Hi Jaweria,
It is important that the birds are old enough to be set up for breeding. The male needs to be at least 18 months old and the female should be at least 2 years old. Captive birds become mature at a much younger age than in the wild. But they are still immature emotionally or mentally and will not settle down to breed properly. Young birds tend to make mistakes or develop bad breeding habits like breaking or eating eggs. If this happens, it pretty much ruins them for breeding because these habits are almost impossible to break, Also, if the female is too young, she is at a high risk of fatal egg binding.
If your pair is old enough, they need more time to settle in and be ready to breed. They also need a private location where you only check on them briefly, such as feeding time or to clean the cage. Once they start breeding, you may have to stop cleaning the cage until the chicks are weaned. If a breeding pair is disturbed too much, they won’t breed or they may end up abandoning the eggs or chicks. They need a nutritionally balanced diet like pellets – a seed mix is not enough nutrition. They also need dark leafy greens, chopped veggies and when they start mating and using the nest box, start giving them cooked eggs daily with the clean, crushed shell cooked with them. Once they do breed and raised chicks, you have to remove the nest box and make then rest for about 6 months. Otherwise they just keep breeding and this isn’t good for them. In captivity, you should limit them to 2 clutches per year – this is one more than they would have in the wild.
Hopefully your pair will settle down and lay some eggs soon!
Thank you for asking Lafeber,
Brenda
