How to Make Your Parakeet Have a Baby

Guide to Breeding Parakeets

American parakeet female on left, male on right

Parakeet breeding isn't very difficult, but there are things you should know before setting up a male person and female pair. Go tips on the best diet to feed, choosing the correct muzzle and parakeet nesting box, and caring for the parakeet babies until they're weaned.

1. Determine if You Have a True Pair of Parakeets

Almost whatever ii parakeets will bail if they accept no alternative, so what may announced to be a breeding pair may just be two females or two males. Luckily, these birds are sexually dimorphic, which ways you lot can make up one's mind the sex of each bird by its advent.

Males: Males typically have a blue cere, which is the fleshy area merely above the beak where the nostrils are. The nostril holes are completely blue. In some fancier varieties like lutinos, albinos, and some pastel-colored birds, the cere may exist pinkish-lavender rather than blue, and the nostrils will be completely lavender likewise.
Females: Young females may have a lighter blue on their ceres, but there'due south a low-cal ring directly around each nostril hole that you lot won't see on a male. Every bit they mature, the cere turns tannish brown and becomes crude in texture. Albino and lutino hens may also start out with lavender-colored ceres, but they volition also plow brown and rough at maturity.

2. Parakeets Must Bond to Breed

Bonding must take place before a true pair will breed. Sometimes the birds will pair up on their own out of a larger flock, but if you lot want to breed selectively to produce specific colors and patterns, yous can select the male and female you lot want to pair. Ideally, you'll pair juvenile birds and let them grow upward together, simply it's still possible to pair adult birds.

Fix upward your intended pair together in a roomy cage and give them fourth dimension to get used to living together. Once they bond, you'll encounter them sit next to each other on the same perch and follow each other around. Eventually, the male person will begin feeding the female. When you encounter that, they are truly bonded.

3. Look for the Parakeet Pair to Reach Maturity and Breeding Status

Parakeets are usually mature plenty to breed well-nigh i year of age. When the hen develops a brown, crusty-looking cere, that'due south the best time to set up the nesting boxes for your parakeets.

Colony Parakeet Breeding Versus Breeding Single Pairs

According to S Declension Pet Hospital, at that place are two main practices for breeding parakeets: colony breeding and breeding private pairs.

Colony Breeding for Parakeets

Colony convenance involves setting upwardly several pairs in a large flight. The flight should be about half dozen' L ten 3' W x 4' H, with wire spacing of no more than one-half inch. You should provide a nest box for each pair, plus one actress nest box to prevent fighting, and all the nest boxes should be hung at the aforementioned elevation most the peak of the enclosure.

While colony breeding may provide some convenience, such as having one area to clean and ensuring your pairs get enough exercise, it also has some drawbacks.

Yous can't ensure your pairs won't switch partners, or that an particularly dominant male won't breed more than than i female.
There may still be fighting even though having a balanced number of males and females usually keeps things peaceful.
There'due south a small chance that some parents will attack babies that aren't their own, and eggs are sometimes damaged too.
You may not be able to proceed track of which chicks belong to which pair if y'all allow the parents to raise them through weaning.

Convenance Private Pairs

It'due south much easier to control the situation if yous give a unmarried pair of parakeets their own space for convenance.

You'll never have doubts nigh whatsoever chick's parentage.
At that place'southward far less chance of fighting between the adults.
Eggs are rarely damaged.

Convenance Set Up

Having the correct kind of ready volition encourage your birds to breed. Make sure you have the following items.

Convenance Cage

According to the Hamilton & District Budgerigar Lodge (HDBS). the cage y'all select for a single pair should measure out approximately 24" L x 12" Due west x sixteen" H, and it should have a split door where you will attach the nest box to the outside of the cage then the birds tin enter it from the inside of their muzzle. The cage should have several perches, and ane should be placed close to the nest box opening so the chicks tin accomplish it easily when they are old enough to leave the box.

Yous'll need to hang a mineral block and cuttlebone from the side of the cage to provide the female with extra calcium for making egg shells. There should be dishes for food and water, as well as an extra dish for fresh and soft foods.

Parakeet Nesting Box

Nest boxes come in many sizes and designs, and they're ordinarily designated for specific breeds and so you should select one marked for parakeets. HDBS recommends a nest box with ane one/ii-inch hole for the birds to utilize as a doorway. If possible, choose a rectangular box with the opening at one end, and a circular recess in the floor on the other side for the eggs. The box volition either have a lid on top or on one of the sides so you can cheque for eggs or hatchlings.

Nesting Material

There are unlike types of nesting material bachelor, then you may have to effort a few earlier you find the type your pair likes all-time. Condom choices include aspen shavings and recycled newspaper. Even shredded paper is acceptable, merely do non utilise cedar shavings because their fumes are toxic to birds.

Don't be surprised if your pair pushes all the nesting cloth out of the box.. Parakeets are notorious for liking a blank box.

Lighting

Parakeets need most 12 hours of daylight and 12 hours of darkness and rest under normal conditions. They tend to come into breeding condition when the days are longer, then it tin be beneficial to extend their daylight by a couple of hours using full-spectrum lighting. The calorie-free is as well necessary to help females synthesize vitamin D then they can produce strong egg shells and bones.

Parakeet Breeder Diet

The 2 keys to a breeder diet are variety and affluence. If your pair has an abundance of healthy food, they are more likely to go to nest. Soft foods are especially helpful for bringing a pair into breeding condition, and the pair needs soft nutrient to feed the chicks equally well. Feeding these foods before breeding helps ensure your pair will eat them readily once the chicks hatch.

This diet should include:

High quality parakeet pellet mix: Pellets offer rounded nutrition with every bite. Go on them bachelor constantly.
Fresh, organic leafy greens, vegetables, and fruits: Especially skilful choices include kale, Swiss chard, broccoli, carrots, peas, corn, apples, bananas, cooked sugariness potatoes, and bell peppers. Sprout mixes besides offer a lot of nutrition. Wash and chop these foods earlier serving.
Cooked, chopped eggs or commercial egg nutrient: Eggs provide actress protein, plus they are a soft food that digests quickly so the male person can feed the female, and she can feed the chicks. Chop the shells up with the remainder of the eggs because the hen volition become extra calcium to help prevent egg binding.
High quality parakeet seed mix: Parakeets do demand seed, only non every bit the staple of their diet because they tend to simply pick out what they like. Choose a mix that has a diverseness of seeds and grains, or become with a hulled product like Lafeber Nutri-Berries which provides omega-3 also.
Arable clean water: Soiled water is a breeding ground for harmful bacteria. Modify the water at least three to iv times a day, or any time it gets dingy.

Throw abroad old soft and fresh foods after two to three hours and supercede it with fresh and then the birds don't eat anything that's spoiled.

Parakeet Mating

Once your pair is settled into their breeding fix up, it's usually only a matter of time until they begin to breed. Stop all training if you've been working with them previously, simply still provide them with basic care such as fresh nutrient and water and empty their bottom tray to get rid of their debris.

Fertilization and Parakeet Egg Production

When the female is prepare to be bred, she will lean frontwards on the perch and heighten her tail slightly. The male will position himself over the female and begin rubbing his vent against hers in guild to deposit his sperm. He may breed her several times a twenty-four hours, and the female volition begin laying an egg every other twenty-four hour period. The average clutch is normally about four to v eggs. The video beneath shows courtship beliefs prior to an actual convenance.

Incubation

Incubation begins once the female begins sitting tightly on the eggs. She may not sit on them until she has laid two or iii eggs, but this isn't a trouble. Each egg will hatch in approximately 18 days, If the female person begins sitting immediately afterwards she lays the first egg, one egg will hatch near every other day.

Checking for Fertility

Eggs aren't always fertile, merely y'all can endeavour to bank check them by "candling" them about a week later the female begins sitting. Gently pick upward each egg and hold it in front of a potent flashlight. If you tin can see a yellow glow with red squiggly lines inside, the egg is fertile. If you lot simply encounter the yellow glow, the egg is most likely infertile. Yous may run into faint outlines as the chicks develop, just the eggs will become rather opaque with a clear air space on ane cease every bit the chicks become closer to hatching.

Annotation that fifty-fifty though you tin can cheque for fertility, information technology'southward usually best not to disturb the expectant mom besides much or she might abandon the nest.

Caring for the Baby Parakeets

You take 2 choices for raising parakeets after they hatch. Either let the parents raise them, or mitt feed them yourself. Yet, they will make tamer pet birds if they get used to being handled.

Parent Raised

Parakeet chicks are quite small and can be difficult for anyone only the most experienced breeder to mitt feed. Many breeders opt to allow the parents heighten the chicks through weaning and but handle them daily once they are 14 days one-time in club to hand tame them.

The male person usually feeds the female because she volition only come out of the nest to relieve herself and get a drink. She will and then feed the chicks although some males will too help with feeding.

Paw Feeding

Hand feeding involves pulling the chicks from the nest box at 21 days old. They'll need to be placed in either a commercial incubator or a homemade one in order to continue the chicks warm until they have a complete ready of feathers.

At 21 days old, the chicks will demand to be fed a special formula via a pipette or pocket-size syringe approximately every three to four hours every bit their crops empty. Commercial formulas like Lafeber Instant Nutri-Start or Kaytee verbal take complete directions for mixing their formulas, besides every bit how often to feed the chicks as they grow. The food is typically fed at a temperature of 105 degrees Fahrenheit. This temperature ensures you won't fire the chicks' crops, but it's notwithstanding warm enough for proper digestion.

To mitt feed:

Information technology's easiest if you face the chick toward you lot.
Gently insert the tip of the feeder into the right side of the bill, aiming information technology toward the dorsum left of the chick's rima oris. If the chick is especially wiggly, just let information technology accept the formula from the tip of the syringe in whichever position it seems about comfortable.
Slowly squeeze the pipette or syringe to begin delivering the formula. The chick will begin to bob its head up and down as it swallows the formula. At that place's a rhythm to the procedure that you'll apace pick up on. Simply have care not to inundation the chick's mouth with formula or information technology could choke to death.
When the chick is finished eating, gently wipe away any formula from its face up and chest with a warm, clammy paper towel. Repeat for each chick.
Throw away any leftover formula, make clean the feeding utensils thoroughly, and put them away until the adjacent feeding.

Every bit the chicks abound, they volition eventually go longer between feedings and require fewer feedings per day, especially when they brainstorm eating on their own.

Weaning the Chicks

Weaning typically begins around 5 to six weeks of age while the chicks are either still being fed by the parents or you're still hand feeding them. Yous'll demand to begin offering a variety of foods and so the chicks larn to have a healthy diet instead of simply condign seed eaters.

Brainstorm by offer millet sprays so the babies can acquire to crevice seed.
Add a dish of pellet crumbles which are small plenty for the chicks to nibble on.
In one case the chicks consume millet and pellet crumbles, begin offering pocket-size amounts of finely diced/processed greens, vegetables, and fruits from the list above. Later on, you can attempt similar foods that are non on the list, but this beginning list will requite them a very good start.
Weaning is complete when the chicks consume well on their own, and the parents no longer feed the chicks or the chicks refuse manus feedings from you. Even subsequently weaning, sentinel them carefully to make sure they proceed eating. Sometimes a chick will revert a bit and need an occasional hand feeding until information technology's eating on its ain once again.

Once the chicks are completely weaned, it's fourth dimension to take them to an avian veterinarian for a well bird checkup before they become to new homes.

Tips to Terminate Breeding Activity

Some pairs don't know when to quit and volition go on producing i clutch later on another. All this egg laying and feeding chicks volition frazzle the hen and could lead to her death. Let the pair to produce two clutches at the most and then encourage them to finish. Y'all tin use these methods for single pairs or adapt them for a colony breeding state of affairs.

Limit Daylight

Since breeding activeness is stimulated by longer days, limit their daylight hours for several weeks. This is easily done past draping the cage with a nighttime cover after they've had eight hours of daylight. Remove the cover first affair in the morning and echo the procedure daily.

Remove the Nest Box

At the aforementioned time, remove the pair'due south nest box and any hanging toys such as coconut houses and similar items. The hen is less probable to lay if she doesn't have an platonic identify to nest.

Separate the Pair

If needed, motility the hen to a divide muzzle. Lack of access to her mate and the distraction of new surroundings should assistance her move out of breeding style.

Exist a Responsible Breeder

Breeding parakeets can be a wonderful hobby, but continue in mind that you're working with live birds. Start, inquire yourself if you're prepared to keep the chicks you produce if yous can't observe good homes for them. If your answer is yes, you can try convenance ane or two pairs to encounter if this is really the hobby for you. If your respond is no, simply enjoy the parakeets you have, and give them the very all-time intendance yous can.

warrenwered1973.blogspot.com

Source: https://small-pets.lovetoknow.com/pet-birds/guide-breeding-parakeets