BREEDING budgerigars can be a fascinating and rewarding hobby, but it is essential that the birds are in perfect breeding condition.

Birds which are out of condition are likely to produce weakly chicks, infertile eggs or even no eggs at all. You can tell when a cock bird is in peak breeding condition because the cere is a bright, shiny blue, or in some breeds a soft purplish colour. The cere is the blob on the top of the beak where the nostrils are. The cere on the hen bird is quite different. It becomes a deep chocolate colour and is quite rough. If the cere on a hen's beak suddenly becomes a pale washy blue, it is a sign that it is going out of breeding condition. The same applies to the cock bird although the colour change is not so obvious.

For the novice, spring time is probably early enough to start to pair the birds together. By then the daylight is becoming longer and there is less chance of long spells of cold weather. There will also be supplies of fresh green foods available. These are very important in rearing healthy, vigorous chicks.

Choosing the right breeding stock is extremely important and one good tip is to only consider birds which have a closed, year dated rings on their legs. Unringed birds have no guarantee as to their age or pedigree.

Wooden nest boxes with a removable concave tray are ideal for budgerigars and are easily obtainable. They are easy to keep clean and free from red mite. Allow the birds to settle down together before you introduce the nest box. The boxes should be positioned towards the light and if there is more than one breeding pair together you should provide two boxes for every pair of birds. They should all be fixed at the same height and from rolling about and getting damaged. The addition of a small amount of woodshavings put into the concave will also help and will absorb excess moisture. There is often a fair amount of squabbling over nest boxes at first but this usually settles down. Occasionally it gets more serious and two birds will fight over the same box with the intention of doing serious damage to each other. If you remove the offending box the trouble will soon pass over. They will simply find another box. Budgerigars can lay up to ten eggs in a clutch but the average is around six. They lay their eggs on alternate days and the incubation time is seventeen days. In a clutch of six the first bird is hatched twelve days before the last. Budgerigars make very good mothers and give just as much attention to the last born as to the first. It is important to inspect the nest box occasionally while the hen is sitting on the eggs. During dry weather it may be necessary to damp the eggs a little with lukewarm water, a day or two before they are due to hatch. If the eggs are too dry the inner skin becomes hard and the emerging chick may have difficulty breaking out. The chicks are likely to die in the shell but dampening helps to prevent this from happening.

When the chicks have hatched, more regular inspection of the nest is necessary. Any stale eggs or dead chicks should be removed and the woodshavings should be changed to keep the nest clean and smelling sweet. Closed leg rings should be applied at this stage. Budgerigar chicks become fully fledged when they are between five and six weeks old. Keep the young with their parents until six or seven days after the last bird has left the nest. They should all be able to look after themselves by this time.

It is important to remove the chicks as soon as they are ready, to enable the parents to prepare for their next brood. It is advisable to put the young chicks in their new quarters as early in the day as you can so they have the maximum daylight in which to find their food and settle down. Young chicks are best kept on their own until they have developed their adult feathers.

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.