how to stop my budgies from breeding?

Question

it is out of control! i have 19 birds.4 adults , 10 young under 6 months, 5 babies, and now 2 of the youing ones have 1 egg each and i believe more on the way, whats can i do? should is sell them? if so how?

wow all good answers especially pinks! somethign to think about. and do

i have no nesting box and yea i really dont want to give them away. but if they keep going like this i may end up with over100 birds

i have to mention that i have NO nest box at all in this cage. there never was one and there isnt one now.

Answer 1

WOW. There are lots of things you can do. One easy thing is to separate them by sexes and definitely do NOT cage all of them together. While yes, birds are very social and do like the colony setting, mixing males and females will more than likely result in breeding or hormonal behaviour that could lead to breeding. Do NOT let them inbreed (siblings, parents). It leads to a much higher chance of deformities and health issues.

1. Cage them separately. I covered this. Put the females in one cage, the males in another (make sure they're all spacious cages so none of the birds fight over territory - since you already have so many birds, I would suggest cages in this size range per gender: http://www.windycityparrot.com/Merchant2/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Product_Code=19302242001&Category_Code=cagesbreed&Product_Count=16 since it allows for space to fly, space to stay away from others when they want their own space, space for toys, and space for perches), and the babies in another. When the babies' ceres are determinable for male and female, you can put them in with their gendered cage. Do this change AFTER all babies are fully weaned (about 8 weeks, but you should notice that they are eating on their own.)

2. Limit mating triggers.
(i) Daylight. Cover their cages with a dark sheet, blanket, or cage cover for at least 12 hours at night and give them total silence. If they continue to lay eggs, give them more and more dark hours. Worst case scenario, you could be working with 22 hours of darkness and only 2 hours of daylight, but these are the drastic measures of winter that make birds not want to breed.
(ii) No petting anywhere but the head. If you stimulate them by petting them, they'll want to nest because touching anywhere but the head is virtually telling them "it's mating time" because all other areas, specifically the back, under the wings, and tail/vent are areas that would be stimulated by a mate.
(iii) Monitor food. Give the birds only what they can eat and no more. If there's extra food, they'll think it's enough for babies and begin to try and breed.
(iv) Constant mental stimulation and change. Birds will not want to produce young in an environment that is moving too quickly or is too busy for the chicks to live in because it's dangerous. Give them many, many toys and many, many perches but keep them in rotation so that not one thing stays in one cage for more than a week. If the environment is always changing, not only are the adults getting mental stimulation, but it tells them that hatchlings will have trouble acclimating to the constant changes.

3. Make the eggs infertile. Some people have problems with this, but it's best you do it early rather than get stuck with more chicks that you cannot care for and that may die if not cared for properly by either you or the parents. When an entire clutch is laid (3 to 5 eggs, and birds lay eggs every other day), distract the parent(s) and take the eggs. Bring a small pot of water to a boil and boil the eggs for a couple of minutes. Dry them off, return them to the nest, and return parent(s). After 21 to 30 days, the parents should realize these eggs aren't going to hatch, lose interest, and you can throw the eggs away.

4. Remove the brooding box for sure, duh. Also remove any other places that the birds could hide and nest, whether it be a toy or the paper lining on the bottom of the cage (don't have to remove it, just put a grate or other sort of barrier in the way). Also, remove/put a barrier between all nesting materials such as paper so they won't feel the need to gather a nest.

5. Feed a balanced diet. This isn't necessarily about how you can stop the breeding, but because you have SO many babies, the parents are more than likely exhausted. Budgies need a diet of 80% high quality pellets such as Harrison's, Roudybush, Zupreem, or Totally Organic Pellets, 10% fresh fruits, vegetables, pastas, and grains (NO avocado, mushrooms, onion, tomato leaves, apple seeds, fruit seeds and pits, caffeinated or carbonated foods or drinks, salty or greasy foods, alcohol, or chocolate), and 10% seeds. Feeding the common diet of 100% seeds leads to malnutrition in the adults and chicks, obesity, and especially in budgies, fatty tumors. The females especially will need more calcium, so feed dark leafy greens often. The most popular I've noticed are Romaine lettuce, broccoli, bok choy, spinach, and kale. Feed spinach and kale in moderation because too much will be counterproductive.

6. When all birds are fully weaned, I find it very important to get all of them to see a certified avian vet ( http://www.aav.org/vet-lookup/ ) to make sure all are healthy and well. Otherwise, you could be setting yourself up for huge, major and much more expensive vet bills later if any of them get terribly sick. If one bird gets sick, you know the other 18 are definitely going to get sick because birds pass disease VERY easily and can hide the illness very well. However, a word of warning, be financially prepared for these visits. A typical avian vet visit for one bird is usually $50 to $75 USD - BUT this is much more reasonable than $200 bills per bird if they all get sick and need treatment.

If you know you can't handle them, it would definitely be wise to find other owners. Most people are looking for birds who come from good blood lines (pet store birds should never be bred because there is never much known about them, if anything, and they could have terrible genetic backgrounds and recessive traits that could hinder their chicks' survival chances, etc.), are healthy, and the vast majority of people want tame chicks. So you can definitely try to sell them, but responsible owners will make sure you know what you're talking about regarding your budgies and you should do the same when screening potential owners. Failing that, they should go to the humane society or an avian rescue where they will find good homes for them.

Good luck.

Answer 2

hi, I was going to write almost everything pinkdagger included. That was an excellent answer and very, very accurate. I would guess this person has some good breeding background. So instead of repeating it all, Im gonna say, just heed their great advice!! good luck!! :) p.s. I am always glad to see people ask how to curtail the breeding instead of just letting it go..... we see tons of no-longer-wanted birds at the bird rescue, as they are not easy to rehome like dogs, cats, etc... they really bond to one person, and there are ALOT of budgies already with many established breeders. So good for you and again, good luck!

Answer 3

The most important things to do is to separate the birds by sex and cage them separately. In other words, all girls in one cage and all boys in another. That will stop the laying of fertile eggs. Since egg laying can occur without males being present and it is also an unnecessary strain on the hens' health you should discourage egg laying by removing any nextboxes and avoiding excess hours of daylight. Try to keep the birds in a room where they have, ideally, 12 hours of quiet darkness at night. All of this will reduce biological cues to lay eggs.

If you cannot manage taking care of this many birds do try to find good homes for them. Sometimes local pet stores will buy birds, especially newly weaned babies, to sell to customers. You could also try to find a local bird club in your area. Also, your local humane society will take them to find new homes for them.

Answer 4

Take out the nest box they don't need it to sleep, and put a add in the local paper of budgies for sale!!!

Answer 5

They will stop when it is time to stop. They have mating cycles like all animals. If they lay eggs, discard them if you do not want to raise any more birds. My birds would keep going after I took away the nesting box and the hen would lay them under my couch. So, they could not sit on them, hence I threw them away.

Answer 6

to make your budgies stop breeding you just have to simply take out the nest box.They will not mate without a nestbox, they may lay eggs but they will be unfertile.

Answer 7

Separate and sell. Sell them to friends as pairs, m&f. Sounds like you might have a gold mine. Try selling to small pet stores. Look for bird clubs in your area, they might buy them from you. Budgies usually sell for $10.-$20. dollars each.

Answer 8

Take the nestboxes out.
Just let the eggs fall to the ground.


I took my nestboxes out for a year so they had a break and none of them laid any eggs.

Answer 9

YES LOL,I STARTED WITH 4 NOW I HAVE 11!!
I KNOW WHAT YOURE GOING THROUGH,THE CALCIUM MAKES THEM WANT TO MATE!!,PLUS THE NEST HOUSE,OR BOX MAKES THEM WANT TO MATE TOO!!

WHATEVER YOU DO DONT EVER SELL THEM =(

BIRDS ARE FAMILY I LOOOVE THEM SOO MUCH!! WOULD YOU SELL YOURE MOM??,NO!!RIGHT?,
THATS HOW I FEEL,IVE GOTTEN TO KNOW THEM ONE BY ONE AND THEYRE SOOO GREAT

I LET THEM FLY THROUGOUT THE HOUSE!!

AND I THINK IF IT GETS TOO OUT OF HAND YOULL JUST HAVE TO DEAL WITH IT,AND LOOOVE THEM TILL DEATH DO YOU PART =)

Answer 10

Easy just separate the birds that mate with each other.