Pearce Flint budgerigars

Below article was written by me, Pearce Flint. If you wish to copy this then please email me.

When I first started breeding budgerigars I bred them colony style.

This caused a lot of problems for me.

Some of these problems were: Dead babies, Fighting, plucking, egg binding, immature breeding and many more.

Below I will discuss the advantages and disadvantages of each breeding style, and give  as much information as I can about them.

Colony Breeding

Colony breeding is when you have more than 1 breeding pair in an aviary, with nest boxes.

When I started breeding budgies I colony breed for the first 12 months.

I found that the hens would fight over the best nest boxes and would often eat or kill any eggs and babies inside.

I also found that young birds were breeding themselves to death.

Colony breeding Advantages

I honestly cannot think of any advantages with colony breeding.

If you can think of some please email me and I will put them up.

Colony Breeding Disadvantages

You cannot tell who the parents are, A hen could have mated with countless male birds before laying eggs.

Fights happen for the highest nest boxes

Jealous hens will kill chicks and eggs out of other hens nests

Young birds will breed. The results of young birds breeding can be: Feather plucking, killing chicks, egg binding and many more.

If you still want to colony breed then here are some tips:

Make nest boxes look exactly the same, this prevents hens fighting for the best looking box

Make sure all nest boxes are the same height, this prevents hens fighting for the highest box.

Make sure their are 2 nest boxes for each 1 hen, More nest boxes means less chance of a fight.

Cage Breeding

I am now cage breeding my birds and I will remain cage breeding my birds as long as I stay in the hobby. This style of breeding is by the best style.

Cage Breeding Advantages

You will know exactly who the father and who the mother is

Birds breed better this way, less stress

No fights between hens

If their is a problem, it can be solved easier when cage breeding

The chicks will be fed and cared for alot better than colony breeding

The list goes on...

Cage breeding disadvantages

When compared with colony breeding, there are none.