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Budgerigar Breeding Information, Budgie Breeding InformationMature budgerigars will come into breeding condition any time between early spring and early autumn, and sometimes even winter. It is probably best for the novice budgerigar owner only to make nesting facilities available in the spring and summer when the chicks have the best chance to develop. A cock in breeding condition has a very confident manner and a bright blue cere. He gets very interested in the hen and feeds her regurgitated food as if she were incubating already. A hen that’s ready to breed can start regurgitating food as well, as if she is feeding her chicks. Also, she’ll start looking for places to nest. Clutch SizeThe normal clutch size is five or six eggs. Sometimes the first clutch of the year will be larger. Some pairs of birds can raise three clutches in a year, but they quickly get exhausted from all the work. So each brood will get successively weaker. You can be responsible in your breeding by removing the nesting box or separating the breeding pair after one or two clutches have been raised in a year. Or you can just do what others do and sell the weaker young birds to some pet shops. Egg Laying & IncubationA hen lays her eggs every other day and starts incubating them when she lays the first one. After 18 days incubation the first chicks will start to hatch, and they will hatch in intervals. The hen stays in the nesting box through most of the incubation period, hardly leaving it at all. She relies on the cock to feed her with regurgitated seed. When the young birds hatch, she feeds them on regurgitated seed and crop milk. You don’t need to give the young birds any hard food at all. They won’t start eating it until they leave the nest and start feeding on normal food mixtures. It is very important to make sure that the chicks can feed themselves before you separate them form their parents. If they can’t then they will starve to death. PairingEven though budgerigars are ready to breed from three or four months old, they will not usually be able to cope with the stress of it. It is better to start breeding when they are ten or eleven months old. If you have a few budgies together in an aviary then you will need to make sure that you have an equal number of cocks and hens. You need to make extra nesting boxes available, and you should put them all at the same height. Otherwise there will be many fights over the most wanted nesting boxes which are usually the highest. Young Budgies ,Baby Budgie Information Budgies, Budgerigars Information |