I have two parakeets. A male and a female. Didn’t know that when I rescued them. They have been mating and about a half hour ago I noticed an egg in the bottom of the cage. I put a small basket in there with some soft cotton which I’m sure is strange to them and gently with a kleenex moved the egg to the basket. I’ll go to the pet store for one of those nesting baskets. They are ignoring the egg. It’s the first. Any suggestions would be helpful.
Hi,
She will probably lay more eggs. It’s highly unlikely that they will take care of these eggs. You need to take the basket away and the cotton. Cotton can be very dangerous for pet birds because the fibers can wrap around a toe and will be invisible until the toe swells or in some cases the toe just dies. If you bought any type of nest, return it or take it away and discard it if you already gave it to them. Budgies need a wooden nest box and it will be quite large. They rarely use nesting material, other than some of their own feathers. They can lay 4-6 eggs, and if they have 4 chicks, by the time they leave the nest, they are as large as the parents. So the nest has to be large enough to accommodate at least 6 full grown budgies. If you try letting them nest in a basket, coconut, bird tent, woven nest or anything other than a budgie nest box, it won’t work out. The eggs will get broken, or the chicks will get smothered or squashed if the nest isn’t large enough. When you get the right type of nest box, it is best to attach it to the outside of the cage, as high as possible. And you can place the eggs in it. It’s OK to touch the eggs, the parents do not care. However, they probably will not settle down this time and incubate the eggs.
You do not have to let them nest. You can simply discard the eggs. It’s a lot of work and expense to breed birds responsibly. If you decide to let them nest, let them try with these eggs. If they do not nest, remove the box and eggs and wait 6 months before returning the box. A nest box should be removed after every clutch, whether the eggs hatch or not. You have to control how much they nest, because indoor birds do not get the natural signals for when nesting season ends. The parents need to be eating a nutritionally balanced diet such as pellets. A loose seed diet will not provide the nutrition the parents need. You can also offer dark leafy greens, chopped veggies and some fruit. When they are nesting, you should offer a daily 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. If they do hatch and feed chicks, you must remove the nest box as soon as the chicks have left it, or the parents will start nesting again before the chicks are weaned, and when this happens the chicks often die. Once the chicks are weaned, they have to be moved to another cage or the parents will start bullying them to make them leave. You have to be careful not to let related birds breed. Not all birds will be good breeders, so you may go through all of this and still not get any chicks. Breeding also takes a toll on the parent’s health every time, so ideally it’s best to discourage breeding and the parents will be healthier in the long run.
Thank you for asking Lafeber,
Brenda
