Hello, Our female budgie has mated with one of our males (we have three males). It looks like she is ready to give birth. We have a nesting box. Should we separate the pregnant budgie and her mate to a different cage until after the babies are born and out of the nesting box?
Hi,
Since she is a bird, she can’t be pregnant or give birth. If she is bloated or straining or something like that, you need to take her to an avian vet ASAP. She would only have one egg in her at a time, so there is usually no obvious physical sign that a bird is about to lay an egg until right before she lays it. She can lay an egg with or without a male. Mating with a male does not have to result in egg laying. Mating doesn’t guarantee that the egg is fertile. When an egg is fertilized, or not, it will take 48 hours to develop as it passes through her reproductive system, and then she will lay the egg. She may or may not incubate the egg. She will most likely lay a few more eggs, with a day between each egg. If she isn’t already using the nest box with her mate, it is unlikely they will take care of these eggs. The male and female must be the only birds in the cage. The nestbox should be attached to the outside of the cage, as high as possible. Both the male and female take part in caring for the eggs and chicks. The male will feed the female. You should be feeding them a nutritionally balanced diet like pellets. You should also offer dark leafy greens, chopped veggies and an egg food. This can be a commercial dry egg food or you can cook an egg with the shell washed, crushed and cooked with the egg. You feed this daily until any chicks are weaned. When they are done with these eggs or chicks, you need to remove the nest box and rest the pair for at least 6 months. The female especially needs time to recover from egg laying and possibly caring for eggs and chicks. So even if the eggs do not hatch, you need to rest the pair. Never leave a nest box up year round. If you do all of this, the pair should not be put back with the other males. They would be likely to fight. Also, do not keep any chicks unless you keep them apart from the parents. Never allow related birds to breed. You also have the option of discarding the eggs, removing the nest box and not allowing them to keep any eggs. It takes 48 hours of incubation around the clock for an egg to begin to develop.
Thank you for asking Lafeber,
Brenda
