Hi,
It is best for you to either take down the nest boxes, or only have one pair of birds per cage. You can’t breed with all of those birds in the same cage. I understand they appear to be getting along right now. And there can be exceptions. But when the most likely scenario will involve birds getting injured or killed, it is always best to make the safe choice, rather than gamble on your birds being that rare exception. While you feel like Sky & Sunny are just being chaperones, what is actually going on is they are monitoring Rainbow to see what happens. And if Rainbow does lay eggs, Sky or Sunny will try to raid the nest box to destroy the eggs, and then you will see the fighting. With female budgies, the first fight is often fatal. A sweet, gentle budgie can turn vicious in a second, pin down a rival budgie – even one she has always gotten along with – and kill it in less than a minute! It is not safe for your adult birds, and it isn’t safe for the eggs. Even if they let her lay eggs and sit on them, they may end up raiding the nest when chicks hatch and kill the chicks. You have to understand that these are a wild, exotic species, even though they were captive raised. They have instincts that kick in once their hormones are triggered. And breeding budgies are very territorial. While they nest in colonies in the wild, there is plenty of separation – and they aren’t all locked in the same cage. And having two nest boxes is never good. If you only have one pair, a lot of times the hen will lay eggs in one box, and then decide to move to the other box and abandon the eggs. Please split these birds up, and have one pair & one nest box. Another issue that can happen is the male might mate with the other hens. If you end up with hens nesting in both boxes, but only one male, often none of the eggs make it. And again, most likely they will raid each other’s nest boxes and destroy any eggs or kill any chicks. Sometimes they kill feathered chicks once they leave the box. Each bird wants their own offspring to survive, and killing other chicks makes it more likely their chicks will do well. This is not a situation where you can wait and see, because what you most likely will end up seeing is a dead budgie. As for when will a hen lay eggs, going in a nest box doesn’t necessarily mean she will lay and mating does not have to result in eggs. Rainbow may not lay eggs as long as there are other budgies in the cage, because her instincts tell her that she doesn’t have a safe nesting place.
Thank you for asking Lafeber,
Brenda
