I have been doing alot of reading on breeding Budgie and keep coming across breeding ages. I have had a quick chat to MB about this the other night and also spoken to Ivan another breeder that I know. The breeder of Storm and I had a quick conversation about it as well.

 

See there are those that believe that you can breed from 1 year of age to 5 years of age and this goes for both Cock and Hens. One site even stated that Budgies "natural" life span is 4 years and only due to medical intervention have captive birds been living longer then that.

 

Then we get people who get very heated about how old the birds must be etc... Some say as soon as the cere turns brown in a hen she can breed, others say a year and yet others say 18 months to 2 years. For Cocks it seem to start at 6 month right through to 2 years.

 

At the other end most say Hens to stop at between 3 and 5 years. Cocks about the same but then you get people who say as long as the cock is producing more then 50% fertile eggs then he can do it as long as he likes. One breeder told me that he has a cock that is 9 years old and still as about a 90% sucess rate and has since he was 2 years old and has been paired with 4 different hens. The same breeder however will not breed from a hen over the age of 4 as he feels that it is to stressful on their body.

 

So I was just wondering what age do you breed your Budgies till? Is it a cut of or is it a depends on the bird? What is the oldest bird that has been breed from both Cock and Hen and what are the complications of breeding older birds?

 

Just intrested is all.

Great post!It will be interesting to find out everyones opinions. My personal preference which is based on what i have been told is start at 12 months and no older than 5 years. But when i was new to the breeding and didnt have a clue i bred two 5 and 6 year olds which i had brought from a pet shop and told they were babies and they had 5 out of 6 hatch all healthy so i would guess it was based on the bird aswell i guess you would just monitor the way they lay how many and how good?

I breed my birds from 12 months on. Stop hens at 4 years and cocks can go longer if they are fine. After 4 years a hen has issues with egglaying, eggbinding, etc and it takes too much out of them. My opinion.

Although show breeders will use younger cocks, when I have taken that advice and tried, the young cocks were silly and often times ate eggs. Certainly werent good father material either. So now I wait.

I refuse to breed any hen under 12 months of age or older than 4 years.

Edited June 17, 200817 yr by KAZ

Yeah, I've been curious about this as well! It will be interesting to here everyone's opinions.

Before i joined here I have had the odd (pet type) hen go down with a clutch at a younger age (about 9 months) with no issues, but since being on here I am better budgie educated and i now do not breed hens until they are 12 months

I know of some top breeders that will put a 6 month year old hen down to breed but at the same time it was said that they were big boofy hens and of course those breeders have plenty of experience....

 

I myself am not so experienced so I wait until the hen is 9-11 months old and pair her with an older cock so he can show her the ropes and show her how to feed. The rule of thumb is to let her go 2 rounds raising the chicks herself and then if I am happy with the chicks they are producing I foster any subsequent eggs out. To date I have limited the breeding season from mid April to mid November so any breeding hen will be limited to raising 2 nests per year.

 

All hens are retired at 4 years old. I am not so strict with the cock birds.

That is a good idea about younger hens and older cocks. Thanks for that tip.