Hey everyone, I have had trouble breeding budgies and was wondering what I am doing wrong. so I will go into details,

 

1. I have had breeding budgies for two years,

 

2. the cage is big enough and there are two pairs with two nesting boxes which are big enough,

 

3. the budgies that have paired up are definitely male and female and 3 pairs are currently together,

 

4. the nesting boxes were on a slight slant so we fixed that up with stands and I have put nothing in them (do you think I need to)

 

5. I give them the right nutrition

 

6. apparently the season has been not so good in Australia

 

7. cage is cleaned 2 times a week as it is a big cage

 

8. all three pairs are 12 months or over

 

9. I have a routine of when I clean the cage out

 

10. they are outside in the garden in a cage of about 1.5m wide and long and 2m high

 

11. 5 budgies in big one 2 girls 3 boys

 

12. 1 pair of bush budgies in a cage of 1 m long by 50 cm wide and 1 m high

 

any others details needed I can give them to you. thanks

what are you feeding them?

 

silverbeet is good, I got told it puts them into condition.

 

Plenty of cuttle bone, mineral bells.

 

check ceres to see for a chocolate crust forming, you will notice some times their a layer will peel off.

 

not claiming to be a expert but thats my way.

Edited January 23, 201312 yr by L__J

I will feed them silver beet and have got a cuttle bone and mineral block

and what if their ceres are crusty

 

thanks so much for a quick reply

look up budgies in breeding condition.

yes their ceres are the right colours

cool hold in there.

 

I'm not sure about cleaning out the cage twice a week.

 

what times you of day do you disturb them?

sorry meant a month and only go in the cage at the max 1 time a day, other than that I stand outside and look once a day also. but they don't care and only for about 2 mins.

 

also the females dropping are larger I read that this means they are ready to breed?

eggs on the way.

 

I'm only new to this.

 

I noticed my hen sleeping in the breeding box 2 nights before she laid. then the night before she laid she slept outside.

 

her droppings were large also.

 

so you could be on your way.

Hi milkthistle and seeding grasses can also encourage them to breed. It is also wise to have at least two nest boxes per hen so there is less chance of them fighting. Make sure that mice can't get to the nest boxes also as they can disturb them. It won't hurt to put some nesting material in the boxes as it stimulates them by wanting to clean it out it also provides some cushion for any eggs.

Cheers Jenny

thnx so much I am so excited for mine to breed!!!

Hi Sorry I'm a little confused about the number of birds your trying to breed with.

Remove nest boxes until the birds are in condition..

What exactly are you feeding the birds.

Colony breeding requires nest boxes high up & a minimum of 12 inches apart

extra boxes so hens have choice, with a little sawdust in the bottom.....B.J.

yes the nest boxes are high up about 1.7 m high, and they are about probably about 15 inches apart.

 

I am feeding them high quality seed and carrot + apple, but now silver beat too. there are 4 birds that are breeding in the big cage meaning that there are 2 pairs in there, the amount of nesting boxes I can add two more probably tomorrow and the sawdust I can put in when it stops raining because it is all the way down the back of our property and yeah it will probably stop soon.

 

also the occasional treat, cuttle bone all the time and mineral blocks. plus I have recently been adding some mineral water instead of the mineral block. and the mineral water is what the pet store suggested and the pest store is excellent as the person who helps me breeds budgies himself and is very useful.

 

thanks for your info I appreciate all the help and I will update this post when the lay and hatch!

 

Mineral water may be fine, but I would still keep the mineral block in there, too.

yeah I thought that, but they are only at that pet store I talked about earlier on the other side of my town so next time I go there I will get two.

_{okay, so I have just one update to give you, They have mated every morning for the past three days (finally)}

 

I am so excited about it and the eggs should be here hopefully in about 6-8 days from today not three days ago (correct me if I'm wrong)

 

I was colony breeding but I then read at a post about colony breeding that its a bad Idea and highly not recommended so I separated the pairs and now one of them has mated so I am glad that has happened as it could of ended up in death for some of my budgies or chicks.

 

I was going to put some photos of the two but I don't know how if anyone can tell me that would be great thanks.

Wise move young fella, colony breeding is a disaster waiting to happen.

don't mean to sink a ship but some birds mate and don't lay.

 

I have a pair that mate and won't lay.

 

but I think they was nervous in the aviary so I moved them to there own cages.

I know that but they are showing signs of it

 

e.g.: Larger runny droppings, tapping on the inside walls of the nest box, constantly in the nest box, chewing the hole into the box bigger, etc..

 

and they just mated again.

Sounds like all the signs are there Budgie_Mad, good luck with it and keep us posted. Great that you separated the pairs. I think you'll have a lot less problems that way.

yes I thought that. they are expected to lay on the 23rd of February, that is the 10 days after I first noticed them mating. and yes I will keep you all updated

okay so she laid her first egg yesterday afternoon and started incubating it the morning after. Yay