Posted February 14, 201015 yr Hi i live in NSW and if you live on the east coast(Newcastle specifically) you will know how disgusting this weather is at the moment. Well my two budgies have been preening each other and the hen has been in and out of the nesting box constantly. When she is not in the box she is standing on the perch on the front or sitting next to the cock. She doesn't seem to want to mate because i've never seen them do it and the male is always trying to mate with the the perch :happy-dancing: lol. so will they mate or is the hen just obsessing? And if so will the chicks survive this horrible weather? Also what is the the thing with my male i mentioned earlier about him trying to mate with the perch.He gets in the corner of where the perch meets the cage and........goes for it. any ideas? thanks for reading Jeddo. Edited February 14, 201015 yr by birdluv
February 14, 201015 yr Most people unless they have a cool or aircond birdroom wont even have nestboxes happening so their birds do not have to try and breed in the hotter season.
February 14, 201015 yr Author yea but they started doing this while ago when it wasn't so hot but never layed eggs so i thought i'd leave it in.
February 14, 201015 yr If there are no eggs in the nest box, you could just take it out until the weather cools off. That will give them time to get their "mating act" together. It's normal for them to mate anyway, even when they're not trying to lay eggs, so they don't really need a nest box now. And it's normal for the males to amuse themselves with other objects, too.
February 15, 201015 yr Due to the extremes in your weather, I'd remove them and re-add them later... no dramma's there!
February 18, 201015 yr Hi Jeddo, I'm a bit further up the coast and I'm toying with the idea of putting a breeding cage in at end of the month. It's been stinking until now, but it has cooled a bit and I wondered how it would be to try a clutch or two,(birds co-operating of course). That would get chicks out and fledged before the really cold nights. I bred from August last year and it was still very cold nights with tiny chicks. My aviary is very noisy now so I think some would go down. If your hen is popping in and out of nest box she may be ready. Can you tell if they are in breeding condition?
February 19, 201015 yr well i don't really know how to tell if they're in breeding condition Post pictures of them and in particular their cere colours
February 19, 201015 yr Author well i don't really know how to tell if they're in breeding conditionPost pictures of them and in particular their cere colours ohh i feel so dumb yea they are in breeding condition. the cock has a nice bright blue cere and the hen has a flaky brown one. Edited February 19, 201015 yr by KAZ
February 19, 201015 yr well i don't really know how to tell if they're in breeding conditionPost pictures of them and in particular their cere colours ohh i feel so dumb yea they are in breeding condition. the cock has a nice bright blue cere and the hen has a flaky brown one. The flaky brown can be considered just past prime breeding conditon and at the stage where its just about to peel off. Can you post a picture ?
February 22, 201015 yr Author The flaky brown can be considered just past prime breeding conditon and at the stage where its just about to peel off. Can you post a picture ? here she is. this was taken last yer but the cere hasn't changed much in colour http://i849.photobucket.com/albums/ab57/je...03112009002.jpg sorry for the size of this photo i had to edit out another bird that was previously in with her but was moved in with another bird Edited February 22, 201015 yr by KAZ