My budgie laid an egg !

More "shocking" news of my budgerigar parakeets!

I did some research on budgie breeding, and I thought they wouldn't have laid any egg for at least another ten days after I caught them mating on camera. Guess I was so wrong (perhaps they started mating way earlier than I first caught them doing it).

Just yesterday the female spent most of her time inside the little birdie house (the nest) in the cage. This morning (1/29/2014) I went to check on them and an egg was already there inside the entrance of the nest.

Check out the following photos.

Photo #1 - You can see the budgie egg right inside the nest entrance.



Photo #2 - A closer look at the budgie egg from outside the nest entrance. You can also see the tail feather of the female budgie who was inside the nest at the time.



Photo #3 - The female budgie is looking at her first egg.


From what I have heard, there will be one new egg every 2 days or so. Lets see how many eggs my budgie will lay. Hopefully they are all fertile.

I just saw your mating footage and now you have an egg! Superb and exciting! So in a little less than 3 weeks you should have a wee budgie or possibly more. Since your budgies have been naughty behind your back, I think it is safe to assume that they will continue and you will have a fair amount of eggs! Hopefully most will be viable! Crossing fingers for you!

Did you plan on breeding them when you got them or did this just kinda happen?

Can't wait for the next few weeks to pass! Looks like we need to send baby budgie gifts! Congrats on the first egg

When I bought my budgies, I was planning on breeding them. It was the reason I got the little birdie house for them. Without the nest, they wouldn't breed at all. However, soon after I got them I realized the cock was just a baby because of his pink nose and strips on the head. The female was once in breeding mood a few months ago but the cock was too young to care. Now with the cock just matured a month ago, I did not expect them to start breeding so soon. I know many budgie keepers recommend not to breed them until they are one year old. At least the female is at least ten months old now, since it takes six months for a budgie to mature and I have got them 4 months ago. Hopefully the hen will be a responsible mother.

Breeding these budgies was just one of the two things I had in mind before I got them. I hoped to teach them to talk first (Yes, budgies can be trained to talk). Once again, I made a mistake. After I got them I had realized it was not possible to teach them to talk with two budgies in the same cage. With more than one budgie in the same cage, they bond with each other and rarely pay attention to the human owner. I should have got the male budgie first and teach him to talk, before get a female to breed with him.

This is a lesson to all pet keepers = It is a better idea to do the research before getting the pets.

Just some simple updates for the budgie breeding.

On 1/31/2014 (two days after the first egg), the second egg was laid.
On 2/2/2014 (four days after the first egg), there are total three eggs now.

The hen is now spending 99% the time sitting inside the nest. The cock seems to be feeding her. She only came out of the nest to eat the fresh vegetable I put in the cage.

Due to the structure of the nest, it is not very easy to see the eggs from the outside when the hen is sitting on them. I was only able to count the eggs during her feast on the veggie.

Looking at your dates there Thor, you should have some sweet little Budgie babies around Valentines Day!! How romantic for your little Budgie family! **giggles**

Most sources for budgies say it take anywhere from 17~21 days, or 18~23 days (after the first egg was laid) for the first egg to hatch. So lets take the average middle number of around 20 days? Either way it will be after Valentines day. My guess is that it will be around 2/18/2014 before I can see the first chick. Or maybe I will only be able to hear it since the nest box structure isn't the best for the view.

I am not in a hurry. Some eggs might not even be fertile as most budgie articles say. I'll be happy enough to have 2~3 new budgies from this batch. Maybe it is time for me to get a new cage for them.

Very interesting development. Congratulations!

I had some budgies many years ago. None of them laid any egg due to there was no nest available in the cage. Did you do anything to get them into breeding mood for example better food, artificial rainfall, warmer temperature?

If I were you, I'd get a nest with removable side or top for easier view.

By the way, what's up with the two entrances on the nest box? It looks weird.

I did not do anything special for them. Just the usual food items which consist of the mixed seeds and fresh veggie every day. A piece of cuttle bone and a mineral rock are always available in the cage. Same old room temperature. No water spray either.

I wish to get a nest box with one side using the same material as the police station suspects showing room. You can see everything from the outside, but they can't see you from the inside.

The nest box had two holes to begin with. The one at the upper left was designed as the entrance for the budgies. The other one with the rotatable door was designed for me to see the inside whenever I want to. As you can see, it didn't work out as planned. The hen has decided that she want to use the second entrance. I gave up after repeatedly shut the second entrance. She just kept opening it with her beak. The nest box is also not so pretty due to all the "modifications" by the two budgies.

What exactly seeds do you have in the mix?

Where did you get the cuttlebone and mineral rock? Are they safe for birds?

I am just curious, because I have never gone to such length for my budgies when I had them in the past. Internet was not so available during my childhood. Very little information could be found so easily. Your experience is making me want to start all over again to duplicate your success with these beautiful parakeets.

First of all, I am not a budgie expert yet. What I do might not be the most recommended.

I use two different seeds mix.
As you can see in this thread, there are 4 food cups in the cage. I use the upper left one for water, and the two cups at the bottom for food.

In one of the two cups, I often uses Dr. Harvey's Our Best Parakeet Food. On the label it says: 11 seeds, 9 nuts, 9 vegetables, and 5 fruits. I have to point it out that my budgies ignore most of the dried fruit in there.

In the other cup at the bottom, I use my own mixture:
40% millet,
10% canary seeds,
10% hulled oat,
10% sesame seeds,
10% cracked corn,
20% some mixture of random veggie seeds I bought online.

For the cuttlebone, you can find them here. Do not forget a cuttlebone holder.

I use the small sized mineral block.

Update on 2/16/2014

I can confirm there are at least 5 eggs in the budgie nest box. The hen has been sitting in the nest all day except occasionally coming out for a quick poop and snack. The cock has been feeding her all day. I was almost going to praise the male budgie for being a good daddy, but he blew it by trying to mate with the female every time she leave the nest. A few times she tried to take a bite at the fresh veggie I put in there, but his eager always forced her to retreat back into the nest immediately. For the fear of not eating enough for the female, I have dumped a teaspoon of millet inside the nest for her. He was eating faster than her while he had all the food in the cups.

Yesterday, the hen pushed one of the eggs out of the nest. It was found at the bottom of the bird cage and slightly broken. I had no choice but to carefully take the broken egg apart, and I found a lifeless chick inside. I didn't know for sure if the chick was dead, so I placed it back into the nest. This morning I found the same chick at the bottom of the cage again. It must be pushed out by the hen again. It was still lifeless as before. Poor little thing. No idea what really had happened, maybe somehow the chick died before it could hatch and the hen sensed it and pushed the egg out.

However, since yesterday afternoon the hen has been acting unusual. She spent a lot of time outside the nest, and when she is inside the nest she doesn't really sit on the eggs any more. I am afraid the eggs might die if they are not kept warm. On the other hand, it has been 23~24 days since the hen had been sitting on the eggs. I thought the eggs should have hatched if nothing had gone wrong.

Do we have any chick yet? I am still waiting for some updates. They are long overdue.

The budgies do not exactly get the manual on "how to breed". Although they have some kind of instinct from maybe the genetic memory, they have to figure it out themselves on small details. Some of them might be able to do it right the very first time, some others will have to learn from their own experience and it might take several tries before they can successfully breed.

If the eggs won't hatch, from what I heard you can just remove them and the hen will lay another batch pretty soon. Maybe better luck with the next batch?

No chick at all at this point. Total two out of the first five eggs were pushed out of the nest by the hen. At one point the hen was not in the nest at all for about two days before she returned to the eggs. I was going to let the remaining 3 eggs stay for a few more days before I remove them. Then the hen laid 3 new eggs on the top of the last batch. Now she is sitting on the eggs again. Since I can't tell which ones are from the last batch,I am going to leave all 6 eggs in there. Hopefully I can get some new chicks soon.

Some very late updates.

No egg has ever hatched. Yesterday I found all the remaining 5 eggs (the hen laid some more eggs) were pushed out of the nest by the cock. I was surprised to see him doing it. I always thought it was the hen who pushed the "expired" eggs out. The cock might be frustrated to see the hen staying in the nest for months and left him alone outside. Only 1 out of the 5 eggs had a lifeless chick in there.

I have just removed the nest from the cage this morning. The hen needs some rest after all the sitting in the last a few months.

I might try to breed them again in a month or two.

Oh, that is too bad that it did not work out for you. Has this pair ever had any chicks before?

I have a pair of parakeets myself and I have never witnessed them mating. I do not think the hen wants to be seen doing it. Every time the male is clearly in the mood but there are people in the room she first ignores him, then pushes him away if he persists. I think they have done it at some point thought because he is not at all as desperate as he was at first. I don't know if the hen will ever lay an egg though. I have never given them any nesting materials or box to make a nest if they did, so I don't think any egg that might come would be able to survive.

Good luck next time, I hope you can get some chicks.

It has been a while since the last failure.

About two weeks ago I have put the nest back into the cage. I thought she had properly rested since the last time. It was half a year ago.

The hen was immediately interested and she was checking out the nest. Two days later she started sitting in the nest all day. Less than a week later I saw one egg in it. Now there are at least 3 eggs from what I can see. Hopefully we will see some chicks growing up nicely this time.

It really is up to the budgies. I can only provide them with food, water, veggie, mineral rock, etc. The rest is all up to the couple.

Good luck this time. I hope they can raise a family. That must be frustrating for the birds too if they have tried and tried and not been able to have any successfully.

It didn't work. The hen is sitting on the third batch of eggs now. The first two batches were pushed out of the nest by herself. I have no idea what went wrong. Maybe the eggs weren't fertilized and she got rid of them after it's been too long. If it still doesn't work, I will remove the nest and let her get a few months of good rest before try again.

Hi i like your post. What happens with your budgies?

(05-05-2015, 11:44 PM)Dimo Nedyalkov Wrote: Hi i like your post. What happens with your budgies?

After they pushed the fourth batch of eggs out of the nest, I removed the nest from the cage. During the final days before she pushed out the fourth batch, she looked extremely tired, and she couldn't keep her eyes open most of the time. It was too much stress for the hen. She needs a good rest of at least several months before try it again. I am thinking about this fall. Maybe in September.

Since you stated that it might be too early for the birds to have an egg so soon after mating, unless they have mated previously without you knowing it, I want to mention that adult female budgies can lay eggs without ever having mated. The difference is that the egg won't be fertile. I had a cockatiel once who did the same thing, and she wouldn't have anything to do with the male who lived with her. If we took her infertile eggs away from her she would simply lay another clutch until she got 'motherhood' out of her system. If you can get your hand in there without getting pecked, you could gently grab that egg and 'candle' it, by holding it up to a bright light. If there are stripes of veins on the inside, the egg is fertile. If it's just a blob, or you see nothing at all, the egg is infertile. Also, you mentioned that the male is eager to mate every time the female emerges from the nest... perhaps he should be removed from their living quarters and placed 'next door' in another cage, during the duration of this process. Also, eggs require a certain amount of moisture in order to hatch live chicks, so if the female isn't getting enough water to bathe in, her skin may be too dry and that could have a detrimental effect on the eggs. Even a gentle misting every so often from a water bottle would probably help as long as the nest isn't completely saturated. And of course, give her time, as all good things come to those who wait. Make sure she's well fed, well watered and can bathe at will and also, make sure that she is warm enough. Temperature is extremely important when hatching eggs, and budgies are exotics so they need warmth. If she's getting a draft from somewhere, move the cage or nesting box to another location. Practice makes perfect, both for the pet and for the pet owner as well, so remove all 'obstacles' and keep trying. Good luck.

Some of the budgie eggs were definitely fertilized. They were mating many times before the eggs were even laid. More importantly, there were dead chicks pushed out of the nest. On some other occasions, the hen just pushed the eggs out. I checked the broken eggs, and there were dead chicks inside too. Whatever caused the problem was either their inexperience, or external facts such as weather and/or the noises. One batch of eggs were pushed out of the nest during New Year's Eve. No thanks to the firecrackers...

Anyway, I can no longer try it any more. The male budgie just escaped a week ago. The hen won't be able to get any chicks without a male friend.