Budgie BreedingBefore breeding any species, it is important to learn as much about the animals, their personalities and the best practices to follow for responsible and ethical breeding prior to making the commitment to take on the responsibility.
These are my two birds, Maui & Hei Hei (named by my daughter after she watched Moana). They are almost two years old and I noticed that the female (Hei Hei) had laid eggs on the bottom of the cage. They were non viable and when she got sick of sitting on them I took them out. However she decided to try again in their coconut and currently has four eggs. I have not checked to see if they are viable yet. She is currently sitting on them.
After this set (whether they hatch or not) I will take the coconut out and rearrange their cage. I don’t want to have to split them up because they are bonded and I don’t think they would handle it well.
My questions are;
1. What can I do to prevent breeding besides separating them (& rearranging the cage which I intend to do)?
2. Any tips on taking care of baby budgies (if they are viable eggs)?
3. What are their mutations? I’m quite curious about this as I didn’t know that this was a thing. ?
Will their babies then be some combo between normal and yellow/green?
I can't give any advice about breeding but do you know when these eggs were laid? If not, you can mark the current eggs, and then any eggs that are laid after you can throw away immediately. The eggs won't have any life in them until the female has incubated them for a few days so they are pretty much the same as eggs you buy from the grocery store.
As you have now learned, it is never a good idea to have a coconut shell or any items in a cage that the female can use as a nesting site.
A proper nestbox with a concave bottom should be used when breeding budgies for the safety and well-being of both the adult birds and the potential offspring.
If the eggs are not viable, my recommendation would be to dispose of them immediately, remove the coconut shell and any other items in the cage which could be used as a nesting site, rearrange the cage, move the cage to a different room, limit the amount of protein in the birds' diet and limit the amount of daylight they get to no more than 8 hours per day.
Following the above guidance should throw them out of breeding condition.
If you still plan to allow the budgies to try to raise this clutch, please answer the questions below and carefully review all of the information in the following links:
How much personal research have you done with regard to breeding budgies?
What type of conditioning diet are you giving them?
Are you providing a calcium supplement in addition to cuttlebone?
Do you have an Avian Vet lined up in case there are complications, injury or illness?
Please take the time to read through the Site Guidelines, all of the How To Guides, the FAQs, the Budgie Articles and the stickies located at the top of each section of the forum.
Truly, the very BEST advice anyone can offer you is to take the time to read ALL of the stickies throughout the various Talk Budgie forums as well as the Budgie Articles we have posted.
These are great resources for Talk Budgie members and have a wealth of reliable information which will assist you to learn the best practices in caring for your budgies for their optimal health and well-being.
By the way, all photos entered in any of our forum contests must be a full-size photo and not a thumbnail attachment so it's good to know how to upload them!
If you have any questions after reading through everything, please be sure to ask!
You've been given great advice and have been asked some great questions.
It's important to check immediately if the eggs are fertile or not. If they are not, you can simply toss them. No life is formed in the eggs until at least three days of incubation, as indicated above.
Please read through all the links provided above to be sure you're updated on the best of budgie care.
If you have any questions after reading through the forums' many articles and stickies, be sure to ask!
We look forward to seeing more of your budgies soon!
Cheers
__________________
~StarlingWings~
and Princess Mallorn!
Thank you to Deb for her wonderful Faery magic