Hi Aravind,
If your birds are only 17 months old, they are really too young to have them set up for breeding. The male needs to be at least 18 months old and the female should be at least 2 years old. While they may be able to breed now, they are not fully mature mentally. They are like teenagers. In the wild, they would not be breeding yet. They are not ready to settle down and take care of eggs and chicks. When the female is too young, she is at a higher risk of becoming egg bound. A young pair is also likely to develop bad breeding habits that can ruin them as being breeders when they are old enough, such as not sitting on the eggs at all, breaking the eggs, eating the eggs, not feeding the chicks if any hatch or abandoning the eggs too soon which is what your pair has done. Both parents will take turns sitting on the eggs – one during the day, and one sits at night. If only the female was sitting on them, this is because the male is too immature – he is most likely more interested in mating again.
I would split the pair up, remove the nest box and wait for at least 6 more months to let them mature a bit more. Then you can reintroduce them, and give them the box again. Hopefully then they will be more willing to settle down and take care of their eggs and chicks. It is important that they are eating a nutritionally balanced diet like pellets – a loose seed mix will not provide the nutrition they need. When they are set up for breeding, you should also offer leafy greens, chopped veggies, multi grain bread and cooked eggs with the shell washed, crushed and cooked with them. The parents need good nutrition and a lot of food when they are breeding, and especially if they hatch chicks. When they do have chicks, you need to remove the nest box as soon as the chicks have come out of it. Otherwise the pair will try to breed again too soon. A pair should be rested for 6 months between each clutch of eggs. You should not allow them to have more than 2 clutches per year, which is one more than they would have in the wild. And the chicks have to be separated from the adults as soon as they are weaned or the parents will pick on them. Also, you can’t allow the chicks to breed with the parents or with each other – you should never allow related birds to breed.
Thank you for asking Lafeber,
Brenda
