Budgie breeding guide in 8 simple points
Budgie Breeding:
There are several birds which are known to be kept by people as pets in their home. Budgies are a special kind of parrot and it is the most famous pet bird. Budgies are generally classified into American budgies and English budgies. These budgies mate and produce the young chicks. When you want your budgies to mate, make sure that you have both male and female budgies. You can easily check the sex of budgies by looking at the cere part. Usually, the cere of a male budgie will be blue in color whereas it is pale or pinkish color for the female budgies. The budgie breeding is very easy and they are ready to do it whenever they feel the conditions are right. Allowing budgies to breed involves some steps which could provide them the best chances for a successful breeding.
Selecting the Breeding Pair:
While choosing budgies for breeding, it is necessary to give importance for their health rather than how they look. This is because only healthy budgies could produce the healthiest chicks. Budgies will be matured physically with 3rd or 4th months but it is not good to breed them at this age because this might be unhealthy and stressful and these budgies could not serve as a good parent. So you must wait until the birds become ten to eleven months old. If budgies are bought from a breeder, you can know about the dedication levels of their parents in growing them. If these budgies were looked after by their parents properly then they will also be good parents for their babies. Finally, you must make sure that budgies accept each other and they are eager to breed together. This is because sometimes it may happen that a budgie will not be willing to breed with its pair. So you should understand that they accept each other.
Preparation of Budgies to Breed:
Generally speaking, breeding is somewhat stressful for the female budgies as they have to lay the eggs. Moreover after the hatching of the eggs, raising the young ones involves both physical and mental stresses for both male and female birds as they have to make them ready to face the dangers ahead. You could not provide budgie training to breed but the only thing you can do is budgie care by providing healthy diets and stress free environments. At the time of budgie mating, it is always good to provide calcium contained supplements as it is required for the female budgie to make all the eggs. If such supplements are not provided to the female budgies, then the calcium from its bones will be leeched as it is supplied to the eggs. This will affect its health and make her weak. It is also best to provide vitamin supplements for the female birds at the time of mating as it gives everything required. Though you are providing budgies a healthy diet, offering little more nutrients at the time of breeding would be helpful for budgies. You should also provide much quantity of water for budgies during their breeding. If it is not provided then the bodies will get poisoned.
Provide Stress-Free Environment:
It is very important to eliminate all the sources of stress from the environment of budgies. This is because, reducing the stress level strengthen the immune system of budgies and make them both mentally and physically good to breed. There are three main sources which cause stress: light, movement and noise. When you are making loud and threatening noises, your budgies become scared and nervous. You should not place the cage of your budgies near the TV as they will be frightened when the voices, music and sound effects are suddenly raised. So the best way is to keep the cage in a quiet place. Budgies are known to be prey animals, even the sudden movements could scare them. This is because they are always ready to get away from the predators. So leaving budgies in lonely places is always good for them to take a rest. At the time of breeding, budgies need to sleep for a longer time than you need. During night time, cage of budgies must be at least partly covered as they could be secured from the light. The headlight of any vehicle which passes through could disturb the deep sleep of budgies.
Necessary Thing to Be Provided For Breeding:
There are several things that you must provide your budgies with at the time of breeding. You have to make sure that budgies are in good condition both mentally and physically. Then you must provide plentiful of water and food, a nesting box and wait for some time to take the course. You can get the breeding boxes which are specially designed for the cute budgies in the pet shop. It is enough just to provide the wooden boxes along with small openings and a notch on the floor, this will prevent the rolling of the eggs when they are laid by the female budgies. Though they do not need the materials for nesting, you can offer them if you wish. You must also provide cuttle bones and mineral blocks which supply some calcium and minerals to the female budgies. These budgie accessories will be chewed by the female budgies and get some amount of calcium strength that is necessary for breeding and laying eggs.
Budgie Mating:
The male budgie mates only if the female budgie is ready. Till then the male budgie spends a lot of time in courting her. While leaving your budgies to breed, the main thing which you have to do is to give time for them to court each other so that they become bonded. When the female budgie is ready to mate with the male budgie, it gives signals by bending down on the perch and spread the wings. The mating is different between other bird species. Then the male budgie hops on the back of the female and covers with its wings as if hugging her. This will take a while to complete the fertilization.
Laying and Hatching Of Eggs:
If you are sure that mating occurred between budgies then be sure that the female budgie will be laying eggs between 10 to 14 days after mating. Budgies use to lay three to four eggs for per clutch and sometimes it may also lay around 10 eggs. If all the eggs are laid, then the female budgie sits on the laid eggs. After 18 days of incubation, the eggs begin to hatch and young chicks come out. After the hatching of the eggs, the female budgie takes care of its young ones on its own. It might or might not allow the male budgie to look after them. The major advantage of having budgies as a pet is that the the food and water are provided inside the breeding box, so they do not need to fly away in search of food. The first days, the baby budgies are provided with crop milk which is secreted by the female budgie. This crop milk is very essential for the chicks as it contains proteins and fats.
Development of Baby Budgies:
When baby budgies are born, they are naked, blind and helpless. After 10 days the feathers on their body start to grow and the chicks begin to open their eyes. In a few weeks, the chicks take a lot of foods, learn to move using their bodies and they squawk loudly. Around five weeks the chicks come out of the nest and try to feed themselves. If you like to tame the chicks, wait till two weeks. When they reach the 2 weeks, handle the chick for 10 minutes every day. You must make sure that your hands are warm and clean before handling the chicks. Moreover, you must cover the eyes of the chick so as to protect them from the bright light as they are used to the darkness by sitting inside the nest box. After 4 weeks, the chicks will be eagerly coming out of their nest. You must keep in mind that you should not detach the chicks from their parents until they start to eat on their own. If you separate them from the parents, you must keenly watch them whether they are able to eat their food, and find the water for themselves. The perches in the baby cage should be placed lower and spread lots of foods and spray millets on the floor so that it will be easier for the small budgies to get them.
