Hi,

 

We have owned two budgies for 2 1/2 years. They are 3 years old. They have just started to mate and we have now got 4 chicks hatched and doing well. We were not expecting this to happen when we first bought them, so we are a bit inexperienced in the breeding field!

 

To the Questions:

 

1. We would like to keep the 4 chicks, but have been told that this could lead to in-breeding and fighting etc. In a larger cage, would any one recommend keeping them together?

 

2. Could we keep just the adult **** and keep any female chicks?

 

3. Is there a problem in keeping 2 male birds in one cage from chicks?

 

4. Is there anything we should know about if we gave them away or sold them?

 

5. If we were to keep all the budgies, could someone recommend a good sized cage for them. I would like it to have enough width for them to fly a bit.

 

6. At a later stage (6 months), could we introduce other adult or young budgies to the cage without any problems to limit the possibility of inbreeding.

 

Thanks in advance

 

 

Adam & Sarah.

Of course you can keep them!! I kept all of mine (5 from 1st clutch, 4 from 2nd). I had to go out and buy another cage once the second clutch was being laid because the babies were annoying the parents with trying to go back in the nest box to check out the new arrivals. Everyone gets along just fine, although now I have all males in one cage and all females in the other because I couldn't stop Rainbow and Skittles wanting a 3rd clutch... The cages I have them in now measure 24" x 18" x 36" (which I think is 61 x 46 x 91.5 in cm for everyone not in US-but don't quote me-my conversions might not be right) which is okay, but they are let out a few times a day to interact together so it is not an issue. It was a great size when there were just two of them. I have chicks from each clutch mixed in with each other as I had 4 females and 1 male in the first, and 3 males and 1 female in the second) There is very little sqabbling-usually just at night after I cover the cage and they all want to sleep in the same spot or if someone doesn't want to share a toy... The females sing just as much as the males do, and play more with toys. Whether this is common or not I don't know, as the babies were hatched in late Feb and late April of this year, so they are not even mature yet. If I were ever to breed any of the babies, I would purchase more birds instead of allowing them to mate with each other, but as they are seperated for most of the day I'm hoping not to have to deal with that issue. I've taken all mine to the vet for a new baby check up, as I thought I might be able to sell them and I didn't want to give anyone a less than healthy bird. (But I can't part with them. :bluebudgie: ) Sorry this is so long, but hopefully I've answered a few of your questions.