Hi…I have informed you that I have removed the nest box.But today I saw the male budgie mating with the 2 months old budgie that too with his own offspring even without nest box.Now what should I have to do? Shall I put the nest box ?
Hi,
Removing the nest box does not stop mating. But it will generally discourage the pair from wanting to nest and lay eggs. You still need to make other changes to make sure the pair does take a break from breeding. You should be limiting their light to 8-10 hours per day by covering the cage early in the evening. You can also make sure the cage is in a busy area of the home. Rearrange toys and perches in the cage, and try moving the cage to a new location in the room about once a week. This may not stop the male from wanting to mate, but the female isn’t likely to go into a nesting and egg laying cycle when her cage is being moved and things are being changed in the cage. She has to feel like she has a private, stable safe place to nest so she isn’t going to do this if there are people around her, a lot and things are changing in her cage, and the cage is being moved around.
When you breed birds, you must remove the nest box as soon as the chicks leave it, which you have done. But you also have to separate the chicks from the parents as soon as they are weaned. Otherwise the parents will either pick on the chicks or try to mate with them. You should never allow related birds to breed with each other. This results in genetic issues, deformed chicks or chicks with serious health issues. And if the young bird is a female, it is very dangerous for her health for her to be around a mature male. He can trigger her hormones and she may try to lay an egg at much too young of an age. She would be very likely to become egg bound and die. A captive raised female budgie may become sexually mature as young as 6 months old, but she should not be laying eggs until she is at least 18 months old. If you plan to keep your chicks, they must be kept separate from the adults, even unrelated adults, and you need to keep the females separate from the males or the brothers and sisters will try to breed – again, something that should never be allowed.
Keep in mind that just because birds mate, or even lay eggs, does not mean you should give them a nest box. You must limit them to twice a year and remove the nest box in between clutches. If they mate or lay eggs during the rest period, discard the eggs and change things around in the cage as mentioned above. They are going to breed if they feel like it is a good time to do so. As the owner, it is your responsibility to limit how many times they raise chicks in a year.
Thanks for the update,
Brenda
