Expert opinion, please! I have two parakeets who have mated. However, she is laying her eggs around the cage

Question

The birds are in a big cage. In that cage, there is a little wooden birdhouse, where the female can go lay her eggs. Yet she is literally dropping them, and it is a mess! Reason she is doing this is that one of my birds is not allowing her to put her eggs in there. So here is my question: Do I need to purchase another cage and isolate the female that is laying her eggs? What would she need? Serious answers, please!

Answer 1

The long post is essentially correct, HOWEVER... parakeets do not lay eggs in shavings. Parakeets like a bare bottom nest. I have raised hundreds of these birds and I promise you they will not even go in a nest box with pine shavings, (the smell of turpentine in a concentrated area of a keet box can literally kill the babies, it irritates the lung tissue so much that they literally can drown in fluid before they are three hours old.)
Also, parakeets and ALL birds NEED LIVE Greens; NOT LETTUCE OR CABBAGE but stuff like carrot chips, peas, broccoli, kale, Beet greens, corn on the cob in one inch rounds, whole grain bread is GREAT also. (1/4 a slice every day.)

The nest box needs to be a minimum of five inches wide by five inches deep by six inches tall... it needs a solid wood bottom and a one inch thick piece of solid wood that has been routed out to form a 'bowl" so that when she lays her eggs, they will all roll into the center of the bowl... once the eggs are a couple of days old you can THEN add small amounts of shavings into the box, just enough to let her roll them over the shavings, Gradually add shavings till all the eggs are solidly on top of the wood and then leave the birds ALONE. Feed and water them as needed, using the greens and fresh clean waterdishes... leave the birds to themselves otherwise... babies will start hatching about the 21st day.

Do NOT handle them till they are about three weeks old... Let the parents raise them, you absolutely DO NOT have to hand feed them to 'tame' them.... once they begin to feather out, you may gently handle them, holding them close to yourself and talk softly to them as you gently stroke their heads and body... take GREAT care not to drop or pinch their feathers at that time as they will BLEED, it will HURT the baby and it wont trust you....

EVERYTHING depends on YOU to teach the baby that it can TRUST you to NOT hurt it... That means that you cant be on the phone or loud music... Baby birds are a lot like baby people... they get scared easily. Please find GOOD homes for any babies that survive..

Answer 2

Sounds like you want more parakeets. Yes, I recommend a new cage and nest box made just for parakeets. It doesn't have to be big or put the offending cage partners in the new smaller cage. I have 2 cages. One for living and one for holding while I clean the big one. Plus I use it when my male zebra finch starts pecking his mate cause she won't produce a successful clutch. He gets to have his own cage and see his mrs. but not peck her. May I recommend that you read up on raising chicks before you go any further. By her just laying eggs around the cage isn't harmful to the bird, just as long and she is eating the proper calcium rich diet she needs to produce eggs. Go on line and look up breeding parakeets. I just love parakeets. Good luck and enjoy!

Answer 3

Put up 3 or 4 nesting boxes, put nesting material in different places of the cage. See if that encourages her to build a nest in one box.

Don't take the male out, he will feed her.

Toss the eggs on the bottom of the cage.

You will also have to "band" the babies.

Answer 4

Hi to help your bird breed more comfortably you will need the following items.
*A large sized cage to keep the breeding pair in.
*A nesting box of appropriate size, I would reccomend, a nesting *box with at least 3 or four inches all the way around the bird so *they dont feel trapped once inside.
*A bag of Pine shavings, this can be purchased most pet supply stores.
*Hand rearing food for when your babies arrive. and plenty of easy to eat things like millet sprays and pannicum, as these are easy for the parents to digest and feed their young.
*Calcium suppliment for birds ( available from pet stores and vetinary clinics)

Begin making your nesting box comfortable by placing a generous amount of the pine shavings inside it, making sure you push them down firmly, allowing a concave section to be created in the middle.

Once you have a firm base of shavings inside the box, place the lid back on it and place it in the cage, preferably mounting it off the floor of the cage to keep the natural effect of dwelling in a tree....

Place the breeding pair in the cage and supply them with adequate food and water, following the instructions on the bottle, add the required amount of calcium suppliment to the water.

This suppliment is to help prevent the female developing what is known as egg binding, helping to produce much harder eggshells.

Thats about it,
over the following days you should se your birds start to investigate the box, possibly pull most of the pine shaving out of it, but if they do dont worry, it means their natural breeding instinct is kicking in.
The female will begin to lays eggs once she feels safe so its best not to desturb them unless you have to.
Once eggs start to be laid, she should lay one egg every second day but this is not always the case, she may lay one per day. Both birds usually sit on the eggs, the female usually untill the 3rd or 4th egg is laid then they share the responsibility.
19 to 21 days after the first egg is laid you should start to hear some faint chirping sounds from the cage, your babies should be starting to hatch in the order they were laid in.

Answer 5

u should buy anther cage and if u want to put the mean brid in it and let the breeding pair stay in the current cage and use the nest box
if u still have ? u could call a pet store near u