Hi Aaron,
The main problem you have here is that the birds are much too young to be set up for breeding. While they are obviously capable of it, they still have some physical and emotional development to go through. A better time to start them would have been 2 years old. So with that in mind, if these eggs hatch or not, you need to remove the nest box as soon as the chicks leave the box or as soon as the parents abandon the eggs, and not allow this pair to breed for another year. While the female may take short breaks, she generally will not come out as often as she is doing. And the male will normally be helping more as far as sitting on the eggs. Since they are too young, they still want to play, and they really are not ready to settle down and breed. All you can do is wait and see what happens. The first clutch almost always fails, and especially when a pair is too young. Don’t be too disappointed if they lose interest before the eggs hatch, or if the eggs are not fertile. If the eggs do hatch, hopefully the parents will care for them and feed them. But many first clutches are lost at this stage, too. Just provide them with what they need and plenty of privacy and hopefully it will turn out well.
In captivity, we have to control when a pair breeds and how often they breed. In the wild, they won’t mature as early. And once old enough to breed, they only nest once a year during breeding season. Since captive birds are mostly bred indoors, they do not have the environmental signals to start and stop nesting. So it is important to always remove the nest box in between each clutch for about 6 months, and limit them to two clutches per year. Your pair will remain healthier and breed for more years, and the chicks will be healthier.
Thank you for asking Lafeber,
Brenda
