help - I don't want my budgies to mate!

[Sarah.ftw]

Hello new friends,

I have two budgies named Ramona and Cheshire. They're sister and brother, five years old, and I have had them since they were about four months old. They've lived happily together in the same cage for all of these years without incident until..

THEY BECAME MASSIVE HORNDOGS LAST WEEK. Literally cannot be together without trying to mate. This has NEVER happened! How have they gone so many years without trying to make babies, only to lose their minds in a horny fever at this age?!

I have Ramona set up in our spare cage and only let one of them out to fly at a time. The problem is that they love each other so much. They usually groom each other, sing to each other, etc. I feel like such a creep splitting them up like this, but I absolutely do not want baby birds. I don't want the stress of caring for new lives, and I also do not want to bring more pets into a world that has enough of them.

Also, they (obviously) don't have a nesting box or somewhere suitable to build a nest or even just lay eggs.

Ultimately, the reason why I am posting is because I'd like to know if anyone has had a similar experience. Will they stop trying to mate after a while? Will I have to keep them separated forever?

Thank youuu!

 

[Castiel]

Eeeek!!! Did you buy the birds in Alabama? I kid.. I kid... I'm from Alabama so I can say that.

In for information on this. I know my ducks breed like rabbits and the large male doesn't seem to care that it is his offspring They aren't budgies but once those ducks got it in em to breed there is no stopping them. It is like a nonstop sex marathon in my back yard pond. Friggin fertilized eggs and ducks sitting on them everywhere. I am constantly giving them away.

Probably not useful at all to your topic but I hope I got a snicker at least.

 

[Begone]

They are just doing the most normal thing in the world for budgies, breeding.
Let them mate, and let them be together again. And if you are giving them any kind of protein food, give them less at the moment and more dark sleeping hrs.
And that you let them mate doesn't mean that they will get babies, just remove the eggs if she lay some.
They must have a nesting box to have babies, so don't panic for them mating.

 

[Sarah.ftw]

They are just doing the most normal thing in the world for budgies, breeding.
Let them mate, and let them be together again. And if you are giving them any kind of protein food, give them less at the moment and more dark sleeping hrs.
And that you let them mate doesn't mean that they will get babies, just remove the eggs if she lay some.
They must have a nesting box to have babies, so don't panic for them mating.

Thanks for your reply! So if they don't have a nest, it's likely that the eggs will be blanks?

 

[AvianCrew]

They're sister and brother, five years old,

Oh gosh!

 

[Hankmacaw]

As long as they are mating the eggs are likely to be fertile. That is the problem and it is easy to solve. When your hen has completed laying her batch of eggs. Remove the eggs and boil them, or use some method to make them infertile. Then put the eggs back for her to sit on. The other method is to take the real eggs and replace with phony eggs (they can be purchased several places). However you provide her with infertile eggs you should allow her to sit on them for 20 days or until she gets tired of sitting. Then remove the eggs. This should stop her from laying for awhile.

It is very hard on a hen to continually lay eggs. They become depleted and can become deathly ill from low calcium.

Please continue to ask questions.

 

[Hankmacaw]

@ZoeyFredrik Could you please help this young gal out?

 

[Sarah.ftw]

As long as they are mating the eggs are likely to be fertile. That is the problem and it is easy to solve. When your hen has completed laying her batch of eggs. Remove the eggs and boil them, or use some method to make them infertile. Then put the eggs back for her to sit on. The other method is to take the real eggs and replace with phony eggs (they can be purchased several places). However you provide her with infertile eggs you should allow her to sit on them for 20 days or until she gets tired of sitting. Then remove the eggs. This should stop her from laying for awhile.

It is very hard on a hen to continually lay eggs. They become depleted and can become deathly ill from low calcium.

Please continue to ask questions.

I'm having trouble with the removing the eggs and boiling them bit - aren't there little lives inside?

Part of the reason why I don't want Ramona laying eggs is exactly because I know it'll be hard on her. I don't want her life to be cut short due to something preventable.

Thank you for the advice!

 

[Hankmacaw]

There are not lives in the egg until they have been sat on and hatched. If you would prefer to let them hatch and add to the terrible overpopulation of parrots - do that.

IMO- your responsibility is to the birds you have.

 

[Sarah.ftw]

There are not lives in the egg until they have been sat on and hatched. If you would prefer to let them hatch and add to the terrible overpopulation of parrots - do that.

IMO- your responsibility is to the birds you have.

Well I already said that I have no interest in contributing to pet bird overpopulation. I would never breed pets for profit or for fun. I don't want to bring ANY new lives into this world - regardless of species.

I agree, my responsibility is to Ramona and Cheshire, not their potential future children *who I literally do not even want to exist.*

 

[Sarah.ftw]

I'm still leaning towards keeping my two kiddos separate.

It honestly feels like my best bet here. I don't want to be swapping out eggs, and I don't want Ramona laying anything, period.

Is this unfair to them?

 

[cassiesdad]

It's your choice to separate them....if that's what you want, go for it.

Ramona will probably lay eggs from time to time in the future...there's not much you can do to stop that....

 

[Hankmacaw]

Ramona will lay eggs whether she is breeding or not.

 

[Begone]

Is this unfair to them?

Yes I think so. And she can lay eggs to if you have them separated.

 

[Sarah.ftw]

Thanks for the input, everyone. I appreciate your help!

 

[Begone]

I never had any problem with my budgies mating, and I can tell you that they did that a lot.

 

[Akoni]

I'm still leaning towards keeping my two kiddos separate.

It honestly feels like my best bet here. I don't want to be swapping out eggs, and I don't want Ramona laying anything, period.

Is this unfair to them?

If you're uncomfortable with boiling or freezing the eggs, that's what you've got to do then. Hormones are the worst this time of year, in Spring, but you may be able to reunite them later in the year. Put them on a schedule with 12 hours of uninterrupted sleep and darkness year round if they're not on one already; this imitates wintertime lighting which is not opportune breeding time and can help prevent hormonal behavior. Also make sure that while they're in separate cages, they can still see and call to each other, as they are a bonded pair after all.

Good luck!

 

[ZoeyFredrik]

It's the breeding time of the year! My budgies hormones are raging right now. Budgie girls will lay during this time even if no male is present. So your little girl will lay even if she's separate from her guy. I agree with what has been said on here. In order to stop her from constantly laying she needs eggs to sit on. Whether they are hers, or dummy eggs. I use dummy eggs for Phoebe since she stomps her eggs. Make sure your lady has plenty of calcium. I also like to feed egg food during this time since it has protein and calcium. Sleep hours matter too. Make sure they have a nice long good night sleep. You want less hours of daylight. Long daylight hours mimic spring/summer.

Good luck and let us know how it goes!

 

[Lady Jane]

Good advice everyone. I hope it is followed for the budgies welfare.

 

[Sarah.ftw]

If you're uncomfortable with boiling or freezing the eggs, that's what you've got to do then. Hormones are the worst this time of year, in Spring, but you may be able to reunite them later in the year. Put them on a schedule with 12 hours of uninterrupted sleep and darkness year round if they're not on one already; this imitates wintertime lighting which is not opportune breeding time and can help prevent hormonal behavior. Also make sure that while they're in separate cages, they can still see and call to each other, as they are a bonded pair after all.

Good luck!

Thank you for the advice! They do not get that much sleep, so I will work on changing their schedule. The cages are side by side.