Ask Lafeber

Budgie laying eggs

Hello, I have two budgies and it turns out one is male and one is female. Recently the female starting laying eggs, but I believe they have fallen to the cage floor as she seems to be trying to nest on a flat wood plank further up in the cage, I am not sure if they are rolling off, or if she is laying them on the cafe floor. I do not want to have baby birds. I read somewhere that if she can’t sit on them, she will continue trying to lay eggs which can be bad for her health. What should I do? Can I discard the eggs? Or should I keep them and find a little nest so that she can sit on them and hopefully she won’t continue to lay eggs after about three weeks? The male seems to always want to be on top of her and try to mate with her. I don’t have another cage to separate them.

Hi Sarah,

Since you do not want them to breed, there are changes you can make to discourage egg laying. Definitely do not give them a nest, and remove whatever platform you mentioned that she is laying them on.

You need to do all of these things to discourage egg laying. This information applies to the pair. Keep in mind that to lay eggs, she needs longer daylight, warmer weather, abundant food, and a quiet, private environment. Your goal is to reverse these conditions.

Limit her light to 8-10 hours by covering the cage early each evening

Do not give her anything to use as a nest – no bird huts or tents, no box, bowl, etc. If she decides to sit in a food bowl, remove it and replace with smaller cups.

Do not give her anything to shred such as paper or cardboard.

Rearrange the toys in the cage frequently.

Move the cage to a different place in the room. Move the cage about once a week, or whenever she shows signs of nesting – settling on the cage floor for example. This disrupts her idea of having a stable place to lay eggs and raise chicks.

If you feed a lot of fresh foods, stop offering any for a couple of weeks, and then only offer them in small amounts about 2 or 3 times a week. You can resume normal feeding later when the birds aren’t being hormonal.

When she is let out of the cage, do not let her get in any dark cozy places and don’t give her free roam.

When you handle her, limit any petting to only her head and neck – do not pet her on the body. Only a bonded mate is allowed to groom the body. We can’t be a mate, so touching the body is off limits.

If there is no metal floor grate, then do not use any bedding or paper in the cage tray – leave it bare and clean it daily.

Thank you for asking Lafeber,

Brenda