Hi,
Birds do not get pregnant. Mating does not have to result in eggs. The female can lay eggs with or without a male, but of course they can only be fertile if she successfully mates with a male. However, some pairs will mate repeatedly and the female never lays eggs. If she does end up laying eggs, each egg takes 48 hours to form and be laid. She will never be full of eggs – one egg forms and she lays it, then the next egg starts to form. She would lay 4-6 eggs with a day between each egg. The pair may continue to mate in between eggs being laid. The pair must remain together because both birds help sit on the eggs and care for the chicks. It is your responsibility to keep her from breeding too many times a year. The nest box should always be removed once the chicks leave the box or if the eggs fail to hatch. You then rest the pair for 6 months before returning the box to them. If she lays eggs this time, do not get your hopes too high. Most first clutches will fail. The parents are still learning and they tend to mess up incubation or not feed the chicks. You mentioned they were together a year, but they need to be 2 years old before you give them a nest box and let them breed. Younger birds tend to not be interested in sitting on the eggs and they often develop bad habits that ruin them for ever being good breeders. Young females under 2 years old are at a much higher risk of becoming egg bound or suffering other issues related to laying eggs. Breeding birds need a healthy diet like pellets – a seed diet will not provide the nutrition they need. You should also offer leafy greens and chopped veggies and they need a cuttlebone. If the female starts to go in and out of the nest box, start feeding her an egg food daily – cook an egg with the shell washed, crushed and cooked with the egg.
Thank you for asking Lafeber,
Brenda
