Hey everyone,
As I was planning for a while, I want to breed my budgies. This will be first time and I did LOTS of research. I’ve been reading really much on the internet, talked with many breeders and read a book about budgie breeding.

My budgies are 1 year old and I have attached a nest box to their cage yesterday. The female started inspecting immediately, but today I haven’t seen her doing it. My budgies are not the best couple, I mean they do like each other, but not so extremely much. The male does feed the female, but they don’t preen each other at all. Also, my male is very submissive and my female is very dominant so he is a little scared of her sometimes. My question is, will she really get in, or do some birds have the habit of only looking and never going inside. And will they get on to mating, even if the male is kind of afraid of her? Keep in mind he DOES feed her quite often, but I’m just not so sure if he dares to mate with her. What do you guys think? Will I get any eggs?

Why specifically are you wanting to breed your birds?

If the female is dominant to the male and the male is "a little scared of her sometimes" I would not recommend trying to breed these two birds.

The purpose of this forum is to promote only the "best practices" for the health and well-being of budgies.

A big part of responsible and ethical breeding is ensuring you have birds of optimal health and temperament before attempting to breed them.

I recommend you remove the nest box immediately.

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I would also remove the nestbox, and not breed these two particular birds.

That’s great that you’ve taken your time to research, and have not rushed into it. Keep in mind too, that not all “breeders” out there are up to date on their practices. Not sure about the ones you’ve asked your questions to. In fact, a good amount of budgie breeders do things the ‘old school’ way, and not necessarily the best way. If you haven’t already done so; by reading both the Stickies and the threads in the Breeding section here, you’ll pick up some more tips regarding best practices for breeding, as well as what we don’t recommend.

Enjoy the forum

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Honestly, I don’t really understand why breeding is always such a big no-go in this forum. Okay, I’m aware that breeding is something to behold and think twice about before doing it. But everytime I asked something, I always get ‘stop doing that’ as an answer. And the answers are always somehow linked to breeding, even when I didn’t even ask about that. But imagine that I want to become a breeder, then I have to start somewhere right? Not to be rude or something, but it has been something I have noticed ever since I joined here.

You've started in a great place and nobody is implying that you didn't take some great steps to educate yourself prior to breeding

It's just that a lot of information on line can be deceiving, and so it's important to recognise that a lot of breeders don't have ethical breeding practices and therefore would fail to mention something such as not breeding your birds when they don't have compatible personalities. It's not that we don't want you to breed your budgies, it's that given what you've told us about your birds, they don't seem to be in the right place personality wise to raise chicks, which places any potential chicks in danger.

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StarlingWings has given you excellent information in response to your last post.

As indicated previously, this forum's purpose is to promote the best practices in the care of budgies for their optimum health and well-being.

Most budgies are healthier and happier if they are not bred. This is especially true of birds obtained from big box pet stores.
Many owners do not do all of the necessary research nor do they take into consideration all of the variables which need to be considered before attempting to breed.

I'd very much appreciate it if you would respond as to why you wish to breed your birds.

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To be fair, I can understand why you’d ask that question. As you’ve found, this isn’t your regular “chat” forum. The mission is to promote best practices.. and truth be told, the majority of people coming in and wanting to breed aren’t qualified, or aren’t ready.

It does sound as though you’re responsible and are a good candidate. Once we are familiar with members and see that they are ready, asking the right intelligent questions, etc. we will give you all the guidance and support you need. I say “you”, but this is a general statement for the membership.

** Another BIG reason we tend to discourage breeding, is that so many budgies are from big box pet stores, or generations bred from those birds. Birds coming from corporate pet stores originate from mill style operations. Thousands upon thousands of random budgies churned out each year with horrible genetics. That there, is the reason it’s unfortunately pretty common these days for budgies to have serious or lethal health issues and a short life span. Responsible breeding by finding parents proven to be healthy and long lived, with good temperaments are the best bet when serious about breeding. It does take some digging and research to come across budgie breeders who have this mindset, and good healthy stock to start with.

Also keep in mind, as FaeryBee said above, budgies are generally healthier and happier if they’re not being bred. Although it is a natural process, still, it is stressful on the birds.

Keep on learning, and remember we’re here with the most up to date information on budgies .

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