Correct Breeding Age by Dave Hansen (from the Hamilton & District B & CBS Inc.)

Don’t start Budgerigars breeding at too young an age. Too many fanciers start breeding birds that are hardly eight or

nine months old, but there are great disadvantages in this.

Biologically, females are not full-grown at this age, and their bodies are not able to produce eggs without risk. Birds

that start laying too young are too nervous and unsure, something often misinterpreted as youthful enthusiasm.

They leave the nest for the slightest aause, lay infertile eggs, don’t brood some eggs, and, in short, aren’t really up for

the job. Make an exception to this rule only if necessary to rapidly establish a special mutation or to propagate it rapidly.

Then let your nine month old females start breeding if they are closely supervised and limited in the number of

eggs they are permitted to lay. Give these eggs to foster parents to raise, to save the young mother from the tiring effort

involved in brooding and raising their own young. But don’t misinterpret this exception as license to convert

young females into egg laying machines!

Ordinarily a breeding pair of budgerigars should be at least 12 months old. The male may be only 10 months, but definitely

not younger. I emphasise this point because many bird fanciers are overeager and rush into breeding as soon as

they think their birds are grown. In fact, however, birds like budgies that reach adulthood at about one year of age

don’t reach their optimal breeding condition until their second and third year. Only then is the bird’s body truly full

grown and fully developed, and the bird has learned the tricks of brooding and raising young.

If you keep good records, you can check these facts, established by research, with your own birds. You will notice that

results with birds in their second and third years are substantially better than those with birds in their first year. After

the third breeding season the performance of the female especially tends to decline, while the male’s strength clearly

abates after his fifth or sixth year. Young from later breeding seasons clearly are of lower quality, and champion

breeders prefer working only with breeding pairs two or three years old.

Edited March 21, 200916 yr by KAZ

good short article KAZ thanks.

All too true. A fancier will want what is best for his/her birds. Breeding too young will hurt the bird.

Yes, when I first started breeding I used the colony method and ran in to all sorts of problems, birds breeding to early was 1 of them. I had young hens that had no idea what they were doing and a few lost chicks! I then started breeding them in seperate cages and haven't looked back.

So what is everyones opinion of breeding them when they are 9 or 10 months old?

I am just curious im still sorta new to the breeding thing my first season was last year.

So what is everyones opinion of breeding them when they are 9 or 10 months old?

I am just curious im still sorta new to the breeding thing my first season was last year.

I dont...I wait until they are 12 months.

most say that it should be left until 12 months of age... I know that there are some people that breed from earlier but I believe the majority don't...

A few of my friends breed at 9 months old. I wait until 12 months to be safe, You will find the younger birds are more prone to problems in the breeding room.