Broody Birds

[RitzieAnn]

So, I think my birds are getting broody. I've seen Boomer lately starting to "hump" the food dish. And Birdie likes to squat/sit in it I caught her picking the pellets out of it and throwing them so that she could sit in the seed hulls.

I've spoken with a friend of mine (several years older, who used to breed cockatiels, doves, pigons, turkeys, etc) and he said I should give them a box. I do have nest doors on my cage, and could easily do that. I asked Ken what I would do, and he said "that's easy. If they lay eggs, you let them hatch, if they hatch you wait until they're about 3 weeks old, then you start feeding them." He said I should watch out because if she's sitting in the dish- then she'll probably lay in it, especially if Boomer is humping on it.

I'm actually not too worried, as Birdie is my complainer and she doesn't like anybody (human or bird) to touch her- execept when she wants a neck rub, but she'll call that to an end pretty quick! :wacko:

[Bea]

You should only add a nest box if you actually want to breed. :) There's no point bringing baby birds into the world if your tiels aren't in their peak breeding age and you haven't been planning for them. You can always separate the boys and the girls to prevent breeding behaviour.

[RitzieAnn]

Well, I've thought about it, and I've always wanted to have a bird from a baby. I know Birdie has been a mom before- she came into a rescue with 6 chicks. I woudln't want her to breed always, like continuiously, and of course if they never do anything, it's ok.

I also don't know who's a boy and who's a girl, except for Boomer and Birdie. I think Martha is a girl, and I have no idea still about Cousteau (my litino) I don't want her nesting in any of the dishes!

Oh, and on just a quicky side note- since I can take over my won thread ;) any easy way to tell sexes in budgies? I've got 2 now.

[Aderyn]

Male budgies will have a blue cere (nose), while females will have a brownish colour. These colours get more prominent when they're broody.

http://www.birds-online.de/allgemein/geschlecht_en.htm

[xxxSpikexxx]

I would probably just separate the males from the females. How old are your tiels?

[RitzieAnn]

Birdie is the oldest, and I believe she's 6. Boomer is about 3, and I was told Cousteau and Martha are about the same.

(my budgies appear to be male)

[xxxSpikexxx]

I don't think I would breed them then. I think I heard 4 years is the max that is a safe breeding age.

[Bea]

I think four is about the top safe first breeding age, so if they've been a parent before then they should be ok up to about 6 i would think. :)

[RitzieAnn]

Well, I kind of feel silly, because we've got people on my gerbil forum who are like "but can't I breed...." LOL

I'm financially stable, and have time to feed babies- otherwise I wouldn't even be breeding my gerbils. Birdie is squatting in her food dish, and if she's going to lay- then i'd much rather that she do it some place safe, and not in the food dish.

It sounds like I talk smack about her- because she's verbally abusive, but she's not bit in a long time, and she likes stealing my food, or climbing off her cage and running to the other end of the apartment to find me- usually to see if I'm eating. Heaven forbid I'm eating something while sitting on the floor because if I'm not watching- She'll steal it! Once Eric was laying on the floor eating dinner, and the birds were out- Birdie ran over and started stealing his corn right off his plate! She's really not evil- she just gripes a lot. She's not for being held, but will gladly climb on you when you don't want her, and she'll happily eat food off your plate. If she'd like to nest again, that's ok by me. I'd love another bird. Of course, at the same time- if she ends up not nesting after all- that's fine too.

[atvchick95]

with the budgies it depends on the mutation, Lutino , albino and a few others males keep a pink cere, females get a white cere that turns brown to a chocolate brown when in breeding condition

in Normal mutations , Blues, violets, Greys, Greens, Etc the boys will get a blue cere

www.budgieplace.com is a good site for budgie mutations, ages, and genders.