Hi Ava,
It is never a good idea to have an odd number of birds in the same cage, even if they are the same sex. In your case, you have two females with a male and this is a potentially deadly situation for one of the females. First, birds do not need a nest or nest box unless you are wanting them to breed. In that case, you should not have more than one pair in the cage. And you should also make sure they are old enough to breed and on the right diet You shouldn’t just let a pair breed without you being prepared. Female parakeets can be very territorial. When a rival female gets too close to a breeding female, the breeding female will attack it and kill it if she gets the chance. You are very lucky that all she did was break an egg. The extra female could have attacked the breeding female and killed her. And rival females will raid the other bird’s nest and destroy the eggs and kill any chicks. You can’t put the extra female back in the cage, ever. Even when they are not breeding, the other female will not tolerate Bluie in the same cage again. It is best to get Bluie another companion or mate. If she lays any eggs, it is best to throw the eggs away. She should not have a nest or nest box without a mate and she can’t care for eggs and chicks by herself.
Breeding birds is a lot of responsibility. When you have males and females together, they are going to mate. This is instinctive. Your male isn’t being naughty, he is just doing what males do. In the wild he would have one mate, and wouldn’t be mating with other females. Just because your birds mate does not mean you have to give them a nest or let them hatch the eggs. Your birds should be at least 2 years old to breed. Your birds need to be on a good diet, and have a quiet, private place to nest. They need a nutritionally balanced diet like pellets or our foraging diets. A loose seed mix will not provide the nutrition they need. They also need dark leafy greens and chopped veggies. For breeding, they need an egg food to get into condition and to feed chicks. You can by a commercial egg food or just cook an egg, with the shell washed, crushed and cooked with the eggs. This will help the female form her eggs and it is also something the parents will feed the chicks. They need a nest box that is attached to the outside of the cage, as high as possible.
Since this is their first clutch, keep in mind that first clutches almost always fail. Whether the eggs hatch or not, you need to take the nest box down as soon as the eggs are past due, or as soon as any chicks leave the nest box. A pair should be rested for 6 months after each clutch, and should only be allowed to have 2 clutches per year. If they do hatch chicks, you have to remove the chicks as soon as they are weaned. They can’t live with the parents, and you can’t keep male and female chicks together or they will try to breed when they are a few months old. You should never allow related birds to breed with each other. It’s best to find new homes for any chicks and not allow a male and female to go to the same home.
Thank you for asking Lafeber,
Brenda
