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Question:

July 12, 2022

Male budgie is breaking eggs..?


There is only 1 pair in the cage. Just the 2 of them. However the male keeps breaking the egg and eating the egg yolk. Why is he doing this? Is it some kind of a habit? I found that it could be a calcium deficiency but he has got a cuttlebone.


Answer:

Hi,

This is usually a bad habit that starts when a young bird is paired up for breeding too soon. Budgies should be about 2 years old before you pair them and let them breed. They are capable of breeding at a younger age, but that doesn’t mean they should be allowed to breed when they are younger. Most novice bird breeders do not understand this. So if your birds are younger than 2, then this is likely why he started this. A young male is still playful, and breaking eggs probably starts with playing with them and accidentally breaking one. That often leads to eating them, and at that point, the bird is generally ruined for breeding because he is unlikely to ever stop this bad habit. Nutrition could play a part. A breeding pair should be fed a nutritionally balanced diet like pellets or our foraging diets – a seed mix will not provide the nutrition they need. You should also offer dark leafy greens, veggies and some fruit. When a pair is set up for breeding, they also need an egg food – a commercial dry egg food or cooked eggs with the shell washed, crushed and cooked with the egg. This is fed from the time you hang the nest box until all chicks are weaned.

If the birds are over 2, and they are on the right diet, then it is just bad luck. Some birds simply never make good breeders. It is very important that you remove the nest box and rest a pair for 6 months after each clutch – even when he eats the eggs. It takes a toll on the hen’s health each time she lays eggs – it uses up a lot of her calcium and protein, plus the physical strain of laying each egg. In the wild, they only breed once a year, so it really isn’t natural for her to lay eggs more than once a year. Since we do provide an ideal environment and a good diet, with rest you can allow 2 clutches per year with the rest in between. The nest box should never be left on the cage year round.

I don’t know how many clutches they have had, that he has eaten, or if they have been rested. I would remove the nest box and rest them for 6 months. Then let them try again. If he still eats the eggs, then this pair should not be bred again. It’s not good for the hen to go through the process of forming and laying eggs if he is just going to eat them every time.

Thank you for asking Lafeber,

Brenda

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