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Question:

January 16, 2020

My bird isn’t sitting on her eggs


I have a female & male parakeet. The female has laid a total of 5-6 eggs… kind of all over the place. One in her food bowl. I’ve seen her sit on it a couple of times (I think) or maybe she was just eating. But they’re all over & I haven’t seen her sit on them. Has she abandoned them? This is her very first clutch too


Answer:

Hi Cait,

If you want to successfully breed your birds, then you need to get them a nestbox for parakeets. This is a large wooden box which will attach to the outside of the cage. Otherwise she will do what she has done because she doesn’t have a good place to lay eggs and incubate them. Even if she picks a spot in the cage, it would not work out because if any chicks hatch, they need to be contained in a nest box. They also would not stay warm enough on the cage floor or in a food bowl. I recommend you research how to breed parakeets to see if this is something you want to do. It involves buying a box, nesting material and possibly a larger cage, as well as having a second cage available for the chicks once they are weaned, and a lot of extra foods for the parents.

Thank you for asking Lafeber,

Brenda

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