the mother is in cage with father and another female parakeet she laid the eggs in a food bowl on top of pellets they hatched now 9 days old should i move birds to bigger nest box with paper towels so they can be in clean environment is it ok to put fresh bedding so they are not laying on messy stuff
Hi,
The only change you should make is to remove the extra female. The chicks are in danger from her, and she is in danger from the other female. You should never have more than one pair in a cage for breeding. Female budgies especially can be very aggressive. If the mother decides the other female is a rival, she can kill her in a matter or seconds. If you try to move the chicks, the pair will most likely abandon them. Once a pair is nesting, any changes can mean loss of the clutch. These chicks may or may not survive in the open bowl. But they will almost certainly not survive if you move them. All you can do is watch for any falling out of the bowl, and put them back if they do. As soon as they have all left this “nest”, take it away and give the parents small dishes that the female can’t nest in again. Once the chicks are weaned, they must be moved to another cage, but NOT with the extra female. That female is likely to bully or attack the chicks. You should rest the pair for 6 months before letting them breed again. If you do let them breed again, this time make her use the nest box, or throw the eggs away. Do not put the extra female back with the pair. While there can be exceptions, having an odd number of birds usually does not work out, and now that the pair has had chicks, the mother is likely to be very territorial and probably won’t accept the other female back with her.
Thank you for asking Lafeber,
Brenda
