Just wondering if anyone has found the ideal 'climate' to encourage their birds to breed? I have four pairs who have been in their boxes for a number of weeks now and really aren't showing any interest so I'm trying to work out if it is their environment that's the problem.

Just wondering if anyone has found the ideal 'climate' to encourage their birds to breed? I have four pairs who have been in their boxes for a number of weeks now and really aren't showing any interest so I'm trying to work out if it is their environment that's the problem.

 

 

I think the main thing is to control air flow, temperature and lighting.

 

The birds need fresh air but no drafts. Here in Perth day temps still get into the 20s but drop down to 5 at night so I run a radiator at night to take the chill out of the air. I have noticed that since installing Arcadia lighting breeding has really taken off, this is a spectrum lighting that is optimal for birds and I run it from 7am to 7.30pm.

 

I have a few pairs that don't seem to be very interested in reproducing, maybe you need to put a time limit on how long you're going to keep them in the cabinets before releasing them into the aviary for a rest and try them later. I think the consensus is about 3½ weeks.

 

When you say they're not interested do you mean-

a. Not in eachother?

b. Hen not going in the nest?

I have two pairs who have been in and out of the nest box for about 3 weeks but aren't laying anything and another two pairs who seem to like each other but they're happy to just be friends

Close off all the boxes for 3 days , then allow them access again sometimes this will trigger the hens off and it allows time for the cock to pay more attention to the hen.

I have tried that once already but it didn't seem to make any difference, that's why I'm starting to look for other possibilities.

Then you could try putting them all together in an avairy or cage for a week and see what happens , sometimes they will change mates and then put these together as they will be ready to breed. I had a hen that would not go down with any cock birds I chose , I put her in the holding cage before they go back to the avairy and she paired up with a cock that was in there and now they have 4 eggs . You can only try .

Usually after the shortest day of the year 21st of june the birds will start to come into condition as the days will get longer from here even though it gets colder , so usually artifcial light of 12 hours is good if you are to try and trick them into breeding.

Enough light is essential ...in some cages I have that get less light than others ( soon to change )...these are the cages that arent productive.

I run fluoro lights all day on dull wintery days and it helps.

Quiet affects budgies breeding ......too quiet and they dont. Besides the noise of aviary birds they have the radio going all day long too.

and DITTO to all that Renee said

I try to have a mimium of 12hrs of light in my breeding room, with the use of lights.