had no problems i have had them in there for almost 1 year and had not had any problems no fighting or anything the males have a great time talking amongst themselves and even smooching while the females are sitting on their eggs. I am going to selective breed a few of my special birds but i am going to leave the rest to colony bred they seem to have a mutual understanding with each other and they live quite peacefully.

I cabinet breed… my Budgies are planned to be one big happy family, I breed my selected better type so called "Pet Budgies" with show types to blend them into I hope a happy healthy improved Budgie. Blending the good of both types.

 

This is what I would like to do ultimately. I am currently shutting down my colony and hoping to set up cabinet breeding. I just hope I have as much luck with cabinet breeding as I have had with colony. I have been fortunate enough to have no major issues and they breed like mad!

When I breed it will be cabinet breeding. From everything I've read it is just so much simpler and less hassle free. I also would like to be able to write down the geneology of the birds so that I can keep better records.

I cabinet breed the show type budgies.

I am also going to cabinet breed as well but who knows, I may also throw a few nest boxes in the main aviary.

I used to colony breed but ultimately had about a 10% death rate amongst chicks from nest invasion and found it too distressing finding those little bodies.

I bought an ex-display cage set-up that is super heavy and divided into 6 individual cages which I just screw hooks into the nest boxes and hang on the wire - the wire is strong enough that a cockatoo couldn't bite through it (not that I'd put one in it - too small).

I tried colony breeding once and it definetly didn't work for me so yes, selective breeding .