Breeding Budgerigars can have a huge fascination for most people.  It is seeing a young bird hatch from that small egg, growing over a 30 day period so that it is able to fly that makes people want to breed more and more.  Some just want to breed them, others want to breed particular colour and varieties.  To be sure, there is something for everyone when it comes to breeding Budgerigars.

Budgerigars can be bred in single cages - a cock and hen to a cage, or in groups within an aviary, which we call 'colony breeding'.  Be it a single cage or an aviary, hens nest in a small box with a hole either at the top or at the side.  The design of these boxes can vary, but a hen that wants to breed, will lay her eggs in any type of box.

A lot of fun is to be had from a colony of Budgerigars but unfortunately, there is likely to be some bickering especially between the hens and sometimes the birds can become aggressive towards each other.  Once a colony is fully established, the birds will usually be completely happy together.  As breeders become more serious about their breeding, they frequently decide to 'cage breed' so they can select their pairs to breed the colours they like and match birds of particular qualities for breeding show birds.

Budgerigars will usually lay their first egg within 14 days of pairing, they lay on alternate days until about 6-8 eggs are in the nest.  The hen usually starts to incubate once the second egg is laid and the incubation period is about 18 days.  It is obvious to see that chicks will hatch on alternate days.

Hens will need some additional food to the standard seed mixture while they are breeding.  Before they are paired, both cocks and hens appreciate what is called softfood or eggfood.  This is a high protein food that will help the growth of the chicks.  The parents need to be familiar with the food before chicks start to appear in the boxes.  In most cases, the hen will feed her chicks as soon as they hatch, unfortunately, some hens seem unable to know what they need to do and need the help of an older chick.

If you see a hen that does not seem to be feeding her chicks, place a chick that is about four or five days old in her nest and it will demand food - the hen soon learns what she must do.  Once she is feeding happily, the older chick can be removed so she can focus her efforts on her younger chicks in the box.

The box needs to be checked or inspected at least once a day. If anything appears to be going wrong, use good common sense to sort it out or if you are anxious that you might be doing the wrong thing – ring one of our experienced fanciers listed on our Help-Line. Our experts are always happy to help a new London & Southern Counties member.

Rings can be purchased through the society. These will have your society code number, a consecutive number for your records and the year. Each year the colour of the rings is different. You will receive an order form when you pay your subscription each year and the form should be sent to the Budgerigar Society office in Northampton. These rings, which are called “closed” rings, are placed on the leg of a chick when it is about 8 days old.

 Once the rings are on your chicks there always seems to be far less that can go wrong. At two and a half weeks it will be possible to see the colour of the youngsters. You will be amazed how quickly they grow and by 30 days they will be ready to leave the nest box. At this stage they love soaked millet sprays and these should be offered to encourage the young birds to feed themselves. After another week they will be happily feeding themselves and can be removed from the parents, leaving the pair to go to nest and produce another round of youngsters.

Suggested reading:

Cage & Aviary Birds – a weekly magazine available from newsagents or on subscription. Tel: 0845 676 7778 for details. Published by IPC Media