my pair of parakeets have mated and the female laid 6 eggs. As of yesterday 3-24-09 the first egg hatched. This morning the 2nd egg hatched. What if any thing do I need to do. The female never would made a nest. We bought nesting hairs and put the box in the cage but she would not have any thing to do with it. So I had to put straw in the nesting box my self. She pushed a lot of it out of the box. The rest is spread out in a circle in the box.The babies are laying on the bottom of the box. Not the straw.Should I put more straw in the box? The cage is small and so is the nesting box. Should I put a bigger box in for a bigger nest? I want to do all that I can to help these little birds. I have enjoyed my bird very much even thow they will not let me touch them. We have had them for 1yr and 1 month. I got them from my nephew. Them raise birds on their back pourch. But they let the birds do all the feeding and raising of the babies.
In the wild, parrots, parakeets, etc, nest in holes in trees, and I don’t think they worry too much about nesting material. I’m thinking the female’s instincts are ruling her behaviour in this matter, and that it would be better to leave it to her.
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well you shouldn’t worry because the mother sometimes and almost always will use her own shedded feathers to use instead of te shavings often found in nesting boxes the size you shouldn’t really worry about unless they don’t have enough room to move around. then the male will usually take over feeding when ever she is in the box. And try not to bother them because it may cause her to be angry uandabandon her chicks. So only handle the Box when iIt needs to be cleaned. Another thing is to not worry about nesting materials and the size of the box because the mother would not even consider brooding in ttheirunless its to short or too wide or just out of the ordinary. and too leave off just make sure there are always fresh water and seeds available because just like any other infant they could be prone to sickness so try not to let them eat ttheirwaste
And feel free to use the website below for any additional questions.
http://www.petpublishing.com/birdtimes/breeds/keet.shtml
Years of experience with parakeets
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Straw is not a nesting material budgies like. Wood shavings or sawdust is better, Wait until a few more chicks hatch and then start adding it ( not straw ). The nesting box need to be big enough for two parents and chicks inside…if not you have made an illadvised choice in using the one you say is small. Once eggs are laid or chicks begion to arrive it is no time to be changing a nestbox unless you want her abandoning the nest and chicks.
Here is an article I wrote on Car of Baby Budgies in the Nestbox http://forums.budgiebreeders.asn.au/index.php?showtopic=13358
I own over 300 show budgies and have bred thousands of chicks. I am admin of a budgie forum
I own parrots, finches and canaries. I am a member of 3 exhibition budgerigar clubs
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What size is the nest box? Standard budgie sized nest boxes are usually a 6 or 7 inch cube, so if the box is this size then it should be okay. Many birds prefer not to have lining in their nest box, the chicks will be fine. In the future I would try shavings as opposed to straw or hair. Also, you should look into a larger cage if you want to breed, or even if you don’t, as you can never have too large of a cage.
If you have never raised chicks before I would leave it to the parents as you need a brooder, hand feeding implements, thermometers, etc…
You can co-parent the chicks, which means you simply take them out of the nest box and play with them, after they have gotten older, and then return them to the parents to feed and keep warm.
You need to keep an ample supply of good foods so that the parents can feed the chicks. A good nestling food can be purchased at any pet store and is often called egg food, along with fresh greens such as broccoli, spray millet, and a good seed mix.
I am including a link to a good website on the care of budgie chicks.
Good luck.
http://forums.budgiebreeders.asn.au/index.php?showtopic=13358
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I put some shavings in my parakeet’s nest box and she threw them all out. So I hung millet spray in the box and the husks from the seeds fell in as she ate them and she didn’t sweep that out. The eggs were cushioned, the baby when it was born had a little cushion too, but mostly she kept the area around the baby millet-husk free. The only thing you have to worry about is giving them extra food so they can feed their chicks. BTW..congratulations on your new baby parakeets!
http://forums.budgiebreeders.asn.au/index.php?showtopic=13358
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