Wanting to breed

[imbadatmakingusernames]

Agh! Okay, so heres my situation:
I recently started to think to breed my budgies as a way to learn more about raising birds (I'd like to become a bird breeder). I have two bonded parakeets, and after I saw the male begin to try mate with her "I said why not? Also, I'd like to try hand rear the babies so I can finally have a tame bird.

There is a list of things that I'm getting on Saturday: The nest box, mineral block, bedding items. (already have the cuttlebone, millet, space)

Is there anything else I should get? I also read that you should have more than one pair of budgies, is this true?

And any tips and advice would be great!

I think I would have the egg binding possibility under control, as I have an avian specialist 2 miles away.

 

[cassiepengo]

hey!
okay, so i know zero about breeding birds, so i found these, you would have seenit already, but still, and they are the most informative ones i found, so here
http://www.google.co.in/url?sa=t&rc...aU30o5shuCrzp6vlMBmBYoA&bvm=bv.58187178,d.aGc
http://www.google.co.in/url?sa=t&rc...axs7wiVD_l-T4ve0NOTHjfQ&bvm=bv.58187178,d.aGc

PS. cute user name!! your not really bad at it

 

[gizzygirl]

IF you haven't already, I would think long and hard about this. I am not a breeder but I've heard it's not all it's cracked up to be. I had also thought "why not, it should be fun and cute! " and while that is true it is also a ton of work. They also may never breed. I've heard some that were bonded but never produced babies. I would recommend talking to some good breeders before making this life long commitment just to make sure you're aware of everything and still want to proceed with breeding. Good luck

 

[crimson]

my first bird I ever hand fed was 6 weeks old, and I damn near choked him to death....

sure you can get a nesting box, and the external things a breeding pair requires, but what about the internal things it requires prior to nesting.

adequate/superior nutrition(for months even before mating)
iodine(aids with their thyroid)
calcium
vitamin A
vitamin D
protein

I've only touched the surface for the nutritional requirements in order to breed.

It's a very rewarding experience, there is something to be said for watching a wee baby grown up right in front of ones eyes, but NEVER forget YOU are responsible to raise that chick, and you need to know/learn everything you can prior to raising a chick.

had my bird been any younger, I surely would have aspirated it and it would have died.

I realized then, there was WAY more to hand feeding, so I researched like crazy, drove everyone NUTS asking a million questions.
Hand feeding is a skill, and needs to be learned with 100% accuracy, without fail.

should you decide to try this, please research this extensively before you put a chicks life in your hands.

 

[imbadatmakingusernames]

my first bird I ever hand fed was 6 weeks old, and I damn near choked him to death....

sure you can get a nesting box, and the external things a breeding pair requires, but what about the internal things it requires prior to nesting.

adequate/superior nutrition(for months even before mating)
iodine(aids with their thyroid)
calcium
vitamin A
vitamin D
protein

I've only touched the surface for the nutritional requirements in order to breed.

It's a very rewarding experience, there is something to be said for watching a wee baby grown up right in front of ones eyes, but NEVER forget YOU are responsible to raise that chick, and you need to know/learn everything you can prior to raising a chick.

had my bird been any younger, I surely would have aspirated it and it would have died.

I realized then, there was WAY more to hand feeding, so I researched like crazy, drove everyone NUTS asking a million questions.
Hand feeding is a skill, and needs to be learned with 100% accuracy, without fail.

should you decide to try this, please research this extensively before you put a chicks life in your hands.

Those are really, really good points. Making me wonder if I could help assist the parents raise them, instead of entirely raising them myself...until the chicks are in danger from their parents (not being fed ect)

 

[cassiepengo]

i think you will do fine.
but you might wanna ask yourself if you really want to do this. its not really that easy. and you need to know baby birds are very delicate. one wrong move, and you'll lose them. dont do this unless you are sure you have the time and patience to do this.

 

[MikeyTN]

crimson pretty much covered the breeding part. But I would like to add something. Yes a single pair of Budgies can raise chicks on their own. But do watch out for the brooding female as some are husband killers. I've lost several males in the past due to the female killing them. When that happens you'd be forced to hand raise the babies regardless. It is a very tiring process to go through, even worse if they're really young. Do you have the time and patience to do so? Are you willing to give up your social life and everything? Cause that's what it would take for you to raise them. If you can't, then I would not suggest it. By hand feeding chicks on your own does not mean they will bond with you, I've had many babies the moment they meet their new family, I don't exist to them what so ever. They leave me immediately.

 

[sonja]

Also consider that you will be adding to the over population of pet birds. Maybe things are different in Hawaii, but most places in the US have rescues bursting at the seems with unwanted birds, and sadly, parakeets are considered by many people to be "disposable" pets.

 

[LovebirdLover]

Parakeets are one of the easiest birds to breed. You dont even have to try honestly they just do it even without a nesting box. My did at least they layed it right on the ground. It was dirty down there so i installed some nesting boxes. I am currently handrearing the one clutch she had. she had 6 babies!!!.Day 1 was a success i think. They were abuot 2-3 and a half week old. I think taking them out at 3 weeks is good so you would not need a heat source especially if they are laying right next each other for body warmth. Egg binding is easy to avoid i think since i never encountered it. I feed them fresh eggs lettus and brocolli and have a cuttle bone and the one pineapple shaped one forgot what it was called. If you have any other questions please message me i would like to help. Thanks and good luck!

 

[LovebirdLover]

Oh and breeding parakeets in colonies is easier i think but can surely done in seperate cages (2 in 1 cage) Just make sure its big enough. These bird breed like crazy. I started with 2 pairs and i have over 20+ babies. I dont really encourage breeding but they do it whenver they want lol. My cage is getting huge and its looking quite nice with a variety of colors

 

[MikeyTN]

Breeding is not as simple as that! When you have multiple pairs, things can happen! Parents throwing out their chicks, lucky to have them toss out instead of killed cause that does happen. The females killing the males, they're known to be black widows. Breeding is NOT about just putting pairs together and expect or let them breed. You HAVE to learn about responsible breeding such as limiting the amount of clutch per season as egg laying and raising chicks is hard on the mother and it over works the father as he does all the feeding of the momma and the chicks. Also need to make sure you don't inbreed, it can cause genetic defects!

There's soooooo much more to breeding as I hope those we tries to do it would actually learn to understand it first before attempting. I started out as a breeder but I ended it to start rescuing birds and the only reason why I raise any chicks now is to help with the food cost, the chicks only covers 1/4 of the cost yearly as I take care of the rest. Then I feel it is the breeder's responsibility to teach the new homes about the proper responsibility.

So before anyone else proceeds, please understand the consequences as there is a ton of them. And how to be a responsible breeder.

 

[labell]

When I was in my late twenties and living in MI I was known as the go to bird lady, people would call me for behavior help and taming but many times it was for hand feeding. The behavior stuff was something I just did free of charge hoping I could avoid a bird being re-homed most times for behaviors that the owners caused in the first place.

The hand feeding I charged for because it is time consuming and is a very exact process. I can't begin to tell you how many babies I took and weaned that had sour crop or crop stasis from people not feeding warm enough or adding new food before the crop had emptied.

The worst was a baby blue front that the owner had believed and was told was easy to feed. She microwaved the food and had a hot spot and burned a hole in the crop, the poor thing was crying with formula dripping out of the hole in it's chest. So after a emergency trip to the vet to have the crop repaired and the burnt tissue removed I was asked to finish the feeding and weaning process which I did. The baby survived but just as easily could have died out of sheer irresponsibility of the owner.

Once I took a clutch of two day old cockateils because the female had died in a freak accident. Let me tell you that is something I wouldn't want to repeat. You get more sleep between feedings with human babies! By the time I was done I felt like the "walking dead" and could have starred in the show with no make-up for effects!

Breeding, hand feeding is NOT easy and things don't always go as planned. Imagine feeding from day one, can you and are you able to take on such a daunting task? You have to plan every moment of your life and schedule around the next feeding. What if you can't sell the babies do you have room to keep them all?

The other sad fact that comes to mind is going into any petsmart or petco and there are typically so many parakeets stuffed into one cage that it breaks my heart!

 

[labell]

Also there are people out there who call themselves breeders who imo don't know what the heck they are doing. I recently had a discussion with a breeder/broker who feeds her babies at 113 temp I tried to tell her that is WAY too hot and she blew me off. I told her even the formulas bag gives a range that is not that hot. She said she had never read the bag instructions, that was the way she was shown and in her opinion cut down on crop fungal infections. Holy moly I was amazed, I even tried to put it as imagine drinking too hot coffee three or four times a day and how irritated the soft lining in your mouth and throat would be. I got no where with this person, she was clear that she would continue feeding at this temp.

I learned long ago that you can't fix stupid but it still bonks me in the head and breaks my heart when anyone is so closed off to information that puts other people or animals at risk. I found out later this same "breeder" killed a Hyacinth baby a few years ago and I was told that pictures of the baby showed a very red inflamed crop tissue that was clearly from too hot feedings.

Feeding babies is supposed to be a comforting, loving experience for the baby. Imagine what kind of temperament this person's babies have when every feeding is painful? Heck just to prove my point I mixed the formula to 111 and put it in the crook of my arm and it was flippin HOT, my skin was pink and uncomfortable for a while! I also think a thermometer should be used EVERY time to check, that wrist business is not something I would risk. I want to know exactly what temp it is, no guessing for me jmho.

 

[JerseyWendy]

:35: + :emoticonc + :worship2: @ labell!!

 

[MikeyTN]

Iabell hit right on the spot, I just didn't want to get into all that....lol....

 

[labell]

Since we are giving examples of the difficulties in breeding and feeding I will relate one more story that is actually the hardest for me. All these years later I still become upset thinking about it.

A woman in MI had the "bright" idea with enthusiastic encouragement from the greedy breeder that she would buy two very young (in pin feathers) Blue and Gold babies so that she could get them cheap, feed and wean them both and then sell one, essentially getting her baby free.

The idiot breeder in FL was worried they would get hungry on the long flight to MI so she over filled them. One due to air turbulence, had some of the food (because it was too full) over flow into the lungs, it died an agonizing, painful death, crying pitifully until it expired.

The other had to be put in a crop bra and fed smaller meals many more times a day to insure the crop shrunk back down to a normal size so that it would empty correctly. The lady took them both to my vet and he is the one that usually gave referrals to me for hand feeding. When I picked up the one in the crop bra the other one was at the vets dieing, I could hear the rattle in it's lungs each time it took a painful breath.

After this woman's expensive vet cost, my cost to hand feed and the sheer length of time before the remaining baby was weaned she was taught a very expensive sad lesson! She felt terrible and at first tried to get compensation from the breeder in FL, that is when she learned there are no guarantees on un-weaned babies and the breeder basically said tough luck!

PS I didn't give all these example to shock or depress anyone, only to drive home the point that in hand feeding a million things can go wrong. Then add to that the complications that can arise with a breeding pair and you have the potential for a hot mess of trouble.

 

[JerseyWendy]

Thank you - from the bottom of my heart - for sharing these stories.

They MUST be told, and I surely hope they will prevent many chicks' unnecessary suffering or deaths.