Im concerned about my female budgie, when i wanted to clean her cage her eggs was laying outside the nest, when i cleaned cage there was a hole right through the bottom of the cage, she lives with with 2 males in cage… Is there something im doing wrong?
Hi Miriam,
She should not have a nest when you have an extra male in the cage. You can only have one pair in a cage for breeding. They can end up getting very territorial and the males will likely start fighting over her. These fights can be to the death. In general, you should never have an odd number of birds together, because one tends to get left out and bullied. But you should never provide a nest when you have more than 2 birds in the cage. Also, I’m not sure what you are using as a nest, but parakeets need a wooden nest box, which you attach to the outside of the cage as high as possible. It should never be on the floor of the cage. You need to either remove one male and get the right kind of nest box for the pair, or take the nest out and do not give them another one. It’s also not good for her to lay eggs more than twice a year. If she has been laying eggs often, she needs to be rested. There are changes you can make to discourage more egg laying.
You need to do all of these things to discourage egg laying. 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.
If 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 her head and neck – do not pet her on the body.
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
