Breeding two tame parakeets

Green4

New member
Oct 28, 2012
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Hi guys I'm new here and I'm looking for some help.
I've had both my parakeets for 16 months now. A green male and a yellow female. They are both very tame. They live a cage exactly like this.
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I take them out every day to play on their play gym. I'm planing on breeding them. I know it's frowned upon but I would like the experience. I have bred finches and hand raised baby finches that were just two days old until they were able to eat seeds; so i know how to hand feed and the huge responsibility that comes with it.

As of right now, the male cere is really blue and the female cere is a crusty brown. I have mineral block, cuttlebone, and feeding the seeds with parakeet pellets, kale, lettuce, and mellet as treats. They get 14 hours of light a day.

The male keeps bobbing his head around the female and he jumps from purch to purch back and forth around her. But she is just ignoring him. They are bonded because they preen each other everyday, "kiss" and socialize very well. There are two nest boxes for them to choose; both lined with shredded paper towels. They have not gone in the nest boxes as yet.

My questions are:
how to get her to be interested in him?
Can I still interact with them while breeding?
Is the cage too big or should I another cage; one that is smaller?
Any tips?
Thank you guys very much.:greenyellow:
 
Last edited:

IcyWolf

New member
Jul 5, 2011
1,542
3
Etters, Pa
Parrots
~Alexandrine Parakeet~2 Red Lored Amazons~Blue Fronted Amazon~Black capped conure~4 Green Cheeks~4 Parrotlets~2 lineolated parakeets~9 American budgies~9 English budgies~ And lots of babies :)
I breed and handraise both american and english budgies. I have never paired up a pair of tame birds before though. Generally speaking tame birds that start breeding don't remain tame or they stay tame but do not want to breed. When I hold back birds for breeding I hand feed them but we don't give them the socialization we do with the birds destined to be pets. That being said, there are ways to encourage them to breed just be aware that you may loose them as pets. They may still stay friendly but be aware that thhey may no longer tolerate handling.

We keep aspen shavings in all of our nestboxes, I wouldn't use paper towels as they aren't as absorbant and will quickly become soiled which can cause your eggs to soil and not hatch. Also, fourteen hours of daylight is a bit much, I would knock them back to ten or twelve. The next thing to try is adding hemp seeds to their food, if I have a pair that isn't breeding on their own that is what we give them and it always seems to "put them in the mood". The size of the cage is fine but I think I know what your problem with them is. You really need to stop handling them if you want them to breed. Give them some privacy and leave them in their cage. This includes while they have eggs and babies. Once you pull the babies it is fine to try and handle them again but they need to get into baby mode and that's not going to happen if you are taking them out of their cage every day. If you try all of that and still don't have any babies I would suggest getting a second pair. With a lot of birds they need to hear other birds of the same species in order to induce breeding. I've never heard of that problem with budgies but it is very true with some other species, like parrotlets for example. I really really doubt it will come down to needing another pair though. I think if you just give them some alone time and privacy you will have babies in no time, just be sure that your pair are not in any way possibly related. Good luck and if you ever have any questions feel free to message me :)
 
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Green4

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Oct 28, 2012
6
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Thank you very much for the advice.
I will give them their privacy. And buy aspen shavings and hemp seeds. I'll keep you posted on how they are doing. Once again, thank you.
 

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