The Biggest Breeding Mistakes. Will You Make Them?
Are you new to breeding budgies? Or perhaps you have some experience in this hobby, but there are still a number of problems you are experiencing?
Each year I read about countless problems that could easily be avoided when breeding budgies, and thousands of chicks and birds are needlessly lost because of the lack of basic knowledge regarding common yet avoidable breeding mistakes.
Here I will cover the most common mistakes I regularly see, as well as how you can avoid them if at all possible.
Mistakes Regarding Selecting And Setting Up A Pair
Breeding With An Immature Or Aged Pair
The same is true of budgies as it is with any living creature. If you breed immature or old birds, the odds are much higher of problems all around. By breeding birds outside of the ideal age range of 1-4 years for hens, and 1-5 years for cocks, you have much higher chances of the following problems:
Abandonment of eggs and or chicks Infertility Malnutrition in the chicks Weight loss in the parents Increased chances of bacterial and viral infections
Breeding With Newly Acquired Birds
Failing To Take The Personality Of Your Birds Into Account
Mistakes Regarding A Breeding Set Up And Routine
Colony Breeding
Every single day I see people on Facebook and bird forums reporting the poor results from using this method. No matter how many nest boxes vs pairs you provide and no matter how much you "keep an eye on them" you are creating stress on the pairs that they don't need at this time. Eventually there will be that rogue hen or pair that raids nests, or attacks other pairs and kills chicks.
Using Breeding Cages That Are Too Small
Failure To Have Enough Additional Cages
Poor Nest Choices
Without a safe and secure place to nest, you could easily have eggs or chicks fall out of the nest. Examples of very poor nesting choices include:
Square Nest Boxes Cozy Corners Coconut Huts Cardboard Nests Cage Bottoms Any Area In Your Home Not Within A Cage
Failure To Develop A Good Routine With Your Pair
Poor Nest Box Sanitation Practices
Allowing Your pair To Have Repeated Clutches Without A Break
Giving Your Pair A Nest Box Before They Are In Condition
Failure To Provide A Adequate Conditioning Diet
Not providing enough calcilm and vit d during conditioning for a number of weeks before egg laying. cuttlebone is not enough
Mistakes when breeding outdoors
Lack Of Hand Feeding Supplies And Experience
The Inability To Foster Chicks Or Eggs To Another Pair
A Lack Of
Not being ready to hand feed or foster. Do you have the schedule to hand feed? Not having funds for an emergency Egg bound, prolapse It worries me when individuals aren't even sure of a budgie's sex yet want to breed it.
Failure To Recognize Common Signs Of Aggression
When Aggression Occurs, You Remove The Cock Rather Than The Hen
Attempting To Help A Chick To Hatch
Stepping In To Feed A Newly Hatched Chick Too Soon
Leaving The Hen With The Chicks Past The 3 Week Age Mark
Failure To Realize The Common Signs Of Egg Binding
Failure To Recognize The Early Signs Of Splayed Legs
Misc Mistakes
Buying a male and female. putting a box in and thinking everything will work out
Failure To Quarantine
I see people buying birds and putting them into a breeding cage that same day without knowing if they are healthy or rested enough to be raising chicks.
Failure To Condition For At Least 3-4 Weeks
Providing A Poor Breeding Diet
Not feeding fresh food like veggies, greens, sprouts. Not providing enough protein
Not providing bedding. Although bedding isn't a necessity it does help to keep the eggs and chicks clean, prevent eggs from rolling around and becoming addled and prevent splayed legs. I've found that with hens that won't tolerate shavings, a finer bedding like rolled oats added just a little each day works well.
Not keeping the humidity up resulting in dried out eggs
Not keeping the nest boxes clean. Lots of pics posted of chicks laying in their own filth. Keeping a spare nest box on hand is helpful when the box needs a clean, you can just swap them.
Either fussing over the pairs too much or not checking them enough. A visual check twice a day until the chicks are old enough to be handled and then each chick should be picked up and checked over daily.
Touching eggs unnecessarily or "helping" hatching chicks. No.
Not candling eggs and then wondering why they haven't hatched when the clutch was infertile
Not resting pairs.
Not providing sturdy perches or trimming vents when having trouble with infertile eggs
Not changing food and water often enough. Breeding pairs need a lot if both and it needs to be fresh.
Not adding millet to the nest box for older chicks to learn to crack seed. Some breeders will also pour a small amount of seed straight into the (clean) box for chicks 3 weeks and older
Releasing newly fledged babies into adult flights
Selling babies too soon
Breeding birds without a parasite program in place (ivermectin prior to box etc). I've seen pics of parents with visable scaleyface
Continuing to breed birds after heavy chick fatalities that are most likely virus related
Breeding and selling birds with French moult as "runners"
Not being prepared to hand feed before you even put the pairs together
