Ask Lafeber

Do we separate bonded male/female budgie pair?

We adopted two budgies from a pet store: a girl and a boy. After doing plenty of research and feeling confident in our knowledge on budgies, we bought them in a pair to prevent loneliness. However, we have overlooked the possibility that our budgies are siblings and I’ve learned that since they were adopted from the pet store they may already be inbred, so I wouldn’t want them to mate and produce further inbred chicks. Despite this, we’ve had the birds for 1 year/2months the two birds are very happy and healthy, and have only attempted to mate twice (which we prevented) My question is considering these birds are already well bonded, do we separate them? I wouldn’t want them to die of heartbreak or something. Maybe if we did separate they could visit each other.

Hi,

With birds, there is no such thing as accidental offspring, such as you might get with a pet that can get pregnant. If the female ever lays any eggs, just discard the eggs. Eggs are not developed when laid, and only begin any development after at least 48 hours of being incubated around the clock. Never give them a nest box or anything they can use as a nest – no birdie tents, huts, coconuts, boxes, large food bowls. If the female tries to nest in a food dish, replace it with small cups. As long as the cage has a metal grate, she can’t keep eggs warm on one. However, it is still better to remove any eggs and discourage egg laying. Below are some changes you can make that usually works well to prevent egg laying.

Keep in mind that in the wild for breeding, they need longer daylight, warmer weather, abundant food, and a quiet, private environment. The goal is to reverse these conditions.

Limit their light to 8-10 hours by covering the cage early each evening

Do not give them 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 them 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 they show signs of nesting – settling on the cage floor for example. This disrupts her idea of having a stable place to lay eggs and raise chicks.

If you feed a lot of fresh foods, stop offering any for a couple of weeks, and then only offer them in small amounts about 2 or 3 times a week. You can resume normal feeding later when the birds aren’t being hormonal.

When they are let out of the cage, do not let them get in any dark cozy places and don’t give them free roam. When you let them roam around, this mimics searching for a nesting site.

When you handle them, limit any petting to only the head and neck – do not pet a bird on the body. Only a bonded mate is allowed to groom the body. We can’t be a mate, so touching the body is off limits.

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