Ask Lafeber

Budgie and eggs

hi good afternoon! So my female recently just turned 1 years old. And we found this male budgie that we found with an unknown age. They have been mating we tried to stop them multiple of times and we couldn’t and she’s recently layed one single egg. Over the past week we have been debating if we should keep the egg or not. Right now the egg is on the floor of the cage because we didn’t buy anything for her to make a nest. We took it out the cage to see if it’s fertile or not and we believe it’s not. What should we do? Get rid of the egg? When she hears the male budgie she starts yelling so she can come out her cage and she leaves the egg. Does she know it’s alive or not? What should we do!

Hi,

She really should not be breeding until she is closer to 2 years old. I would discard the egg and any others she lays. Unless she sits on the egg for at least 48 hours, day and night, the egg will not even begin to develop, if it is fertile. The concern is that she may not stop laying eggs and this can eventually kill her. You should keep her separated from the male. Limit her light to 8-10 hour by covering her cage early each evening. Don’t let her have a nest, bird hut or anything she can get inside of. It is best not to let her roam all the time, but if you do, keep her out of dark, cozy places. Move her cage to different places in the room about once a week. You want to disrupt her routine to try to discourage egg laying. If she does keep laying eggs, you may need to take her to a vet for a hormone implant or shots.

Thank you for asking Lafeber,

Brenda