Budgie breeding

Budgerigars may be bred from after they are nine months old. For practical purposes this means that birds bred one season may be used for breeding the next.

Although budgerigars will breed at almost any time of the year, the beginner is well advised to let his birds start to breed in March or April and stop them in August.

There are many advantages in this. The birds have the best of the weather in which to rear their young and the long daylight hours will ensure that the nestlings will get plenty of feeding. Moreover, green food-a necessary adjunct when young are in the nest - is plentiful during the spring and summer and practically non-existent in the winter.

There is also less danger of egg-binding with the hens in, the warm weather. Single pairs kept on their own will frequently not go to nest. The reason is that budgerigars are gregarious birds by nature and in a wild state nest in colonies many hundreds strong.

If, therefore, you have a single pair which will not breed, try introducing another pair, or, if the cage is too small for more than one pair, put the newcomers in another cage where they can be seen and heard by the others. This will usually do the trick and both pairs will go to nest.

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