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.
So my parents have a pair of budgies and they seriously can't stop breeding! I know it sounds ridiculous but it's true. The hen has already had three births in a row and they are still mating. We seriously don't know how to stop them. We have monitored their daylight time, we have changed their food but they're still going strong. She seriously throws all her chicks out after two weeks of hatching and lays new eggs. 14 chicks were born in a 4 month period. We seriously can't have more.
From the sounds of it, the only way to stop them from breeding is to separate them into their own cages.
The hen doesn't sound like she is being a very attentive mother if she is throwing the chicks out after only two weeks. Who is looking after the chicks at this time? Are they being hand fed?
It's very bad for a budgie's health to breed over and over again. Laying eggs, incubating them and raising chicks is a LOT of hard work on both the male and females. Letting these two breed should be discouraged at all costs, or you will risk losing their health and risk losing the babies as well.
Hi, the father feeds the chicks after she throws them out, all the birds came out really healthy, the parents are healthy too but we just can't have more birds! I don't think we can separate them now though, they are still nursing small birds (the younger one is 2 weeks old). She hasn't thrown them out yet but because the pair is mating I'm afraid it will happen soon. Isn't there a way to stop her from laying more eggs?
Isn't there a way to stop her from laying more eggs?
Yes, remove her from the cage and let dad finish rearing the chicks, maybe in a few more days when they are a little older.
If she does happen to lay more eggs, before you separate them, do not let her incubate them. You can remove them from the nest as they are laid so she doesn't start another clutch.
Have you tried rearranging the interior of the cage and moving the cage to another part of the house, sometimes that will help. How much daylight are they getting? Do you have an avian vet, as a last resort there are hormone treatments that can be given by the vet.
It's up to you/your parents as owners to take the responsibility to ensure the budgies don't breed continually.
Having so many eggs in such a short amount of time is very hard on the female. Allowing her to continually lay is going to shorten her life considerably.
It has to be hard on the male as well as he's trying to feed and care for the female as well as all the hatchlings in each clutch.
If the pair is mating on an ongoing basis then they need to be physically separated as soon as the chicks are a few days older as PoukieBear indicated.
At that time, put the female in a different cage in a different room and start rearranging the cage every other day.
Limit her daylight hours to no more than 8 per day.
Limit the amount of protein in her diet as well.
Ensure she has a calcium supplement as her body's supply has to be depleted after laying so many eggs.
Make sure there is nothing in her cage that can be used as a nesting site.
If the birds flock call to one another, play music in the two separate rooms to minimize the noise.
Thank you everyone for your advice, we know this is stressful for our flock and I asked for advice because we don't want our birds hurt. We will separate the birds in a few days and hopefully everything will be alright. I sincerely thank you all.
Budgies won't stop breeding
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