Control/Selective Breeding
The difference here is that the breeder chooses the pairings and that cages are used to that there is certainty about the parentage of chicks. You need only limited facilities, a small area containing a few cages.
A breeding cage for a pair needs to be at least 60cm long x 45cm high and 40cm deep. Larger cages give chicks more room when they leave the nest box. Budgerigar breeders are fortunate because their birds are very easy to please about the boxes in which they will breed.
Nest boxes are usually made of plywood although other materials have been successfully used over the years. The minimum size would be 20cm x 12cm x 12cm with a 5cm entrance hole.
An average clutch is 5-6 eggs and are laid on alternate days, taking 18 days to hatch, so chicks in the average nest will be hatching for up to two weeks, leaving the next at about five weeks of age.
Chicks are usually rung with a closed aluminium ring available to members of the Society at around 5 to 10 days old. These rings will carry the year and an individual number for every Budgerigar you breed.
Control, or selective breeding is used to produce either chosen colours or to improve upon show points of exhibition birds. It is why the exhibition Budgerigars of today are so different to their cousins in the wild.
Attempts to control colour can sometimes be surprising, as the colour make-up of Budgerigars involve hidden factors that can come out in the chicks. It is not unusual to breed Blue chicks from Green parents and it is even possible to produce Albinos (white with red eyes) from two Green birds.
The difference here is that the breeder chooses the pairings and that cages are used to that there is certainty about the parentage of chicks. You need only limited facilities, a small area containing a few cages.
A breeding cage for a pair needs to be at least 60cm long x 45cm high and 40cm deep. Larger cages give chicks more room when they leave the nest box. Budgerigar breeders are fortunate because their birds are very easy to please about the boxes in which they will breed.
Nest boxes are usually made of plywood although other materials have been successfully used over the years. The minimum size would be 20cm x 12cm x 12cm with a 5cm entrance hole.
An average clutch is 5-6 eggs and are laid on alternate days, taking 18 days to hatch, so chicks in the average nest will be hatching for up to two weeks, leaving the next at about five weeks of age.
Chicks are usually rung with a closed aluminium ring available to members of the Society at around 5 to 10 days old. These rings will carry the year and an individual number for every Budgerigar you breed.
Control, or selective breeding is used to produce either chosen colours or to improve upon show points of exhibition birds. It is why the exhibition Budgerigars of today are so different to their cousins in the wild.
Attempts to control colour can sometimes be surprising, as the colour make-up of Budgerigars involve hidden factors that can come out in the chicks. It is not unusual to breed Blue chicks from Green parents and it is even possible to produce Albinos (white with red eyes) from two Green birds.
Breeding set ups and rooms
Baby Budgie Stages
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