Hi, Im new, i have two pet budgie hens, but im interested in going into breeding, with a small outdoor aviary. I want as much info as possible first, and have been reading the relevant faqs and threads. One thing im worried about is inbreeding. If i had 2 pairs in an aviary (unrelated) could the babies sort themselves out when the time comes for them to be breeding? or would they still breed with their siblings/parents?

and if i had one pair in an aviary, would they be happy to breed? then thinking of keeping one chick from the batch and then buying it a mate when the time comes? i hope this woulld be okay, or would it breed with the parents?

what do you think? (sorry if im being confusing) :yellowhead:

 

Thankyou from a confused featherhead

We are all featherheads here :yellowhead:

Budgies are not able to differenciate between parents and siblings and will in all likelihood breed with mother/father/brother/sister if conditions are right. The best way to avoid all that and keep any babies you want is to pull out of the aviary a specific pair to breed and put them in a breeder cabinet for the duration while the others fly free in the aviary. Even then you may see related budgies having budgie sex with each other.

The important thing to remember is that the very presence of a nesting box promotes all this breeding behaviour and pairing up and also encourages birds of only a few weeks old to decide they can mate and have babies far too young.

Three generations then add new blood , ie three years , or as KAS said cabinet breed

thankyou very much for the advice, i'll read into breeding cabinets more, or would they be okay in a medium cage with nest box?

thankyou very much for the advice, i'll read into breeding cabinets more, or would they be okay in a medium cage with nest box?

They would be fine that way if there is only one pair in the cage

Lonebudgie - what do you mean by the comment

 

"Three generations then add new blood" ?