When deciding to breed your budgies there are a number of things to consider and decide on. One we will discuss here is the housing arrangements of your pairs during the breeding process. You will have to decide between 2 options: cage and colony breeding.
What are the differences between these 2 methods? Why do some choose one or the other? Are there any added dangers or disadvantages with either of these methods? Let's find out.
What Is Cage Breeding, And Why Do Ethical Breeders Use This Method?
Cage breeding is for individual pairings. With this method, you have one breeding pair for each breeding cage. They have their own nest box, food, water dishes and space.
This is the way that most ethical breeders choose to raise their budgies. It offers the most control over the breeding outcomes of each pair and prevents inbreeding if you have related birds.
This method also helps ensure the safety of your pairs and their chicks as much as possible and prevents pairs from splitting up mid clutch.
cageandcolony1.jpeg
cageandcolony1.jpeg
What Is Colony Breeding, And Why Do Some Use This Method?
Colony breeding involves having more than one male and female together in a cage or aviary, with one or more nest boxes available for breeding.
Most breeders that use this method already have a flight cage or aviary and do not want to take away some of this space for breeding cages or they do not want to spend the extra money needed to have individual breeding cages for each pair.
cageandcolony2.jpeg
cageandcolony2.jpeg
For many the idea of colony breeding is that budgies are not kept in separate cages in the wild, so why not keep them all together while in a captive setting in our homes? But it is important to actually think about this line of reasoning and realize that there are added dangers and problems that breeding one pair to a cage completely avoids.
The Added Dangers Of Colony Breeding
Limited Nesting Sites: Consider the fact that in the wild each pair has unlimited amounts of space and nesting choices. If a nest a pair finds is already taken by another pair they can fly as many miles as they would like to a different location and find one that suits them and their own personal preferences. In our homes with cages and aviaries, however, there are limited choices and therefore, a much higher level of competition.
Limited Space To Escape A Fight: Realize too that in the wild if there is a fight between two birds, they are not limited to where they can go to escape. In such amazingly large flocks, the odds of two birds being in contact regularly is slim at the very best when they don't get along. In our homes though, when two birds simply do not care for each other there is nowhere to go. They are forced to be in contact to a greater extent and during the breeding season when hormones and aggression run the highest it is a recipe for fighting.
Pairs Splitting Up, Or Odd Males And Females Causing Problems: With colony breeding, you also have the problem of pairs splitting up or odd males and females without a mate causing problems for bonded and breeding pairs. You can have even numbers of males and females, but it does not guarantee that all of them will bond and pair up as each budgie has its own desired personality in a mate. The odd ones who do not have mates will still desire one even if that means enticing the mate of another.
Abandonment Of A Current Clutch For A New One: A hen without a mate, because he has decided to bond with a different hen in the middle of raising their clutch, is going to have a very hard time raising her chicks. She and the chicks will be weaker as a result. A male or female without a mate will often be constantly harassing other females and males, picking fights and causing problems.
Nest Takeovers: Even if there are more nest boxes than pairs and they all seem the same to us, they are not all the same to them A hen will fight to the death for her chosen nest box if she sets her mind to it, regardless if it is already taken by another hen or filled with eggs and chicks. This often happens without warning, resulting in the injury or death of the hen and chicks/eggs.
Inbreeding Between Relatives: Budgies do not mate for life and are in no way monogamous. If given the chance in a colony breeding situation they can, and will, mate with multiple partners. Hens can easily lay eggs in another hens nest box and males can easily mate with as many hens as they are in contact with.
If you have any related birds in your flight/aviary regardless of who they technically pair up with, you have absolutely no way of knowing who the mother or father will be of any given chick.
It will only take a few generations of such poor breeding practices for genetic weaknesses and abnormalities to show up. The unavoidable shortened lifespan that comes with these weaknesses will catch up with all of the babies you produce by the colony breeding method.
In Conclusion: With all the problems that there already are associated with breeding budgies in a one pair to a cage situation, please carefully consider why you would want to add to the stress and problems by colony breeding. You can easily breed in individual cages and eliminate many of these problems completely.
Please consider this question carefully if you want to be an ethical and caring breeder, rather than someone who simply breeds with no concern for the well being of the birds themselves and their future generations.
