The mother budgie has layed 6 eggs. She occasionally comes out of the nest box to eat. Usually the male feeds her.
When the eggs hatch, can we remove the father from the cage (to let it mate with another female)?
Hi Kaberi,
No, it doesn’t work this way with birds. Budgies, like most bird species, mate for life. Both male and female help incubate the eggs and care for the chicks. In some cases they take turns sitting on the eggs, and sometimes the male helps the female by feeding her, like her mate is doing. If you took him out, his only concern would be to return to his mate and eggs or chicks. He will not have any interest in a new mate unless his current mate dies. If you tried to put him in with another female, he very likely would attack and kill her. If not, he would ignore her and call to his mate. As to his mate, she would most likely abandon the eggs, or even abandon her chicks without her mate to help care for them and protect them. You will need a new male to put with the other female, and hopefully they will bond. They must be in a separate cage! You can only have one pair of birds in a cage for breeding. If these eggs hatch and the chicks survive, you need to take the nest box down as soon as the chicks leave it. The pair should be rested for 6 months before you let them breed again. You can’t put them with different mates then, either. Each pair should be limited to 2 clutches per year, with a rest in between. In the wild they would only have one clutch per year.
Thank you for asking Lafeber,
Brenda
