Breeding condition is a change in a bird's body to prepare for reproducing. When your budgies are in breeding condition they are primed and ready to raise their chicks. They are at peak fertility and have the optimal hormone levels to carry out raising a family from start to finish. These hormone levels are ideal for egg development, fertilization and parenting drives for raising the resulting chicks to be healthy confident adults.
This page will help you to know why breeding condition is important, how you can tell when your pair is out, coming in, and in condition and how you can encourage them to come into condition
Why Condition Before Breeding?
In the wild budgies naturally come into breeding condition at optimal times during the year when the conditions are best for it. At these times, there are increased light hours for finding food and water, a greater supply of fresh food and they have just finished with their seasonal molts.
You can attempt to breed your pair outside of this ideal time, but the results will always be better if you work with their natural body cycles. You will then also have less of the common breeding problems that often come up.
Common problems that result from a pair not being in condition: Lack of breeding motivation in your pair Irregular laying cycles Infertile eggs Abandoned eggs Poorly fed chicks Abandoned chicks
Because hormones play a role in successful breeding drive all of the things mentioned above are more likely to happen with an out of condition pair. The change of your pairs cere and behavior is an outward sign of the inward change in them. If you want them to breed as successfully as possible then you need to work with their natural cycles during the time they are in condition.
Is Your Pair In Breeding Condition?
As was mentioned, the cere and behavior are the best indicators. Here are some things to look for in both your male and female to judge when they are in, out, and coming into breeding condition.
Identifying Breeding Condition In Males
The vast majority of males have a blue cere at maturity. When a male with this color cere is not in breeding condition he will look like the pictures above with a lighter blue and uneven color to the cere.
When out of condition, males have a much lower fertility rate.
Here are examples of males (with a blue cere at maturity) who are not in breeding condition:
breedingcondition1.jpeg
breedingcondition1.jpeg
Males in breeding condition will have the deep blue, shiny and even tone to their cere. This is what you are looking for when your male is ready to breed.
Here are a number of examples of males (with a blue cere at maturity) in breeding condition:
breedingcondition2.jpeg
breedingconditon2.jpeg
Male dark eyed clears, recessive pieds, lacewings, fallows and inos when out of condition will usually have a more dull pink cere with a lighter color of blue or white around the nostrils.
When out of condition these males have a much lower fertility rate and lower breeding drive.
Here are a number of examples of males (with a pink cere at maturity) not in breeding condition:
breedingconditon3.jpeg
breedingconditon3.jpeg
Male dark eyed clears, recessive pieds, lacewings, fallows and inos when in breeding condition will have a much more even and deep pink/purple to the cere in general especially around the nostrils, much like the color they had as young chicks before their first molt.
This is the ideal condition in which to breed them with the best success and fertility.
Here are examples of males (with a pink cere at maturity) who are in breeding condition:
breedingcondition4.jpeg
breedingcondition4.jpeg
Behavior To Look For In Males: He will become more vocal. He will flirt and sing to anyone or anything that will listen, trying his best to impress potential mates and stand out over other males. His cere will change from a light uneven color of blue or pink to a deep, even bright blue or pink in color depending on the mutation.
Identifying Breeding Condition In Females
A female who is not in condition will have a white/blue color to her cere like in the pictures below.
This is the least fertile time to try and breed your female as far as hormone levels in a healthy hen.
Examples of females not in breeding condition:
breedingcondition5.jpeg
breedingcondition5.jpeg
When a female starts to come into condition the white/brown color begins to turn into a light tan cream color.
This is when it is best to set your pair up in their breeding cage. By the time they are fully in condition and receive a nest box, they will be settled and ready to lay.
Examples of females beginning to come into breeding condition:
breedingcondition6.jpeg
breedingcondition6.jpeg
Above are females in breeding condition. This is when you want to introduce the nest box and encourage egg laying.
By this time, the pair should be well bonded and mating after spending a couple of weeks together in the breeding cage.
Examples of females in peak breeding condition:
breedingcondition7.jpeg
breedingcondition7.jpeg
Behavior to look for in females: She will often become more dominant and aggressive in general and especially towards other females. She will start chewing just about everything in sight like perches, toys, cuttlebone, mineral block etc. She will flirt with males, become more vocal and start searching out potential nesting spots. Her cere will change from blue/white to a deep tan.
How Can You Encourage Breeding Condition?
Provide A Higher Protein And Fat Diet: In the wild, the weather and the food supply it brings has a huge effect on breeding! Australia is normally very dry and finding enough food is very difficult for them during the dry seasons. When there is the greatest amount of food during the wet seasons is when budgies naturally begin to breed.
High protein and fat foods will encourage breeding condition. You will also want to increase their calcium intake with cuttlebones, mineral blocks and liquid calcium.
Some examples of high protein foods I like to feed:
Hard boiled eggs.
Legumes.
Couscous.
Brown rice.
Quinoa.
Wheat germ
breedingcondition8.jpeg
breedingcondition8.jpeg
Increase Daylight Hours: Increase daylight hours from 8-10 to 12-14. The more sunlight they can get the better for them since a hen produces vitamin D from natural sunlight which is needed to absorb calcium and prevent egg binding.
If your pair does not get at least 30 minutes of direct sunlight a day you may want to consider a supplement that will help compensate for this deficiency.
Have More Than One Pair: Budgies are flock animals. In the wild, they breed within hearing distance of other budgies. Not only is it a protection with more budgies to keep a look out for predators but it also provides competition which spurs on the pair.
If you do not have other pairs to provide this stimulation then the best alternative would be a T.V or radio playing to mimic the sound of a flock. Silence for a budgie means danger so making them feel secure with lots of background noise will increase their motivation to breed.
Lastly Provide A Nest Box: Once you are seeing signs that your pair is actively in breeding condition they are ready for you to introduce a nest box.
Adding some shavings for the female to kick out and arrange in the box will trigger her nesting instincts. I like to add some spray millet in the box so the hen has something to eat during the long hours she spends in the box incubating and feeding the chicks as well.
If your pair is fully conditioned and bonded you can expect eggs (hopefully fertile!) to be laid 7-14 days later.
