I have one pair of budgies who have decided to nest on the cage floor. As soon as I realized she had layed an egg I put up a nest box and while she did show an interest in the box, she refuses to lay her eggs it. She laid a second egg on the cage floor so I moved them both to he box hoping she'd get the idea to raise her family inside it but instead she laid egg #3 on the cage floor and ignored the first two. So I decided to trust her instinct and I moved the first two back down to her corner on the floor. Next time I checked, she had destroyed egg 2 and egg 3 and was sitting on the first egg. Since then she has layed 2 more eggs and is sitting on the three of them. Her mate isn't as attentive as some other males I've seen but I think he's getting it right now. Seems she's had to teach him what to do. What are the chances of successful hatching on the cage floor? Will the unfeathered chicks be warm enough even if they do hatch? If any do hatch, should I move them up to the box at that point or leave them alone? I don't have any others to foster them to.

 

Any help or advice would be very much appreciated.

Hatching on the cage floor would be fine if.....

Theres only the one pair in the cage

There is bedding under her and no bare grate

 

Suggest subtly building up nesting material around her but only once she has completed her clutch.

 

Will the chicks be warm enough >

Yes...as its the mothers job to keep them warm

 

Suggest there is no draughts....your job

 

Should you move them >

 

NO !! Definitely not.......once hatching begins do not disturb the mother or babies or fear her abandoning due to her feeling her nest is more vulnerable.

 

Your job now is to assist her unusual method of nesting but not interfere so that she freaks out, feels unsafe or abandons.

Your job is to be watchful

Edited December 31, 200915 yr by KAZ

Thanks so much Kaz...you have really put my mind at ease. They are the only birds in that cage and it isn't a grate on the cage floor. She has tucked herself right into a corner right under the lowest seed cup...a DIY nestbox for her I guess. They are in the spare bedroom and no draughts and I am checking on them many times a day.

Our first pair ever to breed did exactly this. The hen raised two clutches successfully like this, her second clutch even containing a set of twins. She chewed the newspaper up in one corner and said her eggs there. She was out best hen ever and we still have two of her sons, a granddaughter and a great-granddaughter in our aviary, all just as good. Whenever we wanted to clean the cage we just cut out a corner of the newspaper we put in and placed the eggs back where they were. Here are some pictures of her first clutch on the cage floor. (sorry about the quality, I wasn't a crack shot at the time)

 

 

This is the best picture i have of her second clutch, they're about to fledge.

 

Hope this is helpful. I'm quite glad to know that other hens do it to.

Edited January 2, 201015 yr by SunshineE